Susan Hated Literature

A Discworld novel
Author: Terry Pratchett
ISBN: 0552152676
DDC: 823.914
See also: LibraryThing ; Lspace wiki ; Grumpy Old Bookman ; One More Chapter

Thud…
That was the sound the heavy club made as it connected with the head. The body jerked, and slumped back.
And it was done, unheard, unseen: the perfect end, a perfect solution, a perfect story.
But, as the dwarfs say, where there is trouble you will always find a troll.
The troll saw.

Relations between dwarfs and trolls have never been all that great, but, with the death of an influential dwarf community leader it seems that things are beginning to escalate. Koom Valley may have been a battle a long time ago, but if Commander Vimes doesn’t manage to figure out who killed Grag Hamcrusher then it may just be re-enacted on the streets of Ankh-Morpork.

Vimes and the Watch have always been my favourite Discworld books, and this is a great addition to the series. You have all the usual humour, footnotes and all. But you also have the deeper meanings and social commentary that you can chose to ignore if you want.

What is really fantastic about the Discworld books however is the characters, and here Vimes is at his cynical weary best, although also concerned with ensuring he is home every day at 6 o’clock exactly, in order to read his son Where’s my cow?. All the usual Watch members are back, as well as some new recruits, notably Sally the new vampire on the force.

If I didn’t have a huge stack of books that I want to get through I’d've flicked back to the first page and started reading this all over again. Great book

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Author: Terry Pratchett
DDC: 823.914

Moist Von Lipwig has just become Postmaster General, even escaped death to do so, the only problem is that the Post Office is more than a little run down. And full to bursting point with undelivered letters. Not to mention the fact that the previous Postmasters had an unfortunate habit of turning up dead.

If you’ve enjoyed any of the Discworld novels you should enjoy this one. It has all the Pratchett humour, and footnotes, and it also has a wonderful leading man in Moist. You can’t help but enjoy this read.

And like most of Pratchett’s books this isn’t simply a funny fantasy book. We do have that element, but we also have the redemption story of Moist. And of course, the social-commentary aspect. All comine together to form an unputdownable addition to the Discworld ‘verse.

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But it also makes for a very boring blog

Luckily for you I do have something to blog about. Was on the abp news group fingy-me-bob (note use of technical jargon here), and a discussion arose about the character of Sam Vimes. For those of you who don’t know Sam Vimes, go read all the Watch books by Terry Pratchett, starting with Guards! Guards!

Anyways, some person said they didn’t like the character, which is fair enough, we all got our opinions right, but then went on to say that he was a bully, and like “pigs” enjoyed nothing more than bashing people over the head with his truncheon, and that authority was all he was about.

Now I am aware that our perceptions colour our reading, and that every reader reinvents the story they read, creating new characters as they do so, but I was astonished at this characterisation of Vimes.

It turned out that this person had had numerous bad experiences with the police, including during the mining strikes in Britain and had indeed been whacked in the head. Still, I had no idea that someone could read the Watch books and think of Vimes as a person who would be that sort of a copper. In Night Watch he pretty much does the opposite; almost organising a rebellion on the streets of Ankh-Morpork. Yes, Vimes is somewhat of a bully, he is cynical, and he is a bit of a bastard (tho not the sort that Kevin Meyrs was talking about tut tut :)), but he also is very soft-hearted and works in the interest of the “common people.” He is, very definitely one of the good guys.

Course then it turned out that said person had only read half of one book that Vimes was actually in. Still interesting to realise that we all really do read different books, and that books can change as you, and your opinions change.

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Author: Terry Pratchett
ISBN: 0552149411 DDC: 823.914
A Discworld novel.

By my count this is the 28th Discworld novel, although if you include the “Younger Readers’” discworld books then you get 30. So take your pick, I don’t think it really makes much of a difference what number it is.

The Discworld books are, in my opinion, among the greatest novels ever written. Not just the greatest fantasy, or humour novels, but the greatest books of all. Sure the earlier ones lack the complexity of the later ones, they are more simply comedic in nature. But the later books use humour and a fantasy setting to explore the modern world. And always (well okay, mostly) in entertaining stories, with fascinatng characters.

Monstrous Regiment is the story of Polly, a girl who dressed up as a boy in order to join the army, find and bring home her brother. Her country, Borogravia, always seems to be at war. The border with the neighbouring country is fixed by the river’s course, which unfortunatly changes course, so border conflicts are more than a little common.

And then there is the religous issue. Nuggan,their god is rather fond of updating the Book of Nuggan, and mainly with Abominations, that is things that are forbidden; chocoate, garlic, cats, dwarfs, blue, oysters, babies and many many more.

When I first read it I have to say I was a little disapointed. It lacked the humour (and the footnotes seem to have been reduced in quantity) of other books, and wasn’t as engaging. Despite this I did enjoy it, Polly and her fellow soldiers did keep my interest, and of course the few appearances of Vimes brightened up the book. Still I finished it without ever laughing out loud, and wasn’t all that impressed. But afterwards parts of the book kept coming back to me.

As is usual with books, the back of my copy has quotes on how great Monstrous Regiment is. Among them is one from the Daily Express comparing it to Evelyn Waugh’s Officers and Gentlemen, and Jonathon Swift. And the anti-war parts were the parts of the book that stuck in my mind. The absolute absurdity of the war that Borogravia had gotten involved in, and the reasons why. And that fact means I have to rate it higher than I did at first. Maybe it is missing part of the humour, but maybe it was the mood I was in while reading it. I’ll reread it in a while and know for sure about that. What I do know now is that it really does point out the ridiculous ease with which wars start;

“We are a proud country.”
“What are you proud of?”
It came swiftly, like a blow, and Polly realized how wars happened. You took that shock that had run through her, and let it boil.
…it may be corrupt, benighted and stupid, but it’s ours…
Polly stayed silent. She was still trying to cope with the anger. It made it worse to know that he was right. We have our pride. And that’s what we’re proud of. We’re proud of being proud…

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