Tag: Terry Pratchett

Teaser Tuesday: The Greatest Knight

Being sick means that there’s little to do but curl up and feel sorry for oneself while alternating between Netflix and the TBR.

In addition to an awful summer cold, the Wheel of Time has brought around

Teaser TuesdayJust in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share a few sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

This week I’m reading The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, The Power Behind Five English Thrones by Thomas Asbridge.

The Truly Random Number Generator sends us to page 357:

Earl William now had to find  a way to force entry
into Lincoln.  The royalists had not come equipped
with heavy siege machinery; nor could the afford to
settle in for a prolonged investment of the town 
walls, as the resultant delay might allow Prince 
Louis time to march north and bolster the 
English-French position.

The Greatest Knight Cover

In Retrospect

Since it’s been a while since I posted any reviews [due to time or scheduling], I guess it’s about time to rectify my negligence.

 

The Casual Vacancy coverI looked forward to reading J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy with a kind of curiosity. How would the writing compare to that of Harry Potter? Could she write a novel aimed directly at adults? I almost said “a novel for adults,” but quite a few adults enjoy and identify with Harry Potter.

Yes. Yes she can. Delving into small-town politics and prejudices, The Casual Vacancy is anything but casual. However riveting it may be, I found a few things a bit far-fetched, especially at the conclusion. It left me wondering if Rowling understands how small towns work or if small-town America is that vastly different from small-town England.

Favorite Line:

Choice was dangerous: you had to forgo all other possibilities when you chose.

Rating: 4 stars

Bingo Square: Longer Than 500 Pages

 

Last Will CoverFull Disclosure: I won an autographed copy of this novel from the author’s blog.

That said, Last Will isn’t my typical reading fare in that it’s a romance. However, it’s more a study in human psychology than anything else. It is not a bodice-ripper in any way, shape or form.

The plot was well thought out, but I found the structure a bit lacking. I’m not adverse to shifting perspective, but shifting perspective in the middle of a conversation can be of-putting at times.

Thankfully, most of these shifts were indicated by page breaks denoting who, exactly, was speaking.

Favorite Line:

nothing stood out; but I’m sure I’d find a few in a second reading

Rating: 4 stars

Bingo Square: Author’s Debut Novel

 

 

The Last Hero coverThe Last Hero by Terry Pratchett was a delight to read. The “Discworld Fable” brought back many favorite characters and gave Cohen and the Silver Horde a fitting send-off.

Illustrated by the incomparable Paul Kidby, Last Hero is truly a work of art and the imagination. I was delighted to find many of the characters remarkable similar to the way I’d envisioned them in my head.

Favorite Lines:

Some people are confident because they are fools. Leonard had the look of someone who was confident because, so far, he’d never found reason not to be.

Rating: 5 stars

Bingo Square: A Protagonist over the age of 50

 

A Blink of the Screen CoverA Blink of the Screen – also by Terry Pratchett – was my first introduction to his short stories. They did not disappoint.

My favorite non-Discworld selection was “Mind the Monoliths” as it appealed to the historian and social studies teacher in me.

My favorite Discworld selection would be “The Sea and Little Fishes” as it contained Mistress Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg.

I shall have to seek out any other collections of Pratchett’s shorter works.

Favorite Line:

AND YOU ARE AWARE OF THE THEORY THAT THE STATE OF SOME TINY PARTICLES IS INDETERMINATE UNTIL THE MOMENT THEY ARE OBSERVED? A CAT IN A BOX IS OFTEN MENTIONED.

Rating: 5 stars

Bingo Square: A Collection of Essays

Now, before you start accusing me of cheating, I checked on the definition of essay:

Essays are generally scholarly pieces of writing giving the author’s own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet and a short story.

 

What have you been reading?

 

 

Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?

Drop a note in the prompt box!

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Teaser Tuesday: The Last Hero

In addition to my parents visiting this week, the wheel of time turned on its axis to

Teaser TuesdayJust in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share a few sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

This week I’m reading The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable by Terry Pratchett.

I’m excited to read this; I’ve looked for it for several years.

I finally found a copy on Amazon at the same time I possessed money to spend.

I already leafed through it, amazed at Paul Kidby’s illustrations.

The Truly Random Number Generator sends us to page 112:

'What?' said Rincewind, perplexed at the sudden 
     subject of fruit. 

I'd just started eating an apple, and I just rested 
     it in the air . . . and it's gone.

The ship creaked in the glaring sunlight.

And an apple core came tumbling gently 
     through the air.

The Last Hero cover

In Retrospect

This Teaser Tuesday was prepared in advance of a busy week.

Check back next week for a book review of Last Will by Bryn Greenwood.

 

What have you been reading?

 

 

Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?

Drop a note in the prompt box!

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Sunday Snapshots

I cleaned this week; picture opportunities seldom presented themselves.

That said, here’s a glimpse of my non-cleaning activities:

Books:

 

signed last will bryn greenwoodI rediscovered my signed copy of Last Will by Bryn Greenwood.

 

 

amazing maurice educated rodents coverAnother package arrived, this one bearing The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett.

 

Food:

 

german coffee
This German coffee powered most activities this week.

 

 

last piece of pie july 2015
This was the last piece of pie [with more of that German coffee].

 

Miscellany

 

haircut july 2015
I got a haircut for the first time in three months.
This is the “after” picture; I think I accidentally deleted the “before” picture.

 

 

steering wheel

In addition to cleaning, our church’s Vacation Bible School took up most evenings.
This was my view for a good hour – or more – each night.

 

 

vbs script 2015
I took part in the skit each night; here’s a glimpse of one of the scripts.

 

 

lion head or holy grail
This decoration supposed to portray a lion.
I can’t help but see the Holy Grail surrounded by rays of light.

 

 

Coffee and the Holy Grail
Obviously, the Grail contains coffee.

 

 

What did you do this week?

 

 

Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?

Drop a note in the prompt box!

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Life at the Edges

IMG_2415Life is lived at the edges:

Between life and death,

Between light and dark,

Between good and evil,

Between today and tomorrow,

Between this world and the next,

Between many others.

Watch over and guard these edges.

Think fast, because edges can shift quickly.

Adapted from the works of Sir Terry Pratchett and this article

Photo101

Teaser Tuesday: The Long Mars

Once again the wheel of time has turned to

Teaser TuesdayJust in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

This week I’m reading The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, the third (and most likely final) installment of the Long Earth series. I’ve only read the first few pages, but it already appears to be a significant improvement over the other two.

Enough chatter; you want the teaser! Happy to oblige:

Well, there are plenty of contingencies we couldn't 
survive at all. A massive enough meteor strike.

IMG_2366

In Retrospect

I gave last week’s read The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer 5 out of 5 stars; I’d give more if I could. I’m actually working on writing a review to post here and on Goodreads – unlike the review for Republic of Pirates, which I still haven’t gotten around to . . .

No Real Horizon: Discovering Discworld

Some years ago I perused Blockbuster – back when that was a place – looking for something to watch on a lazy weekend. In that predicament, I based my selections mainly on what the covers. My wife and I settled on a unique flick entitled Hogfather. We were drawn to it for three reasons: (1) the cover looked somewhat dark,  (2) the title intrigued us, and (3) it was British. The third quality alone would have put it in our queue, for anything done by the British is almost infinitely superior to American films.

HogfatherMoviePoster

That film, starring the fabulous Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey‘s Lady Mary Crowley) as Susan and the versatile Ian Richardson as Death, changed my literary world as no film has ever done. Normally, I read the book before the movie and then spend the length of the feature critiquing it. But, to this point, I was unaware of the beauty and glory that is the Disc. That changed the following weekend. While browsing our local bookstore (a chain, the last local closed a year before), I decided to track down the book upon which the film was based.

HogfatherBookCover

The book is superb and remains one of my favorite Discworld novels. However, I couldn’t get enough. I began to buy a book a week, soon accumulating the entire series (except for Last Hero and Raising Steam, which was released today), including the so-called “children’s books” (which aren’t just for kids, in case you didn’t know). Today, they occupy a prominent space in my personal library, with Good Omens being my most recent purchase.

If you haven’t yet experienced the wonders of Terry Pratchett’s fantasy world, get started today. It doesn’t really matter what order you read them in, just jump in with both feet and have fun!

Discworld
From The Discworld Mapp

Note: Today is also the release of the newest Discworld novel: Raising Steam. But since I don’t live in England and will (probably) have to wait until Christmas, please don’t spoil it for me.

Posted for NaBloPoMo 2013NaBloPoMo_November_small

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑