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A good place to "hear" how Death "speaks" is on the audio books produced by ISIS books. We found them at the local library. The very first discworld book we listened to was Mort and the word Pratchett uses to describe Death's "voice" is intonation. The actor that reads this book (Nigel Planer) drops his tone and gives a sort of mortuary sort of sound to Death. Now,my kids and I intone at each other. GO DO YOUR HOMEWORK has a lot more force when intoned.
I loved Mort but so far, my favorite has been Reaper Man. I have a soft spot for the Death of the Discworld.
Right now we're listening to Thief of Timeand I really love his satire of modern education and how Susan has become a teacher. The thing that I appreciate about Pratchett is his ablity to make me see the world upside down.
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My favorite group of Discworld books is the Rincewind books (especially Interesting Times), but my favorite individual book is Hogfather.
quote: LITTLE MIRACLES ALL OVER THE PLACE, WITH MANY A MERY HO, HO, HO. TEACHING PEOPLE THE REAL MEANING OF HOGSWATCH, ALBERT.
"What, you mean that the pigs and cattle have all been slaughtred and with any luck everyone's got enough food for the winter?"
WELL, WHEN I SAY THE REAL MEANING--
"Some wretched devil's had his head chopped off in a wood somewhere 'coshe found a bean in his dinner and now the summer's going to come back?"
NOT EXACTLY THAT, BUT--
"Oh, you mean that they've chased down some poor beast and shot arrows up into their apple trees and now the shadows are going to go away?"
THAT IS DEFINITELY A MEANING, BUT I--
"Ah, then you're talking about the one where they light a bloody big bonfire to give the sun a hint and tell it to stop lurking under the horizon and do a proper day's work?"
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The new one is out - "Going Postal." A convicted (and executed) con man is assigned the task of reviving the years-dead Ankh-Morpork Postal Service. It gets a little tricky...
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at least he doesn't take as long as Robert Jordan ... (yeah, I know Jordan books are thicker, but I think Pratchett can write the same number of words and put out more books in a shorter period of time - and yes, I'll still a Jordan fan - just a frustrated one)
and back to yay for new Terry Pratchett books! Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Here's a question... I'd like to get one of the Discworld books for my brother as a Xmas gift, I think he might like it. He's a minister, so I'd like to give him one that doesn't make fun of religion too much. (Or, rather, if it does, one that also has GOOD things to say about it.) I was thinking I'd try Small Gods, since I'd heard good things about it. But I just started reading it myself, and so far the emphasis is on religious hypocrisy. (Maybe that changes later on in the book, but that's how it's starting out.)
Sooo... any suggestions for a good Discworld book that serves as a good intro to the series, but that won't get perceived as being anti-religious and so get put down without getting finished?
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posted
Most of the Discworld novels that address religion do so from the position of a skeptic observing Anglican history. There are a few -- like Carpe Jugulum and Small Gods -- which represent fairly deep and largely positive views of religion, but mostly the priests of the Disc are, like every other organization on the Disc, subjects of satire.
If you're looking for books that are going to treat religion seriously, you're probably not going to find them here. The Discworld books treat very, very few topics seriously.
That said, there are some books which deal with religion less than some others -- Guards, Guards! springs to mind -- or deal with religions that many Christians might not mind mocking nowadays (like Pyramids.)
The Color of Magic is one of the weakest books in the series, and doesn't work well (IMO) as a introduction except to people who are really determined to read things in chronological order. I'd go with Mort, myself.
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Carpe Jugulum is the most religiously positive book of the series: a main protagonist is a man of the cloth.
Terry Pratchett himself considers The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic as lesser works, as mere parodies. According to interviews, the Discworld series -- as the chronicle of a World unto itself -- really begins with the third book, Equal Rites.
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_Small Gods_ is fantastic. In fact, I'd love to teach a course on "Religious Satire That's Religious" that includes it along with Bulgakov's _The Master and Margarita_, Doestevesky's _The Idiot_, and a couple of other works TBD.
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(yeah, I know Jordan books are thicker, but I think Pratchett can write the same number of words and put out more books in a shorter period of time - and yes, I'll still a Jordan fan - just a frustrated one)![[The Wave]](graemlins/thewave.gif)
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There are a few -- like Carpe Jugulum and Small Gods -- which represent fairly deep and largely positive views of religion, but mostly the priests of the Disc are, like every other organization on the Disc, subjects of satire.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
