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At 10/18/08 07:34 PM, Malachy wrote:

At 10/18/08 01:05 AM, Mizox wrote: you know those scale models of Unseen University that they have? those really rare things? what would you give for one of them?

Moneys

ROFL

They are nice, though personally, I like the idea of Death and Rincewind book ends. Death stalking from the left and Rincewind running from the right.

Gentlemen, the hour approaches.

Play.com has now dispatched my pre-ordered copy of the Colour of Magic DVD box set. 3-5 days for delivery means that with a bit of luck, it should land on my doorstep at some point on Monday :)

Then I'll be a happy man again.

So, I got Going Postal and Science of Discworld from England and read both of them through in two days, total.

...yeah.

Then I re-read Making Money in a day to see it in the context of Going Postal. Glad I spent my time doing something productive, instead of doing my homework or something.

I got Going Postal in hardcover simply because it wasn't in paperback by the time I got to it in the series.

I think I'm going to start re-reading the series...I'm running out of new books to buy for personal reading

Got The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman last week. My wife and I are reading it to each other together now. It's really good! go pick it up, it's a great Halloween read!

At 10/31/08 09:45 AM, JohnnyWang wrote: So, I got Going Postal and Science of Discworld from England and read both of them through in two days, total.

I'd recommend that you read the other two Science books, as they are a great read. Even if you just read every other chapter for the Discworld story, without the Science parts, which are interesting and informative, as well as quite amusing... maybe that's the geek in me talking.

At 10/31/08 11:58 AM, Malachy wrote: I think I'm going to start re-reading the series...I'm running out of new books to buy for personal reading

I'm beginning to go cross-genre. I'm getting more into my crime, thanks in no small part to books like Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms and Night Watch. I'm also getting myself into books by Chris Ryan and Andy McNabb, because I've always had a flair for military stuff as well.

Got The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman last week. My wife and I are reading it to each other together now. It's really good! go pick it up, it's a great Halloween read!

I might just do that now :)

Well, I've watched the DVD a few times through and despite the fact that many said David Jason was about 15-20 years too old to play Rincewind, he still did a highly commendable job, as did Tim Curry as Trymon - very dark indeed.

It was a shame to see that they missed out two key scenes in my mind - The Temple of Bel-Shamharoth and the plane scene with Professor Zweiblumen and Doctor Rjinswand. But with these things, you will miss parts, which otherwise would not have contributed much to the plot, though would have been hilarious to watch.

Get hold of a copy somehow. Watch it, I emplore you all - there's got to be a way to watch it at least once!

I was in the bookstore and noticed Pratchett has a new book out.

Nation it was in the Young Adult section of Walden.

I read the caption, it isn't what I typically read and it takes place on earth...oh snap.

So I read The FIfth Elephant (and on while reading it, The Fifth Element was on the TV, conspiracy?)

Thud! makes slightly more and less sense now.

At 11/24/08 11:11 PM, Malachy wrote: I was in the bookstore and noticed Pratchett has a new book out.

I've not gotten around to reading Nation yet, but given time I might be able to get into it.

At 11/25/08 02:04 AM, JohnnyWang wrote: So I read The FIfth Elephant (and on while reading it, The Fifth Element was on the TV, conspiracy?)

Thud! makes slightly more and less sense now.

haha, some of the books I was totally confused through the entire time. I always felt like there were backgrounds that I just forgot or never read about from previous books.

I need to get back to re-reading the series again. I had good fun reading through the first few books but I have since been distracted.

I finished Neal Stephenson's Anethem last night. now THAT book is a fucking clusterfuck for any type of sense! there's 100 page glossary at the end of it. Even XKCD made a comic making fun of all the words Stephenson made up for the novel. It was a pretty good read though, I'd recommend it, but not as light reading.

At 11/25/08 04:14 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 11/24/08 11:11 PM, Malachy wrote: I was in the bookstore and noticed Pratchett has a new book out.

I've not gotten around to reading Nation yet, but given time I might be able to get into it.

It's in hardcover. i told myself I would wait for Making Money to come out in paperback, but it didn't come out in paperback until just now...needless to say I have a hard cover version of Making Money totally ruining my bookshelf's aesthetics

Hello, gentlemen, I've read just about every book of the Discworld series at least once (although given present company that is probably no great feat!) and would enjoy to participate in this discourse. Verbosity aside, I love Terry Pratchett and am eternally indebted to my tenth-grade English teacher for introducing him to me. I unceasingly recommend Terry Pratchett to all of my literary-minded friends whenever I get the chance (but so far none of them have taken my advice yet). Out of the thirty-six-or-so books, I think the ones I enjoyed the most were probably "The Fifth Elephant," "Witches Abroad," and "Moving Pictures" (if only for the old movie references).
I've also read "The Last Hero," the comic book adaption of "Guards! Guards!", "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents," and all three Tiffany Aching books--so with the exception of the guild diaries, the comic book of "The Color of Magic," and the "Science of Discworld" series, I have read every piece of Discworld literature.
To my dismay, I only own one of his books and my local library only has around five or so, so I have to order them from other libraries and wait for a while for them to come in ("Eric" was on hold for months!).

Sorry for the long introduction post. I just love Pratchett's work. I wish he could stick around forever, or at least live to a ripe old age unsullied by the dementia of old age, like Arthur C. Clarke did.

News in this morning:

Terry Pratchett has been awarded a knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen for services to Literature in the New Year's honours list.

Congratulations, Sir Terry.

At 12/31/08 06:09 AM, Coop83 wrote: News in this morning:

Terry Pratchett has been awarded a knighthood by Her Majesty the Queen for services to Literature in the New Year's honours list.

Congratulations, Sir Terry.

goddamn you, coop!

I had just found out while reading Neil Gaiman's blog and rushed here with a link to the BBC News story.

But yes. I am in total agreement in Pratchett receiving such an honour! There's good reason that Discworld is so popular.

At 12/31/08 09:41 PM, Malachy wrote: I had just found out while reading Neil Gaiman's blog and rushed here with a link to the BBC News story.

Watch the top of the two videos, he looks so gobsmacked and humbled for having been awarded the knighthood

"If the people from the television start showing up, talking about it, it must be true!"

"I can't believe I'm finally going to be married to a Lady."

But yes. I am in total agreement in Pratchett receiving such an honour! There's good reason that Discworld is so popular.

Yeah, his satire is cutting edge, as it were and I have to say, the collection of hard backed leather bound literature that lives behind him is quite astonishing.

Please tell me he outranks Rowling.

Three huzzas to sir Terry.

At 1/1/09 07:52 AM, JohnnyWang wrote: Please tell me he outranks Rowling.

How dare you compare such a person to the mighty Sir Terry Pratchett! JK Rowling is someone who had the right idea with the books, but then she sold out to the dark side of fame, cashing in on the money that was out there and carrying it on. Fortunately, the series has ended, until she gives in and puts another episode out.

At least with Pratchett / Discworld, these books don't focus around one single central character and while he has now branched into making the TV adaptations, he is doing it on his terms, so that the books can be portrayed how he wants them.

The thing is, Rowling isn't a bad author (especially when you consider what's the new big thing; Twilight), her work just dominates the markets.

I bet Rowling will start a new series in a few years, I just hope she knows better than to overmilk the cash cow, and instead does soemthing non-HP related.

Finished The Last Continent, I read the finnish translation, and I knew a lot of the humour was lost. Also, translating Didjabrigaberalong must have been a nightmare for the translator, especially trying to make it sound Australian.

I just bought The Nation

I am currently finishing up that silly Golden Compass series (on the last book, The Amber Spyglass.

It's actually a really good series.

We also finally finished Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book the other night (we've been reading it to each other since October, but took a few months off because we were busy reading on our own).

The Nation is next for me. I'm excited to read a Pratchett novel that doesn't take place in Discworld since I spent so much time reading Discworld.

I also ordered The Science of Discworld i on December 21st...from a seller who has a bad reputation, but they were the only ones who had it :/ and my wife ordered a pair of boots and World of Warcraft the same day, and received both a couple of days ago, but that was directly from Amazon...

But it has until the 13th to make it here...so yeah.

At 1/2/09 04:01 PM, JohnnyWang wrote: The thing is, Rowling isn't a bad author (especially when you consider what's the new big thing; Twilight), her work just dominates the markets.

I'm not saying she's a bad author, I just think that she's gotten greedy and that's not a forgiveable crime, especially when everyone tells you about how poor she was when she started all of this writing - a single mother with barely 2 pennies to rub together and now look at her - swimming in her money bin like Scrooge McDuck.

Finished The Last Continent, I read the finnish translation, and I knew a lot of the humour was lost. Also, translating Didjabrigaberalong must have been a nightmare for the translator, especially trying to make it sound Australian.

The problem with English comedy is that it doesn't tend to translate well into many languages - satire is one of the few sub denominations of comedy that does. Possibly why the Germans think that we lack humour, as we love slapstick in the UK, but the Germans think that Pratfalls are just abstract silliness and not humorous.

At 1/2/09 08:42 PM, Malachy wrote: I also ordered The Science of Discworld i on December 21st...from a seller who has a bad reputation

Trust me, it's well worth the wait. When it arrives and you start reading that, order a copy of Science of Discworld 2 and 3 at the same time. Failing that, PM me (or speak to me if you're coming to the London meet) and I'll try to arrange to get some sent to you.

I finished Nation

It was an amazingly good read. Pratchett has a habit of writing about strong female characters.

It's a YA novel, but any Pratchett fan would appreciate the story. It's quite good.

I read the first Science of Discworld as well. I enjoyed the Discworld story, and most of the hard science stuff...but I found that I enjoyed the Discworld story much more than the real world science stuff. The every other chapter thing was sort of interesting and how it all fit together like that.

I'll be sure to buy the other two as soon as I can afford to.

Now I'm working on finally finishing that golden compass series.

At 3/10/09 02:59 AM, Malachy wrote: I finished Nation

Sounds like I'll have to get my hands on a copy of that then :P

I read the first Science of Discworld as well. I enjoyed the Discworld story, and most of the hard science stuff...but I found that I enjoyed the Discworld story much more than the real world science stuff. The every other chapter thing was sort of interesting and how it all fit together like that.

Yeah, it's a nice way to read it is first with the scientific footnotes every other chapter, but then to sit through it and read just the story, to see if you understand it better.

I'm reading a novel about Ghengis Khan at the moment, by Conn Iggulden and I can't seem to tear myself away from it. Give me a few days and I'll be onto book two of that trilogy, so maybe Nation will happen when the trilogy is done.

At 3/10/09 02:59 AM, Malachy wrote: I read the first Science of Discworld as well. I enjoyed the Discworld story, and most of the hard science stuff...but I found that I enjoyed the Discworld story much more than the real world science stuff. The every other chapter thing was sort of interesting and how it all fit together like that.

I sure learned a lot of new stuff from it. I still don't get shit all about quantum physics, except that it's really, REALLY weird.

At 3/10/09 04:31 PM, JohnnyWang wrote: I sure learned a lot of new stuff from it. I still don't get shit all about quantum physics, except that it's really, REALLY weird.

Yeah, but you learn to be wary like Ridcully is of Ponder

"This is going towards the Quantum thingy again, isn't it?"

I've recently discovered the magic of Discworld. I have read: The Colour Of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites and Mort, the second being my favorite so far. Pratchett is an amazing author, i'm attempting to get through all of his novels (not just Discworld) amongst the mass amount of work for my A-Levels.

I've still no luck with finding a copy of Science of Discworld II

I've been reading this Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's not all that great to be honest, but it's a long series and the books are pretty thick so they keep me reading when I don't have anything else.

I read Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger the last two weeks. It was really an awesome read. Although I am a fan of satirical or sci-fi style writing, I enjoyed it a lot. It's a memoir of a sort from a WWI German Soldier who fought from 1914 to 1918. Pretty unreal. I read it for my WWI and the Peace course.

I just started reading Cracking India for my India and the World course and it's pretty good, told through the point of view of a Parsee child growing up in the Punjab province at around the time of Indian independence and the partition of India and Pakistan.

I just bought unseen academicals, will give an opinion on it in a few days. :D

*****SPOILER ALERT!*****

At 10/24/09 07:22 AM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote: I just bought unseen academicals, will give an opinion on it in a few days. :D

I've got a copy of it sitting at home, waiting patiently for me to read it. About another 100 pages of the life history of Genghis Khan and I'm off to find out just why the Dean left Unseen University.

At 10/24/09 12:13 AM, Malachy wrote: I've still no luck with finding a copy of Science of Discworld II

I've been reading this Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's not all that great to be honest, but it's a long series and the books are pretty thick so they keep me reading when I don't have anything else.

I just got into an interesting part of the series (phew, that was only like 5 books...).

From what i gather Terry Goodkind is a frothing-at-the-mouth vehement anti-communist. Holy hell, in this series there's this supposed "theocracy" which resembles the self loathing fun of puritans and other such protestants with a burtal dictatorship and a communist society. Yeah I know, communism shouldn't have a religion, but it is the religion that the communism is based on. So anyway, the main character Richard is kidnapped by some crazy wench from this theocracy which is named "the old world" from his homeland of "the new world" and she shows him how life is there. It's a despotic, poverty ridden and clogged with bureaucracy. To paraphrase a conflict in the novel, Richard works for a warehouse, and the warehouse is full to the brim with materials to ship, and there is no shortage of people wanting the shipments, but the government says that in the name of "fairness" the warehouse Richard works for cannot send out any orders until the other warehouses in the city catch up to them. But the other warehouses have broken wagons or sick workers, so are unable to catch up, so Richard is forced to sit on his hands at work because of this "fairness". It uses tons of socialist era terms for the good of society and mankind and whatnot. (It was written in 2005)

Other odd parallels, the "old world" is very HUGE compared to the "new world" (USSR Vs. Europe/USA??), The theocracy had a dictator at the seat of power but a cleric holding the reins (Putin....), people fake sickness or injury to game the system (welfare state opponent argument). The list goes on. I mean, this is like a straight up bombardment of communism if there is any in modern literature.

While perusing the book store, I stumbled across a most magnificent surprise: Unseen Academicals is out!

I obviously picked it up (along with an Illustrated history of Canada)

I shall report when I have a chance to get to it. (after a few papers and tons of class reading.)

At 11/10/09 08:49 PM, Malachy wrote: While perusing the book store, I stumbled across a most magnificent surprise: Unseen Academicals is out!

Yeah, it's a good tale and Mr. Nutt is an awesome character, though don't mention the Dean to the Archchancellor ;)