Spring Reading
March 25, 2008When the weather is like it was yesterday, I want to sit outside with a book.
(I didn’t but I did eat lunch outside, then went for a nice walk.)
At the moment I’m reading Holly Lisle’s DIPLOMACY OF WOLVES. However, there is no doubt in my mind that I will still be reading it next week (not reading very fast these days) so I will instead talk a little more about Terry Pratchett’s SOURCERY, the book I mentioned having just finished last week.
First of all, the Discworld novels are quite amusing. I’ve only read two of them (two of the very many) and have enjoyed both immensely. Pratchett manages to combine fantasy with punny comedy, and to pull both off. I could compare him to Piers Anthony, or to Robert Asprin, but I think I won’t. (If you like either of those, however, you will almost certainly like Pratchett.)
Sourcery itself is hard to describe, but essentially it’s what happens when magic goes from being tame and limited to wild and unlimited… and it’s how the wizards deal with that change. Now, this could be a very deep topic. This could be handled with lots of pathos and angst and drama. But it’s the Discworld. So instead it’s pure fun.
The characters are awesome, with Rincewind the wizard (who actually has less magical ability than your average, non-wizard human), the Luggage (sentient baggage… hehe! Quite amusing), and lots of others who are written well, if tongue-in-cheek.
I think the biggest problem I had with the story was the occasional tangents Pratchett goes on. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they are confusing. (I do wonder if they confuse me because I am not British.) Still. Great book.
It has been years since I read Sourcery I think it is one of the first ones he wrote and they do get a little caught up in themselves sometimes. But I haven’t read a duff one yet.
And it is strange how confused we can get in each others literature isn’t it? The first time I read To Kill a Mockingbird…I didn’t understand hardly anything!
Nicole- Thanks for the images of Spring- that’s as close as I’ll get to it anytime soon.
And Icarus looks lovely.
I was completely and utterly drawn to your photos! No wonder you wanted to be outside and dive into some good books! Your reading list is very interesting — I’ve heard of some of the authors but I’m not too familiar with their work. I just trying to decide if I should prepare for spring (if it ever gets to Chicago) by continuing on my sort of chick-lit streak I’ve been on, or yank out some summer brainless reading?! I’ll think about that! Great post and great pics!