Terry Pratchett and Discworld

This blog entry is about my 2nd favourite author and another of my collecting obsessions, Terry Pratchett.

Everybody remembers their first Discworld book with fondness and I am the same. My first was Mort and I loved It from the start, the character of Death is one of Pratchett's greatest achievements. From then on I was hooked on Discworld.

But why do I love his books? Here are 10 good reasons:

First, there are so many fantastic characters. Death, Granny, Vimes, The Librarian, Nanny, Tiffany, Rincewind, The Luggage, The Patrician, Moist, Carrot, Angua, Dibbler etc, the list goes on and on. And they are brilliant characters, some of the best written in fiction. You really do love them.

Second, the humour. It is subtle, it is very funny and there is a lot of it.

Third, the stories. There are so many great stories.

Fourth, the emotion. A lot of the books have got real emotion to them. You really buy into the stories and situations and they pull on your emotions.

Fifth, the real world issues in a fantasy context. The way real world issues, even big issues, are explored within a fantasy, but real, setting is brilliant.

Sixth, the whole series. Although each book can be read on its own, the whole series, and sub series, links together to give you something even more special. And there are over 40 books to enjoy.

Seventh, they are unique. There is nothing like them, just try to find anything close.

Eighth, the Discworld. A flat world, on the backs of four elephants, on the back of a giant turtle swimming through the universe. What more do you need.

Ninth, there are no chapters. Just readable sized chunks.

Finally the man himself. He was such a great man. British, humble (always grateful to his fans), genuine (he didn't start out to be a writer) and principled (right to the end).

So which are my favourite books?

My top ten are:
1. Night Watch - just brilliant, so very emotional and time travelling.

2. Going Postal - great story, the Moist character is excellent.

3. Small Gods - a god trapped in a tortoise with only one believer, enough said.

4. The Wee Free Men - very atmospheric, Tiffany is a great character and it has Nac Mac Feegles.

5. Moving Pictures - a wonderful parody of the movie industry.

6. Mort - Death is a genius character and he takes on an apprentice, plus it's the first Discworld book I read.

7. Monstrous Regiment - a great story with great characters, exploring war, woman's rights and racism.

8. Guards Guards - the first of the amazing guards series, a fantastic group of characters.

9. I Shall Wear Midnight - the peak of the wonderful Tiffany series.

10. Soul Music - a parody of the music industry, with some great humour.

There are a few weaker books, still good but, in my opinion, not to the same level as the others (although some people like these a lot). I'm not a big fan of Pyramids, Eric, The Last Hero or Hogfather.

Another thing I like about the Discworld books is the original cover artwork by Josh Kirby. It is original, fun and iconic, and I'm sure it added to the books original popularity. It is a shame that he died and couldn't do the whole series.

There has always been a heated argument about what is the best order to read the books. This is mainly based on the fact that the first 2 books (Colour of Magic and Light Fantasitic) are a bit weirder than the rest of the series and people can be put off if they read these first, therefore a lot of people, me included, recommend that you should start with one of the others (I always recommend Guards Guards). The other camp insist that the series should be read in order. I have been involved in a few heated exchanges on Goodreads about this.

There have been a few tv/film adaptations of some of the Discworld books. I'm not a fan of the 2 animated films. The newer tv films are better, very well made and quite good, I liked Going Postal, but I thought David Jason was poor casting as Rincewind in Colour Of Magic and Hogfather.

Collecting Pratchett and Discworld stuff is another of my hoarding obsessions. Unlike Tolkien there is not as much to actually collect. There are the books themselves, and the various versions.

 I have all of the series in paperback (a lot in different versions) and almost all of them in hardback, in fact the highlight of my Pratchett collection is a first edition Eric (which I got from a car boot for £1).

I have a lot of the Clarecraft figures, which are excellent. It was a shame that they stopped producing them. I also have some of the Clarecraft pewter miniatures

I have also collected all the Discworld calendars since they were first published.

I do have quite a lot of odd other bits and pieces. Other books, Pratchett did write some non Discworld novels (probably my favourite is Good Omens, with Niel Gaimen), and there are some books about Discworld. I have DVDs and Videos, t-shirts, puzzles, games etc.

I must admit that I don't collect the stamps, this is a large area in itself and I haven't had the time or money.

Collecting

This entry is a summary of my various collecting obsessions, I will hopefully go into more detail of each of these in the future.

Firstly, I must say that the world is split into two types of people, those that understand collecting and those that don't. If you don't then you will probably think I am crazy, like most of my family.

Why do I collect? It's an interesting question which I find hard to answer. I am a natural hoarder which I think is a big factor (is collecting just channelled hoarding?). I think I like the hunt, trying to find unusual and interesting things, on a subject I'm interested in, and then owning it. Although I am not so obsessed as to spend silly money, it's not a case of must have.

I have various collections, most of which are related to each other in some way.

Also, each of my collections is routed in my early years.

Collection 1, also my main obsession: Anything J R R Tolkien related. As my previous blog entry on Reading explained, my Tolkien obsession came first from reading the Hobbit and then Lord Of The Rings. You will be surprised at how big the world of Tolkien collecting can be.

Collections 2, 3 and 4 also stem from reading.

Collection 2: Anything Terry Pratchett/Discworld related. My second favourite author. There is quite a lot of Pratchett stuff to collect but it is nowhere near as big as Tolkien.

Collection 3: The works of author Sheri Tepper. My third favourite author. This collection is not big in scope as it is only books, but my collection is quite comprehensive.

Collection 4: Fantasy books. A very wide subject, although my definition of Fantasy (hopefully a future blog entry) limits it a bit. Note: I also have quite a few Sci-Fi books, but this is just some additional books I have accumulated, so I lump these in with my Fantasy collection.

Collection 5: Board Games. This again is also a huge subject area, so my collection is limited to a few sub areas a; board games from my early nerdy years (and variations on some of these), b; Fantasy based board games, a spin off from my fantasy book collection, c; Horse Racing based board games, because my work is horse racing based, d; Golf based board games, I'm not really sure why!

Collection 6: Home computing/gaming. This is not actually a real collection as I don't seek out things to add too it. It is mainly an accumulation of the old games/home computing bits and pieces I have had, although there are quite a few. Again it's roots are in my early nerdy years.

Collection 7: Model Trains. Similarly this is also more an accumulation sparked from my early years. I haven't developed or pursued this collection since a very early interest, I have just sporadically added to it. I would like to develop this more but really need some space for it, maybe when/if the children leave home.

Collection 8: McDonalds Happy Meal Toys. This don't actively add to this collection any more. I was interested in it whilst I was a keen car boot sale goer. I do however have my collection, in storage.

Collection 9: Puzzles. Not Jigsaw puzzles, but physical challenges like Rubics Cube. Again this is a collection I haven't actively added to for a while.

To go with my Fantasy books and board games, I also have a few other Fantasy bits, Videos and Records etc, but these are not big enough to be considered collections.

I also have a reasonable Stamp collection, but this is just left over from my youth, so I don't really include it.

At this point I must say that my collections are currently in storage as I have any room to display them, a future aspiration.

Am I obsessive? Maybe, but none of my collections is all consuming, most of them I just add too as I come across stuff. I think I am more of a hoarder than an obsessive collector.