#discworld read
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I'm re-reading the Discworld series for reasons, and honestly the most relatable part of reading these as an adult is how many of the protagonists start out being tired, used to their little routine and vaguely disgruntled by the interruption of the Plot. Sam Vimes wants to lie drunk in a gutter and absolutely doesn't want to be arresting dragons. Rincewind is yanked into every situation he's ever encountered, though he'd much rather be lying in a gutter too. (Minus the alcohol. Plus regretting everything he's ever done said witnessed or even heard about fourth-hand in his whole life.) Granny Weatherwax is deeply suspicious of foreign parts and that includes the next town over; Nanny has leaned into the armor of "nothing ever happens to jolly grannies who terrorize their daughters-in-law and make Saucy Jokes"
Only the young people don't seem to have picked up on this---and that's fortunate, because someone has to run around making things happen, if only so Vimes and Granny and Rincewind have a reason to get up (complaining bitterly the whole time) and put it all to rights. Without Carrot, Margrat, Eric, etc. these characters don't have that reason; they're likely to stay in the metaphorical gutter and keep wondering where it all went wrong or why anything has to change.
............well, that's not quite true. You get the sense that Vetinari knows how much certain people hate the Plot. And as the person sitting behind the metaphorical lighting board of Ankh-Morpork, he takes no small pleasure in forcing the Plot-haters specifically to stand up, and say some lines.
#I finished guards guards just yesterday and I forgot that vimes and wonse were set up to be mirror images#both boys from the shades of very different natures; who made good (ish) in wildly different ways#also it's interesting reading this books from an adult perspective; my mind isn't blown that these books exist#anymore; plus I've read so many good books since#and they're not perfectly constructed novels! especially these early books;#there are plenty of spots where I can feel the narrative get thin; where there's more handwaving than I remember#but each book IS better and tighter; the jokes are funnier and the irony sharpens; the footnotes are better utilized#the characters are getting more interesting and complicated as opposed to set-ups for jokes.#it's an illustration of someone getting better at their chosen field and that in itself is more impressive than I was anticipating.#discworld
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Tiffany couldn't quite work out how Miss Level got paid. Certainly the basket she carried filled up more than it emptied. They'd walk past a cottage and a woman would come scurrying out with a fresh-baked loaf or a jar of pickles, even though Miss Level hadn't stopped there. But they'd spend an hour somewhere else, stitching up the leg of a farmer who'd been careless with an axe, and get a cup of tea and a stale biscuit.
It didn't seem fair.
“Oh, it evens out,” said Miss Level, as they walked on through the woods.
“You do what you can. People give what they can, when they can. Old Slapwick there, with the leg, he's as mean as a cat, but there'll be a big cut of beef on my doorstep before the week's end, you can bet on it. His wife will see to it. And pretty soon people will be killing their pigs for the winter, and I'll get more brawn, ham, bacon and sausages turning up than a family could eat in a year.”
“You do? What do you do with all that food?”
“Store it,” said Miss Level.
“But you-”
“I store it in other people. It's amazing what you can store in other people.” Miss Level laughed at Tiffany's expression. “I mean, I take what I don't need round to those who don't have a pig, or who're going through a bad patch, or who don't have anyone to remember them.”
“But that means they'll owe you a favour!”
“Right! And so it just keeps on going round. It all works out.”
“I bet some people are too mean to pay-”
“Not pay,” said Miss Level, severely. “A witch never expects payment and never asks for it and just hopes she never needs to. But, sadly, you are right.”
“And then what happens?"
“What do you mean?”
“You stop helping them, do you?”
“Oh, no,” said Miss Level, genuinely shocked. “You can't not help people just because they're stupid or forgetful or unpleasant. Everyone's poor round here. If I don't help them, who will?”
"A Hat full of Sky" - Terry Pratchett
#Tiffany Aching#terry pratchett#discworld#If you're too young to read “Das Kapital” ready Tiffany Aching instead is2g#anarchocommunist icon Constance Level#Miss Level must be protected at all costs
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Most typical fantasy dragons are huge, powerful things. Discworld is hilarious for essentially making them this but reptillian:
They also explode and die when they are upset/frightened. Which is uhhh... a lot of the time. Fucking pathetic beasts
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Vlad looked imploringly at Agnes, and reached out to her.
'You wouldn't let them kill me, would you? You wouldn't let them do this to me? We could have... we might... you wouldn't, would you?'
The crowd hesitated. This sounded like an important plea. A hundred pairs of eyes stared at Agnes.
She took his hand. I suppose we could work on him, said Perdita. But Agnes thought about Escrow, and the queues, and the children playing while they waited, and how evil might come animal sharp in the night, or greyly by day on a list...
'Vlad,' she said gently, looking deep into his eyes, 'I'd even hold their coats.'
granny weatherwax was such a buzzkill for not letting her tear him apart <\3
#discworld#terry pratchett#carpe jugulum#agnes nitt#begging screaming pleading on my knees guys read agnes’ books#maskerade and carpe jugulum are soooooo important to me#agnes is so real for the vampire bf plot line in this book#she’s like obviously i can’t be with him he’s like literally evil. buuuuuuuuuut#hearth art
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family portrait :D young sam and sybil are behaving themselves and vimes is throwing a hissy fit because they tried to make him wear the helmet
[id: a digital painting of three people sitting for a portrait in a domestic interior. young sam is standing with his hands behind his back and beaming proudly. vimes is standing behind him with his hand on his shoulder, wearing a shiny military uniform and a surly expression. sybil is sitting on the right with an arm around young sam, smiling at the viewer. a plumed helmet is sitting on a table on the left. end id.]
#discworld#sam vimes#sybil ramkin#young sam vimes#artwork#discworld is inspiring me so much at the moment ive got it on the brain#vimes wore the helmet for 3 seconds and then took it off and refused to comb his helmet hair which is why he looks like that#also idk where the idea of sybil wearing wigs came from (i havent read all the books yet so i am not sure if it’s canon or headcanon) but i#am so besotted with that idea so assume sybil is bewigged any time i draw her#thats why she has no grey hairs here. i imagine her having very short wispy hair underneath#i literally love her so much ive been thinking about her for days she means the world 2 me#this is the first time ive drawn either her or young sam and im so happy with how they came out thats exactly how i picture them in my head#ive drawn vimes once before but i can usually get him close to my Brain Picture without too much difficulty#i just think Grumpy Bastard (affectionate) and there he is#also happy end of the year my friends! may 2024 bring you all the things you desire i love you
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How Not to Read Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels
With the very exciting fantasy books poll bracket going on Discworld and how to read it is in the zeitgeist again. I figured I would take a crack at adding to this important topic with a guide drawn from my own chaotic mess of a reading journey:
Learn that Terry Pratchett is a fantasy author that several people whose reading taste you admire enjoy. He apparently blends comedy, good plotting, and a world that is both grounded and satirical and you're a big fan of all those things.
Fabulous! Decide to read some of his work.
Go to your local library. Love a good library. You're new to the area, so you're also exploring the library for the first time, too.
You have found Terry Pratchett! Points to you! Pull a book off the shelf at random. It's called The Dark Side of the Sun.
Start reading. Realize that this feels more like sci-fi than fantasy. Sigh in smug superiority about people who get the two confused.
Realize about halfway through that this is not, in fact, a Discworld book.
Nobody warned you the guy wrote other things!
It's still good, tho. Maybe a little rough but this was an older book and the author clearly has potential. Let's try again.
Review his works. The vast majority are Discworld. You are highly unlikely to grab another non-Discworld book. Go back to the Terry Pratchett section of the library.
Oh hey he wrote a book with Neil Gaiman! You've hears of that guy!
Grab Good Omens off the shelf.
Take it home, realize, much sooner, that this is also not a Discworld book. Still enjoy yourself thoroughly. You should read more of this Gaiman dude, too.
But okay. For real this time. Go back to the library and don't leave without *CONFIRMING* you have a Discworld book this time.
Grab a book. Look at the cover. Read the back Discworld! Ha HA! You've done it!
It's called Thud.
You are utterly gripped by a story of a man wrestling with himself, his growing child, the political tensions of a city and extremism that echoes reality beautifully while still being entirely true to itself. It's a story of responsibility and love and building communities and Fantasy Chess. You are driven nearly to tears by the sentence *WHERE IS MY COW?*
You emerge from the book fundamentally changed as a person, and finally understanding what all the fuss is about. You are now a Terry Pratchett reader for life.
You realize Thud was in the middle of a series. That was a part of another series. That explains why there was a feeling that you were supposed to know some of these people already.
You finally find one of those flowcharts and figure out a more sensible reading order.
I always sort of laugh when people ask where to start reading Discworld, because Thud would be first on absolutely nobody's sensible Terry Pratchett reading order. I'm still tempted to recommend it though!
(My actual advice: Going Postal if you love con men being stuck doing the right thing, Wee Free Men if you like YA and smart angry girls owning their own power, Guards! Guards! *and* Men at Arms if you like crime shows with heart and are okay giving earlier work a try (the quality gets better and better, but I think it needs at least two books to get you into it), and Monstrous Regiment if you like gender and queer feelings, anti-war books told in the middle of a war, and/or would prefer a stand alone novel...and, you know, Thud if you want a great read and don't mind some chaos.)
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I don't know how Terry managed it. There's just nothing on this earth like a Discworld book. I'll be listening to a book I've read countless times over and suddenly, a single line I've never even really noticed before will tear me open. They just reach right inside me and open my ribcage to expose my very heart.
Tonight, it was Hat Full of Sky and Granny Weatherwax saying, "The world is unfair. Be grateful you have friends." On their own, the words are unremarkable. But juxtaposed together, with the context they are operating in....they had tears flowing down my face before I knew what was happening. The world is unfair; sometimes, the wonderful happens when it shouldn't (and/or when you feel you deserve a divinely wrathful torment) because you have friends. The world is unfair. That doesn't just mean that the horrible happens when it shouldn't. It means that the beautiful does too. Be grateful you have friends. They are the hub on which that beauty spins, turning the theft into gold.
A lot of people I've introduced to these books haven't liked them — they find them too silly, or preachy, or nonsensical, or even puerile. I am never upset or really disappointed when they don't like them. To each their own. But I will never understand it. They are baked into my being in a way that few things are and I am better to myself, to other people, and to the world because of it.
Sir Terry, you were a gift nonpareil. Thank you for your words and for shaping my world.
#gnu terry pratchett#in the feels tonight my friends#discworld is a vital part of me and frankly the witches series most of all#it shocks me sometimes how much i can get out of a relisten#even when ive heard and read the book countless times before#theres truly nothing on this earth like a discworld novel#discworld#tiffany aching#granny weatherwax
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the realest Discworld reading order is simply 'whatever the hell the local library has available, in whatever order it becomes available'
#the way i absolutely rawdogged the reading order because i would just grab whatever was in the school library... effervescent#and imagine my suprise when i went to another library and there were OTHER DISCWORLD BOOKS#i think trying to work out who the hell everyone is and where in the timeline u are is half the fun sometimes#Discworld
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if Hayao Miyazaki wants to come back out of retirement one more time Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett is right there
#reaper man is basically BEGGING for a miyazaki ghibli movie#i mean come on#it’s perfect#the mix of life changing soul altering segments (the Death plot) and the funny silly elements (the wizard side plot) would be perfect ghibli#psa hayao miyazaki go read reaper man right now#sorry had to get that out there#vin speaks#discworld#studio ghibli#hayao miyazaki#reaper man#terry pratchett#gnu terry pratchett
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#swan comics#a swan in a santa hat#🦢#I thought about posting this in response to someone#but that would be a bit too much I think#no harm done#least said soonest mended#but this is a conversation I have in my home as well so#perhaps we need a visual shorthand#where the FUCK is my CUP#this is the response to a) kids not putting their socks on but coming downstairs dressed as crocodiles#b) spouse mishearing something but gallantly giving an opinion on it that was so in depth I didn’t have the heart to interrupt#and c) someone explaining to me about the discworld reading order#on a post about the saddening lack of risk-taking and support for creators in the content-gatekeeping industry#none of those are crimes not even the socks#I can strongly understand the Considerations that beset and bedazzle you when you go to put socks on and how the best response is to put on#a fuzzy crocodile onesie#but it’s not what I asked.#like this is a good response to a different thing#please recall the input here - the assignment if you will - was about socks. I love what you’ve done here though#good contribution. you know what we’re keeping it. love it.#just don’t present it as if the original incident report can be marked closed now okay?#do not close the support ticket#the support ticket remains unanswered.#no I completely agree. the outfit DOES need green face paint too. a topic we can add to the queue when oddly enough you have socks on
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need to say something that discworld has opened my eyes to. we all need to apologize to neil about something i think because a lot of us love going mehhhh newt’s neil’s silly little self insert fantasy. we have been mean about this. and now reading discworld. well. it just seems like terry loves creating wet cats of men who are quite literally physically incapable of talking to women and also kind of suck just a little bit. which is to say i’m starting to suspect that newt is a pratchett original actually.
#text#my post#mobi#there’s been like at least four. and those are main characters i can think of off the top of my head.#discworld read
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I love their dynamic lol
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AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I mean... they don't talk about Nobby's species much. Congratulations on your poker faces, you two.
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[thru tears] yah the fifth elephant was nicq
#oh repressed trans ppl how i adore u#WHY would yall let my trans ass read this oh mh fucking god#the fifth elephant#cheery littlebottom#gnu terry pratchett#discworld#sam vimes#trans#transgender#again. this was published in 1999. if you even care.
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the thing about jack jackrum. ok let me back up a bit: i reblogged a post a few days ago talking about how there are plenty of cis people who don't have an innate sense of gender connected to their agab, but don't have dysphoria so they just. vibe. the 'i just work here' of gender identity. borogravian society does not really have an idea of being transgender, so they're entirely working off gender = sex = genitals at birth. if jackrum had been born in a world where his beloved never went off to war, and he never decided to follow him, would he have been happy as a woman? if he'd grown up today, in roundworld, would he have been a trans man? there's no way to know. but what we do know is that he's been (for all intents and purposes) a man for possibly 60 years, and doesn't want to give it up at the end of the novel. maybe that's because he loves being a man, maybe that's because he just doesn't feel a strong connection to womanhood and it's easier. either way, he makes his choice, and i want to know who changed the pronouns in his last scene of the american version of the novel so we can have a chat.
#discworld#terry pratchett#monstrous regiment#jack jackrum#hearthposting#that never sat right with me reading it before i really joined the fandom and when i saw that i was like OHHHH it all makes sense.
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