Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sir Terry Pratchett has died

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 234 posts

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#141

Post by pdpi »

lucraft wrote: post #100
bentcorner wrote: post #44

I've never read any of his books, although I've been meaning to for some time. Can anyone who's read through them comment? According to the Discworld wikipedia article, publication order may not be the best way to go through the series. This[1] page recommends reading a plot/chronological order. Personally I prefer reading books in publication order, since I get to follow the mind of the author. Given that, there are…

Question 1: Are you fairly determined to read them all? YES: start with The Colour of Magic at the beginning and work your way through NO / Not sure: Don't start at the beginning, as the first few books are weird and will put you off. Question 2: What sounds more fun to you, reading about Badass Witches, Badass Policemen or Badass Businessmen? Your respective starting points are Equal Rites , Guards! Guards! and The…

Mort is my go-to suggestion for a starter book. The Death books in general are pretty damn good.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#142

Post by lomnakkus »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #137
kiiski wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the quotes?

I see you're downvoted, but you're right. The lack of quotes around Death's words was characteristic. Death didn't "speak", his words just existed, imperial, in the narrative :)

That and the, well, rather more down-to-earth reasoning that his words were set in small caps and so were easily distinguishable from the rest of the text.

I still wish I could speak in small caps.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#143

Post by jugchock »

A little shocked at how hard this hit me, maybe it was from reading the comments here. It always made me a little sad that I never met anyone in person that appreciated him the way I did. Hopefully his death will spread awareness of his work and his influence will never die.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#144

Post by pdpi »

shabda wrote: post #73
bentcorner wrote: post #44

I've never read any of his books, although I've been meaning to for some time. Can anyone who's read through them comment? According to the Discworld wikipedia article, publication order may not be the best way to go through the series. This[1] page recommends reading a plot/chronological order. Personally I prefer reading books in publication order, since I get to follow the mind of the author. Given that, there are…

Small Gods is a common recommendation from other people, but it is a collaboration with Gaiman. Not that its a bad thing, but it is missing the full Pratchett voice. My favorites are all Moist_von_Lipwig books. I recommend starting with Going Postal. Its comes much later in chronological order, but is the first Moist_von_Lipwig book and is enjoyable standalone.

> but it is a collaboration with Gaiman

Unless I'm missing something important, you're thinking of Good Omens, rather than Small Gods.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#145

Post by lotsofmangos »

bentcorner wrote: post #44

I've never read any of his books, although I've been meaning to for some time. Can anyone who's read through them comment? According to the Discworld wikipedia article, publication order may not be the best way to go through the series. This[1] page recommends reading a plot/chronological order. Personally I prefer reading books in publication order, since I get to follow the mind of the author. Given that, there are…

Read the very short story 'Troll Bridge' - http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/athenia/stories/pterry/troll...

Then buy the lot, you will not regret it. Some are better than others, naturally, but even his worst is like Tom Holt on top form.

I'd read them in order, personally. Though that might just be because that's been my experience of them.

As others have said, the style changes after The Light Fantastic, but the first two books do a lot of scene setting and character building that feed into the later works.

edit - Troll Bridge was published in the anthology 'After the King: Stories In Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien' - http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/After_the_King - buy that too. Is all good.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#146

Post by lomnakkus »

MrUnderhill wrote: post #51
tomjen3 wrote: post #43

I seem to have a habit of only starting to read authors right around their deaths, but for somebody who has not read him, which novel would be the best to start with?

There is a handy Discworld Reading Order Diagram available at the following link :) http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/

I can only second these recommendations. My first one was "Mort" which truly excellent since TP had found his stride by then. I can't say I remember much about "Guards! Guards!" but IMO this story arc is the best one. The whole Vimes/Vetinari "storyline" is truly masterful. (Might be coloured by Vimes and Vetinari being my two favorite characters in the entire Discworld oeuvre.)

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#147

Post by the_af »

lucraft wrote: post #85
jameshart wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main reason for that recommendation is that The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, though fun books and enjoyable fantasy parodies in themselves, are really not representative of what the later Discworld books were to become. When Terry wrote Equal Rites and Mort, he really set out his manifesto for the series as being about this world, reflected in that world, and that theme is what really carries forward.…

Night Watch was amazing. Moral, moving, exciting. It could stand on it's own as literature without any of the other books.

Night Watch is amazing and moving.

Other Discworld stories that surprised me include Lords and Ladies and Thud!, in which Pratchett manages to write genuine horror stories.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#148

Post by kazinator »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #48
arcatek wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp." — Terry Pratchett

'He was the sort of person who stood on mountaintops during thunderstorms in wet copper armour shouting 'All the Gods are bastards.' - Terry Pratchett

If you're encased in copper, wet or not, you have a fair chance. The copper provides a conductive path around you that is better than through you.

Lightning rods and their cables also get wet, and are touching the building, which is also wet.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#149

Post by Aradalf »

totalrobe wrote: post #92
thirsteh wrote: post #4

"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." — Terry Pratchett RIP

“Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” - Terry Pratchett RIP, thank you for the perspective.

Very applicable actually. He lived a life that impacted millions of people around the world, and made his mark upon the world. RIP Terry Pratchett.

Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died

#150

Post by kazinator »

dredmorbius wrote: post #109
jgrahamc wrote: post #22

‘Goodbye,’ Mort said, and was surprised to find a lump in his throat. ‘It’s such an unpleasant word, isn’t it?’ QUITE SO. Death grinned because, as has so often been remarked, he didn’t have much option. But possibly he meant it, this time. I PREFER AU REVOIR, he said. So, goodbye, Sir Terry; or at least let's hope it's just au revoir.

Interesting, etymologically. "Good bye" is a contraction of "God be with ye (you)", which isn't quite so abrupt. "Au revoir", literally, "until (we) see again". Similar to "Hasta manyana" (until later), or "bis später" (same), Spanish and German, or "zài jiàn" ("see (you) again", Mandarin Chinese) . Farewells (literally, "fare thee well", be well) in many languages share similar attributes.

So perhaps the French translation of "good bye" which more closely matches the idiom's etymology is "adieu".
Post reply on HN