If you were going to recommend a Terry Pratchett book to someone who has never read any Pratchett and also isn't really into sci-fi or fantasy in a big way but who does have a sense of humour, which book would you recommend?
I'd say they were three of the weakest...anything after Carpe Jugulum was weak. They do, however, appeal slightly more to a larger audience as there are less in-jokes and geeky references so you may well be right - but if I read any of those as my first Pratchett I'd probably not go near him again!
They're certainly well written, no doubt about that, but what I love about Pratchett is the humour, and the fact he would write an entire section of plot just so the running joke had a brilliant punchline!
There just aren't enough jokes in some of the later ones, there are some fantastic characters (Mr Slant the zombie lawyer, who couldn't cope with dying if someone still owed him money...just like my boss!) but not much seems to happen, I keep expecting some of that biting humour and funny satire that many of the older books were full of. (and going on the geeky websites that point out all the jokes you missed or didn't get...that was always fun, there just aren't that many these days.)
Before, when a new book came out I would read it very quickly, the later ones will take me ages because I get a bit bored...I got Making Money when it came out and I'm still only on chapter 3...because it's just not holding the attention unlike a book like Soul Music, that I read from cover to cover in a day, then flicked back to the start and read the entire thing through again on the basis that it was possibly one of the best things I've ever read...many of the later Pratchett books I doubt I'll re-read.
and the fact he would write an entire section of plot just so the running joke had a brilliant punchline!
Ohhhhhh yes. Right at the end of Soul Music, when Buddy gets a job at the chip shop after 300-odd pages of being mistaken for an elf, and we finally get hit with the punchline?
Genius. I don't think I've ever groaned that loud in my life.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-10-04 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 09:32 pm (UTC)I think they're some of the least sci-fi/fantasy of his books. And I think they're some of his best written.
What they are slightly weak on is the humour.
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Date: 2007-10-04 09:42 pm (UTC)There just aren't enough jokes in some of the later ones, there are some fantastic characters (Mr Slant the zombie lawyer, who couldn't cope with dying if someone still owed him money...just like my boss!) but not much seems to happen, I keep expecting some of that biting humour and funny satire that many of the older books were full of. (and going on the geeky websites that point out all the jokes you missed or didn't get...that was always fun, there just aren't that many these days.)
Before, when a new book came out I would read it very quickly, the later ones will take me ages because I get a bit bored...I got Making Money when it came out and I'm still only on chapter 3...because it's just not holding the attention unlike a book like Soul Music, that I read from cover to cover in a day, then flicked back to the start and read the entire thing through again on the basis that it was possibly one of the best things I've ever read...many of the later Pratchett books I doubt I'll re-read.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-05 12:39 am (UTC)Ohhhhhh yes. Right at the end of Soul Music, when Buddy gets a job at the chip shop after 300-odd pages of being mistaken for an elf, and we finally get hit with the punchline?
Genius. I don't think I've ever groaned that loud in my life.