Read with me: Terry Pratchett

My husband is a huge fan of Terry Pratchett and he is the one who introduced me to his books. Below is a post that he wrote about Terry Pratchett:

Terry Pratchett was an incredible student of sociology, history, politics, psychology and pretty much everything else. He had a sense of humour that could look at anything and see the funny side, but his absolute favourite topic and source of material seems to have been human nature. The first time that I picked up one of his books, Mort, I was completely smitten by his particular brand of humour and found myself laughing out loud regularly. The fact that his books have been translated into so many other languages would lead me to believe I'm probably not alone in this.

Most, but not all, of his work is set on the Discworld - a world based on the beliefs of the Flat Earth society, information about whom can be found here:

https://theflatearthsociety.org/home/

I would recommend having a look and considering how people's beliefs can be formed.

Most of his stories are based around the same main heroes/anti-heroes but the total number and depth of the characters would safely overwhelm those of War and Peace in a fight. Terry Pratchett was able to introduce and develop every one of these characters into someone you want to find out more about.... probably over a beer.

Since that first introduction through Mort, I have read almost all of the books and seen all of the shows/movies that he was involved in and I often go back to re-read books that I have only read 99 times before.

I now find myself to be a Pratchett-pusher and constantly trying to force it on other people. I can only hope that anyone who reads this post will find themselves intrigued enough to pick up a book and flick through the first few pages. I suggest you then find yourself somewhere comfortable and hope you don't have too many plans for the immediate future.
                                                                                                                            Kevin Treacy

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And now to some of my favourites by Terry Pratchett:

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

This is a "rat-eat-rat world", and it's not easy to survive in it, even for a talking cat and a bunch of educated rats, to say nothing of the stupid-looking kid and a girl who lives in the world of tales. 

Rats eat some magic stuff from the rubbish heap of the School of Wizardry and Science and suddenly they find themselves thinking, using fire, reading, dreaming and asking themselves questions about life after death and stuff like this.

An ordinary cat eats one of these magic rats and becomes an amazing talking cat who can think and come up with cunning plans how to make a lot of money and go and live on an island.

A musically talented orphan who plays the pipe becomes the rat-piper and all of them go to a small town of Bad Blintz where things smell fishy, and with the help of the mayor's daughter they help rid the town of rat-catches and rats and turn a once poor place into a prosperous touristy town.

A very entertaining, witty and metaphorical book which makes you like rats:)

The Bromeliad is a sweet story of little people (nomes) living in a supermarket and thinking it is the whole universe. They discover that the world is so much more than the supermarket and set off for a quest for a better life. This book is a joy to read for linguists and people who appreciate the creative use of language and metaphor.