Book thread

[Logorrhea]

One of my favourite books of all times. Very very excited.

[Dave Cahill]

Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series of novels who had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, has died aged 66, his publishers have announced.

He passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family on Thursday.

He completed his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014.

Larry Finlay, MD at Transworld Publishers, said in a statement: “The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds.”

[Dave Cahill]

@terryandrob: AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
@terryandrob: Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
@terryandrob: The End.

[IanD]

@terryandrob: AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
@terryandrob: Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
@terryandrob: The End.

Great last tweets.

Am really gutted to hear Terry Pratchett passed away. Great author and I thought he handled his illness with great dignity.

Have just checked and I am 2 short of the adult Discworld novels. Off to bookshop to rectify that now - may introduce my 9 year old niece to the kids books soon.

[Logorrhea]

I remember a few years back, after his diagnosis, he took part in a documentary on assisted suicide. One of the saddest documentaries I've ever watched. At the time, and consistently since he has always professed his desire to leave before Alzheimer's took its toll.

On a side point, Amazon have quite a lot of the discworld novels in a clothbound hardcover collection. Not all of them but all the early ones up to a point. About 20 in all. Just search for the "Discworld Hardback Library". If you are a fan or a collector they are very well presented versions of some classic books. I'd highly recommend.

[johng]

The younger you get it the quicker you go. Raygun and Thatcher lasted a long time.......

[Peg Leg]

Gutted!
I hope DEATH & Binky or maybe that should be Om takes good care of him!

[TerenureJim]

Anyone lined up any good reads for the long weekend stretching before us?

[TerenureJim]

Can any discworkd aficionados point me towards the best novel (or novels) to get into the world of Prachett?

[Logorrhea]

Can any discworkd aficionados point me towards the best novel (or novels) to get into the world of Prachett?

Mort would probably be the most popular. Was the one that got me started anyway.

[Dave Cahill]

Can any discworkd aficionados point me towards the best novel (or novels) to get into the world of Prachett?

Mort would probably be the most popular. Was the one that got me started anyway.

Its a good call - that or Guards! Guards! I think (though that could because I love the City Watch stuff)

[domhnallj]

Colour of magic was my first. Mort is cool too. Basically any of the older ones are the best place to start.

[Peg Leg]

I too read Mort as my first, but if I was to start again I'd read them in order (I think colour of magic is the first). So many minor characters and ideas become major components over the course of the books. Never a huge fan of the witch books but small gods was a favourite before the nights watch books. Great timeless satirical pieces.

[nc6000]

Have any of you tried photocopying a book from a Kindle?

[TerenureJim]

I too read Mort as my first, but if I was to start again I'd read them in order (I think colour of magic is the first). So many minor characters and ideas become major components over the course of the books. Never a huge fan of the witch books but small gods was a favourite before the nights watch books. Great timeless satirical pieces.

I was very luckily treated to a hardback copy of Feet of Clay by my better half, fantastic reading so far, and the hardback library editions are simply stunning books.

[BarryP]

Just picked up "Dub Sub Confidential". Really looking forward to it.

Seems a fascinating character - has a website/blog called "soberpaddy.com"

Dub Sub Confidential : A Goalkeeper's Life with - and Without - the Dubs

Quick Overview:

Dub Sub Confidential by John Leonard: a GAA memoir like no other. John Leonard was a gifted Gaelic football goalkeeper who had the misfortune to reach his prime at the same time, and in the same county, as one of the all-time greats: Stephen Cluxton. Unless something happened to Clucko, Leonard was always going to be number 2. Of course, it didn't help that he had a problem with drink and drugs...Dub Sub Confidential is John Leonard's vivid, witty and searingly honest account of his life in and out of sport. He was both a committed Dub and a sceptical observer of the goings on in the dressing-room and on the training pitch. He writes about the players and the mentors, and about the oddity of being part of the GAA's biggest circus while never expecting to get on the pitch. And he writes brilliantly about the demons that led him to addiction, his efforts for many years to party hard and train hard, and his eventual breakthrough to sobriety. Dub Sub Confidential is a GAA memoir like no other yet published - a book about how Gaelic games collide with real life. It is also a brilliant read from a remarkable personality.

[TerenureJim]

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - lovely paced book, not a perfect read, one or two plot threads a bit too dues ex machina, but nothing too worrying. Just a very entertaining and great opening gambit to a supposed 7 book series (3 published to date, 4th due in 2016). Think Oceans 11 set in a land that's part medevial Venice and part Game of Thrones. Great world building and not ott on the fantasy.

[Peg Leg]

Working my way to through the collected works of H P Lovecraft. Great writing from a very obviously tortured soul.

[fourthirtythree]

Working my way to through the collected works of H P Lovecraft. Great writing from a very obviously tortured soul.

While I am fond of Lovecraft, I don't think even his greatest fans would suggest his writing is "great" - grotesque, cyclopean, unwieldy, prose stretched into strange geometries of madness. As he might say himself...

[Peg Leg]

Working my way to through the collected works of H P Lovecraft. Great writing from a very obviously tortured soul.

While I am fond of Lovecraft, I don't think even his greatest fans would suggest his writing is "great" - grotesque, cyclopean, unwieldy, prose stretched into strange geometries of madness. As he might say himself...

I joked with a friend earlier that I mustn't be the first to have gone through Lovecraft in this order. Google can now anticipate the next word I do not recognise