Bookish Thoughts

Wyrd Sisters  is a giant step up in the quality of  Discworld  books. There's an interesting and complicated plot, driven by the actions of a cast of delightful characters. There's a wonderful subplot concerning a storm who hopes to one day make it big. There's sharp and subtle commentary on the nature of ruling and of fiction and rumors. And there are enough Shakespeare references to make your head spin, given that this is largely a parody of  Macbeth . It's no wonder that a majority of the fandom considers  Wyrd Sisters  to be the first good book in the series. It is often recommended as a starting point, even though it's technically the second book in the "witches" subseries. But it's so much smarter and more fun and better plotted than anything came before. The first few books can be off putting to people new to Discworld, though they are fun in their own right. But it's so refreshing to get to this point and see the Discworld I've grown ...

It can be difficult to read someone else's favorite book. Especially if you end up not liking that book. I'd like to be diplomatic and say that I just encountered this book at the wrong time in my life. And maybe that's true. I'm too accustomed to these tropes to feel any suspense or surprise. The book was clearly written for a younger audience. At the same time, I'm tempted to say that this book is just objectively bad. Merlin is an arrogant, foolish boy who makes nonsensical decisions in order to advance the plot. He fucks everything up, but manages to right it all in the end because he's going to be a great wizard and we can't let him actually kill his mother. He gains wisdom and humility far too easily because they are distilled to seven lessons that can be expressed as cheerful platitudes, like "Love is the strongest bond" and "Every life is precious". Worse, the author doesn't trust the reader to remember simple details or m...

Goblet of Fire  is the big, transitional book that takes this series to the next level. The world expands, Voldemort returns, and Harry takes some important steps on the road to adulthood. It's nearly twice as long as the previous book, which I remember being super excited about when it first came out. This time around I was a little worried about the length. But it turns out (and I should have remembered) that this book is still excellently paced. It drags a bit at the end when two entire chapters are devoted to exposition and monologuing, but up until that point the story moves along really well. This is one of the first books that I can remember waiting for. I didn't have to wait long, less than a year. But I was still incredibly excited to finally get my hands on  Goblet of Fire . I had elaborate plans to read the entire thing in one sitting, much as I had with  Chamber of Secrets . It was a bit long for that, and I wasn't really allowed to skip family meals. But I ...

Ugh, this was awful. Standard Boy meets Girl, Girl gets kidnapped, Boy turns out to be a killing machine, kills a bunch of people, rescues Girl, and they live happily ever after. Except worse. But, I have now finished  Sin City . No more guilt about it sitting on my shelf unread.

Terry Pratchett is easily my most-read author. A lot of that comes down to him being so prolific, though that would hardly matter if he weren't also entertaining. If he didn't make me confront the hard questions and look at them from another perspective. A Slip of the Keyboard  is the first book I've read by Sir Terry that was not set on the Discworld. (He's written 40 of those, and I've read 39.) It's not even a work of fiction. It's a collection of essays spanning his entire career. The first section is about the process of writing and being an author. The second section is more autobiographical, about Terry's childhood. The final section, titled "Days of Rage" is mostly about his Alzheimer's diagnosis and his work advocating for assisted death in Britain. The book got a bit repetitive at times. The writing spans several decades, but it's clear that there are some concepts that have stuck with him forever. The idea of fantasy as j...

The third Harry Potter book is easily my favorite in the series. It breaks away from the plot mechanics of the first two. This keeps things interesting and proves that Rowling is more than a one-trick pony. It takes things deeper and story gets a little darker. We begin to learn about Harry's dad and his time at Hogwarts. It's not all pretty. And we get the wonderful twist involving Sirius Black and his quest for vengeance. The last 100 or so pages of this book are just amazing. It's one thing after another, and Rowling manages to maintain a pretty high level of excitement throughout all of it. There's a lot of information to be relayed during the climax, and Rowling intersperses it perfectly with action sequences. I even cried, which is pretty amazing for a book I've read so many times. Though those tears had more to do with Black's ultimate fate than any plot point in this book. There are also plenty of callbacks to the first and second books. Rowling plan...