Reaper Man
3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by inkognitoh from Port Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Picked this book up in a West Kensington charity store, not because I'm a great fan of Terry Pratchett but because I know a lot of bookcrossers are and after I read I can pass it on to another good foster home. Will probably try to get it to the US as Mr Pratchett's books seem difficult to obtain over there.
Journal Entry 2 by inkognitoh from Port Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Friday, February 14, 2003
Ahh they confuse me they do. Terry Pratchett books give me too much to think about in too garbled a format and I'm never entirely sure quite what I think of them. I enjoyed this tale of the death of Death and resulting theories and thoughts from the muddled musings of the author but I couldn't tell you why. Out of the insanity come moments of sanity and clarity which just confuses me some more. This book is on it's way to bookcrossing member GoryDetails ... appropriate hey.
Looks like this one nipped across the Atlantic very promptly - I got it today! The cover's hilarious (and a wee bit disturbing - which sums up Pratchett pretty well, I think); will pop this to the top of my to-be-read list. Many thanks!
"Reaper Man" is now officially my favorite of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books - wow! Funny (of course), exciting, action-packed, and surprisingly touching - I got all teary a couple of times there...
First, many thanks to inkognitoh for sending me this copy, which has a hilarious, over-the-top cover by Josh Kirby. [I, too, took the book out with me to read in public, and while nobody commented on it I noticed a few people backing quietly away. {grin}] The flyleaf of this UK addition bears a brief biography of the author, beginning with "Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 and is still not dead. He started work as a journalist one day in 1965 and saw his first corpse three hours later, work experience *meaning* something in those days," going on to "Occasionally he gets accused of literature," and wrapping up with "He says writing is the most fun anyone can have by themselves." Heck, even the _blurbs_ are worth reading.
As for the book itself: it begins with a brief dissertation on the Morris dance, which "is danced innocently by raggedy-bearded young mathematicians to an inexpert accordian rendering of 'Mrs. Widgery's Lodger' and ruthlessly by such as the NinjaMorrisMen of New Ankh, who can do strange and terrible things with a simple handkerchief and a bell. And it is never danced properly. Except on the Discworld..." From there we meet the major characters, including the incredibly aged wizard Windle Poons, whose impending death [wizards are privileged, if that's the right word, to know the day and hour of their deaths, so as to facilitate returning library books and/or borrowing large amounts of money] is cause for a little surprise party at Unseen University; Death [tall fellow, rather thin, dark robe, scythe], who is summarily given his retirement by the mysterious-and-annoying "auditors of reality" who feel that anthropomorphic personifications should not develop a personality; the Fresh Start Club, a self-help group for the undead of Ankh-Morpork; and elderly farm-owner Miss Flitworth, who gives a job to a passing stranger [tall fellow, rather thin, dark robe, scythe] who suddenly has some time on his hands - and who demonstrates considerable skill (and unusual technique) at harvesting grain...
One might think this would be enough to be getting on with, story-wise, but wait - there's more. Once Death is no longer on the job, strange things begin to happen on the Disc; from an innocuous beginning, events escalate to a wild, action-packed climax in which the wizards actually get to cast spells [something they don't usually trouble themselves with], and an even better resolution - funny, wistful, highly satisfying - to the problem of Death's "retirement". I simply loved this book!
There are far too many funny bits to quote without typing in the whole book, but one of my favorites (irrelevent but cute) is:
Death (discussing the unlikelihood of someone successfully escaping him): "SOMETIMES PEOPLE CHALLENGE ME TO A GAME. FOR THEIR LIVES, YOU KNOW."
"Do they ever win?"
"NO. LAST YEAR SOMEONE GOT THREE STREETS AND ALL THE UTILITIES."
"What? What sort of game is that?"
"I DON'T RECALL. 'EXCLUSIVE POSSESSION', I THINK. I WAS THE BOOT."
Another lovely bit to watch out for is the story behind the name of Mrs. Cake's spirit-guide, One-Man-Bucket; it comes relatively late in the story, but is well worth it.
(As with most of the Discworld books, this one stands on its own, but if you read "Mort" first you'll have a bit more background on Death and his household.)
First, many thanks to inkognitoh for sending me this copy, which has a hilarious, over-the-top cover by Josh Kirby. [I, too, took the book out with me to read in public, and while nobody commented on it I noticed a few people backing quietly away. {grin}] The flyleaf of this UK addition bears a brief biography of the author, beginning with "Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 and is still not dead. He started work as a journalist one day in 1965 and saw his first corpse three hours later, work experience *meaning* something in those days," going on to "Occasionally he gets accused of literature," and wrapping up with "He says writing is the most fun anyone can have by themselves." Heck, even the _blurbs_ are worth reading.
As for the book itself: it begins with a brief dissertation on the Morris dance, which "is danced innocently by raggedy-bearded young mathematicians to an inexpert accordian rendering of 'Mrs. Widgery's Lodger' and ruthlessly by such as the NinjaMorrisMen of New Ankh, who can do strange and terrible things with a simple handkerchief and a bell. And it is never danced properly. Except on the Discworld..." From there we meet the major characters, including the incredibly aged wizard Windle Poons, whose impending death [wizards are privileged, if that's the right word, to know the day and hour of their deaths, so as to facilitate returning library books and/or borrowing large amounts of money] is cause for a little surprise party at Unseen University; Death [tall fellow, rather thin, dark robe, scythe], who is summarily given his retirement by the mysterious-and-annoying "auditors of reality" who feel that anthropomorphic personifications should not develop a personality; the Fresh Start Club, a self-help group for the undead of Ankh-Morpork; and elderly farm-owner Miss Flitworth, who gives a job to a passing stranger [tall fellow, rather thin, dark robe, scythe] who suddenly has some time on his hands - and who demonstrates considerable skill (and unusual technique) at harvesting grain...
One might think this would be enough to be getting on with, story-wise, but wait - there's more. Once Death is no longer on the job, strange things begin to happen on the Disc; from an innocuous beginning, events escalate to a wild, action-packed climax in which the wizards actually get to cast spells [something they don't usually trouble themselves with], and an even better resolution - funny, wistful, highly satisfying - to the problem of Death's "retirement". I simply loved this book!
There are far too many funny bits to quote without typing in the whole book, but one of my favorites (irrelevent but cute) is:
Death (discussing the unlikelihood of someone successfully escaping him): "SOMETIMES PEOPLE CHALLENGE ME TO A GAME. FOR THEIR LIVES, YOU KNOW."
"Do they ever win?"
"NO. LAST YEAR SOMEONE GOT THREE STREETS AND ALL THE UTILITIES."
"What? What sort of game is that?"
"I DON'T RECALL. 'EXCLUSIVE POSSESSION', I THINK. I WAS THE BOOT."
Another lovely bit to watch out for is the story behind the name of Mrs. Cake's spirit-guide, One-Man-Bucket; it comes relatively late in the story, but is well worth it.
(As with most of the Discworld books, this one stands on its own, but if you read "Mort" first you'll have a bit more background on Death and his household.)
Controlled release: I've sent this to BCer glowmunkee in California. Westward, ho!
recieved in the mail. i will update after i read it.
i could not possible thank gorydetails enough for sending me my first dose of pratchett!! i finished this book yesterday, and i need more.the nonesence of this book, along with the authors intellegant and liberal insights, have convinced me that i must read everything hes written. i havent been this thrilled about an author since i discovered richard braudigan. im off to find more pratchett.
