More Terry Pratchett

It turns out you can put things on hold at the library! OK, I knew that already, but I went a little crazy with the Terry Pratchett Books the other week. So, over the last little while, I've read The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (a young adult novel and possibly one of his best), Hogfather (Pratchett's take, or twist, on Christmas), and Equal Rites (an earlier Discworld book and not quite as polished as his later stuff).

My favorite and, I dare say, the best of the three is The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. It has interesting themes of humanity, transcendence over our basic nature, and idealism. Funny how sometimes YA novels are the most laden with that kind of thing.

Add to this list Carpe Jugulum and, shortly, Mort. I think this will finish my Pratchett phase for now! I probably won't be reading too much between now and Christmas, but we'll see. I'd like to read The Snopes trilogy (Faulkner) and East of Eden (Steinbeck) but they take a bit more of a commitment and attention span than the books I've been attempting (the 'finish it in a week if you read less than an hour a day' variety.) I need some suggestions.... Allison asked about The Host - I've got it on hold at the library, but it had quite the waiting list and will probably take a while yet.

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

You know how they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? This book might be lethal. I finished the book feeling like I really had a clue - like I understand Life, the Universe, and Everything. Or, that I at least wouldn't be out of my depth if I had to find out more about the (many, many) subjects it addresses. Basically, it presents what we think we know about the universe and, briefly, how we figured it out, including summarizing difficult theories and concepts using engaging analogies (e.g. if an atom were the size of a cathedral, the nucleus would only be the size of a fly) and introducing the fascinating. often controversial historical figures in science, complete with all the juicy details textbooks leave out.

As you might guess from the title, it covers SO MUCH. It's not a short book, and it took me several months to get through it, but that was mainly because nearly every sentence has at least one new idea, concept, fact, theory, or interesting bit of historical gossip in it. Sometimes it takes a while to really absorb it all. The book reads more like a novel (or, probalby travelogue, since that seems to be the author's normal genre). It's a must read. If I'd read it early in my college career, I'm sure I would have been inspired enough to take several unecessary science classes or change my major to, like, biochemistry or something riduculous (until I flunked out, that is). At the very least, it would have left me more impassioned and interested in the science classes I DID take, including chemistry and physics (which I didn't care enough about to even remember I actually took them, most of the time).

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes science (so they can tell me if he's as accurate and impartial as he mostly seems to be) and especially to anyone who never felt up to it - this is all the good stuff you knew they were hiding behind the boring nonsense they shoved at you in class. I emerged quite a bit greener than I entered, so if you don't want to care about environmental protection and species preservation, there are several chapters you'll want to skip. It's also very evolutionary, of course, but I figure the Gospel is large enough to accomodate Truth, and so there can't be any real contradictions, just misunderstandings.

Making Money - Terry Pratchett

Phenomenal. Pratchett is just so witty. This is one of his most recent books, and I'd put off reading it for a while - it's a direct sequel to one of his other books, and I'd worried that he was getting lazy and formulaic. Silly me - it doesn't matter if he is (which he isn't), because he's just so funny. So many laugh-out-loud (literally) moments, and so many quotable lines. I'll dredge up a few if I get a chance.

[Name Redacted]

Another of Kenyon's coworkers provided a Twilight alternative in the form of their favorite romantic Vampire book. I got through it quickly, but I rather despised it. It was written like one of those gritty "private eye" books, where the main character is emotionally distant, a tough chick (since this one was female). The pacing was cheap, a thrill-a-chapter with no growth, contrast or movement. Things didn't make sense, and I was left with the impression that the author just wrote whatever came to mind at the time. It's the first of the series, and while this one was fairly clean with just a couple bad words and the typical vampire violence, it turns out later books in the series get pretty explicit. So, this one's a no-go.

Castle in the Air - Diana Wynne Jones

Sequel to Howl's. So sweet. I was halfway through the book before I realized we actually were going to see characters from the first book.

Making Money - Terry Pratchett

I love this guy. His books aren't perfectly constructed pieces of literature, by any means, but he's just so funny. I love his wordplay. His writing is grown-up oriented but PG at worst (although he does some great kid books, too), which is refreshing.

Moist von Lipwig returns to attack the failing banking industry, after resurrecting the Ankh-Morpork Post Office in Going Postal. I had several laugh-out-loud moments, and felt cosmically in-tune with Pratchett with the main character expressed his distaste for any day "that has two four o' clocks in it." When Will was a newborn, I realized that I could handle a heck of a lot of sleep deprivation and disorderliness, but I could not handle being up at both 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. Any day where that happened was a bad, bad day.

More Diana Wynne Jones

Since I liked Dark Lord so much, I picked up Year of the Griffen (sequel to Dark Lord of Derkhelm) and Howl's Moving Castle for our recent California trip. I loved both of them. YoG takes up 8 years after DLoD and is a fun romp about youth, rejuvination and intellectual freedom from contraints. I saw the movie of Howl's first and loved it. The book is vastly different but still good in a different way.