Nation by Terry Pratchett

I may have mentioned a few times before that I adore Terry Pratchett. Just maybe. Well, I do. With the exception of the Bromeliad Trilogy, I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read by him. Some books more and some less, but they are consistently good and always entertaining. The Bromeliad Trilogy are children’s stories and knowing that Nation is essentially a children’s book made me wonder if I’d like it, but it’s Pratchett, so the risk is low and of course I wanted to try it. My opinion in general? It was worth the read. It’s not one that will list very high on my favourite read list, but it’s still a good book. It’s also another one of those so chock full of sly comments that you could read it ten time and still not have cottoned on to all the remarks. It’s one children will go back and read in ten years time and think, wow, I missed all of that the first time around! As such, it’s not strictly a child’s book and I can recommend it to anyone who has a sense of humour. It helps if you know a little bit about Polynesian and Victorian culture as well, but it’s not absolutely necessary.

Mau is set to become a man. He goes off to the little island alone, finishes his tasks and is already tasting the BBQed fish and hearing the congratulations that will welcome him when he arrives back home. Then the wave hits and wipes out Mau’s world as if the Gods wanted a gigantic do-over. At a total loss, Mau carries on as best he can alone, that is until he meets the shipwrecked Ermintrude, oh, sorry, Daphne. Daphne is the diametric opposite of Mau. She is the product of an English Victorian aristocratic family (her father is 138th in line for the throne; her grandmother is plotting 138 ways of death). She considers being barefoot just short of nudity, eating with your hands is just not done and talking to strangers without a written letter of introduction is a brazen act of wantonness. Consequently, neither understands the other. Fortunately, Ermin…Daphne is intelligent enough to realize that when needs must, convention has just got to pick up and go on an extended vacation and the two rapidly, as children tend to do, begin to understand each other and get on with the business of living and integrating the other stragglers into their Nation.

Nation is a very eclectic book. It tackles any theme that gets in its way and a few that don’t. The obvious ones are coming of age, the excesses of Victorianism, religion, idolatry and belief, but Pratchett really takes on anything that happens to come up. To say much more would be giving too much away, so if you’re interested, I recommend you read the book. It’s a quick and pleasant read but offers a lot to think and to laugh about. 5/5

Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook by Terry Pratchett and Stephan Briggs

Everyone who is familiar with Terry Pratchett’s Disc World Series knows Nanny Ogg and her penchant for things, well, for things a little on the naughty side. Her Strawberry Wobbler is famous for it’s inappropriateness for those more formal occasions, unless you want to send half the guests into fits of laughter they must cover up by pretending they’re choking on that last bit of bread and the other half home in a huff muttering comments such as “Well! I never!” and “I can’t believe…”. You will have insured that that particular half never invites you to their soirees again, so if you are trying to get out of them, you have the perfect answer.

Anyway, after her The Joye of Snackes, which was banned just about everywhere, she came out with her own cookbook, which put a real strain on the editors. Without some fairly heavy use of a black marker pen, this book would have gone the same way as The Joye of Snackes. As finally printed, it’s suitable for most adult audiences and the recipes are really rather good, although you might want to try out the suggested arrangement on the plate in a trial run to avoid any possible embarrassment.

I was expecting a little more humour, but then, I’m neither a particularly adept or interested cook so I may have missed something. The most entertaining bits are Nanny Ogg’s own particular take on etiquette and manners. More interesting than helpful really.

If you’re looking for a good read, remember, this is really more a recipe book than a book for reading, but if you’re interested in cookery, go for it!

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Foot-the-Ball. It’s an ancient and ritualistic sport played by the lower classes in Ankh-Morpork. The teams are just as entrenched, the fans as fanatical and the hooligans as bad as in real life. Vetirnari, Ankh-Morpork’s patrician, who of course has nothing to do with reminding the Wizards at Unseen University that they must be seen to play the sport once every so often in order to retain their major grant, would like to see the sport cleaned up. He also has nothing to do with the appearance of the mysterious Mr. Nutt, a funny little man who is extremely anti-social but very intelligent. No, nothing at all.

When the wizards realize that they must participate in Foot-the-Ball, they become intent on changing the game for the better (which Vetirnari had nothing to do with), but will the masses accept their changes or will mass pandemonium break out? And what does the unassuming Mr. Nutt have to do with it? Hmmmm…..

Terry Pratchett is one of my all-time favourite authors. His books are clever and entertaining; his latest bent on examining football (soccer) and making fun of it, and its fans, in every possible way. I’ll admit that not everyone likes Pratchett and he does have his own special brand of humour. You also have to know what he’s on about in order to understand his wit (not knowing what the Scone of Stone (or the stone of scone) in The Fifth Elephant was a real hindrance to getting the jokes), so if you don’t know anything about football and the football scene, you might not get this one. Having said that, I’m neither a fan nor do I follow much of what’s going on and I still found it quite amusing, or maybe it’s because I’m not a fan that I found it amusing. That one could go either way on this book. The point being that just having watched the news and observing my co-workers whose eyes glaze over at the sight of a football gave me enough insight to find the book hilarious.

I’ll also add that you have to have a huge dollop of silly in your makeup to enjoy his books. The wizards are silly. Really silly.

So, if you’re a Pratchett fan, this is another good one. I hope that he is able and willing to bless us with more of his work in the future. Go Pratchett.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaimen

I LOVE this book. Love it. Not that I expect the rest of the world to love it, or even like it, but I do. It’s just my kind of humour. It’s not laugh until you fall off your chair humour, it’s really dry and sometimes quite subtle and I adore it.

Crowley and Aziraphale are friends (even if they would never admit it); the only problem being that Crowley is an angel of hell and Aziraphale an angel of heaven. You’d think they would be at loggerheads with each other, the only problem being that after several thousand centuries of being on earth with each other, they’ve become accustom to having each other around. They seem to have a sort of live and let live relationship and even when discussing their differences over a plate of pasta or cup of coffee, each understands that the other must think the way he does as it is in his nature by definition; in short, they don’t take things personally.

Then a problem pops up. The powers that be decide that the time for Armageaddon has come and has sent the anti-christ, in the form of an 11 year old boy, to begin proceedings.

By now, both Crowely and Aziraphale have decided that they really kind of like their life on earth and really don’t want it to end since humans are a lot more interesting than angels of any sort, since angels are either intrinsically good or intrinsically bad and are therefore boring. You always know what to expect from an angel and the sameness of harps and clouds or fire and brimstones, while it might be nice for a while, isn’t really interesting in the long run. Unfortunately, there really isn’t much they can do about it since they must both follow their orders.

Saying more would give the plot away, but the charcters that pop up in the book are all very well done. From “Dog” the hound from hell to Agnes Nutter the prophet who foresaw the events, to the four horsemen of the Apocolypse, they’re all fun. You do have to realize that this book doesn’t take it seriously in any respect. I don’t honestly believe that the authors are trying to disrespect religion, although they would like to see it take itself less seriously. Although if you do opt to really think about the philosophical side of things, they raise some interesting questions. However, they leave it up to you as to whether you want to read for fun or want to get more out of it than that, which is a nice change to being preached at.