h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The opposite, meaning I like to read him because he makes me think. Durrrrr...

very little more i can add!

Guess which my favourite book and character is!



Mort

Ooh... that shouldn't be too difficult

My favourite character is probably Rincewind because he's just so funny and perhaps a little stupid. Death does run a very close second though.

Wotchit

I used to be a big Pratchett fan, but then he seemed to start writing books at an ever increasing pace, recycling the jokes, and spreading the humour rather thin. So I stopped reading them. (Maybe I just grew up )

Or maybe you lost your sense of humour?

> largely due to its current pres... er, CEO, likes things that are very easy to read

Aha, you mean...
http://terrisfun.com/toons20/bushreads.html

(Thanks to google image search for that one)

Oh boy, am I in trouble with the moderators...

Thanks, every now and then I've caught myself trying to decode 'The surreptitious Fabric'. That's why I don't do crosswords.

Caveman: ha!

I think Death has to be my favorite character, hands down, although Rincewind comes in at a close second.


Patrick, "BicycleSkald"

Death:

Fond of curries and cats but not both at the same time.

Rincewynd:

That's not hwo you spel Wizard.
You'll never catch him running away, he's too fast.

2:1 in favour of R., if it is based on favourite quotes.

Was it not Voltaire?

After witnessing the execution of Admiral Byng for being defeated off Minorca he remarked:

"Dans ce pays-ci il est bien pensee de tuer de temps en temps un amiral, pour encourager les autres."

A phrase which has, at least in part, entered the language.


Personally, one of my favourites is Mort. Particularly Death's immortal line:

"DON'T WORRY: MATHEMATICS IS NOT ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE"

OK, so who said that Admiral Bing had been shot because the Lord of the Admiraly aught to have been hung?

I really must get around to reading something by Voltaire.

I'm surprised no one has voted for "Last Continent". While all of them are good, that one cracked me up.

I am a huge fan. And re-read the books frequently, unfortunately this is usually during lunch breaks, and colleagues do give you very funny looks when you are sitting chuckling to yourself all the way through your lunch hour over a book

And don't even try to explain the jokes to them!

Yeah, sitting in a corner sniggering and occasionally spraying food everywhere as you chortle and guffaw is never guaranteed to win you friends. I was most perturbed when I was asked by my new form teacher to tell the class something about myself and I replyed that I identified strongly with Magrat from TPs Discworld series and the whole class was mystified and shunned me. Either none of them had heard of TP or they disapproved of Magrat (who is lovely, although I'm growing out of her now.)

Hey researcher 219823 or whatever I'm a girl although admittedly not pre-teen any more and I really like the Watch. (Touche, I aslo like the Witches but that's entirely beside the point.) I think Angua and Cheri Littlebottom make very good role models for a start, Colon and Nobbs are a hilarious commedy duo and as for Carrot, Detritus, Visit (the infidel etc etc) et al.Sheer Comedy. Vimes is a fantastic character. especially when face to face with Vetinari. Vimes makes you think.

Oh, and you are a name, not a number.

And where did Voltaire come from and why?

Toyota

I was trying to think of a writer of fine comedy that has been overlooked by the English speaking world.

http://www.litrix.com/candide/candi001.htm#1

For some reason I associate my thinking with that of Vimes...

Just wondering if I should plug my Fragmented story in here... which incidently is in the Post's CAC this week...

I started reading his discworld books ages ago and seem to have managed to read them in order so far. I particulary enjoy those with Death in and those involving the unseen university.

Don't know why but Small Gods is my favourite though I prefer the 'Watch' novels...

I just wonder why Pratchett doesn't make the one-off Discworld novels ie. Pyramids, Moving Pictures and Small Gods anymore...

Terry Pratchett's great I find particularily at reinforcing his ideas of what makes a good character - compare Granny Weatherwax, Susan, Death, Samuel Vimes, the Patrician, Captain Carrot, (recently) Granny Aching/Tiffany Aching, even Conan the Barbarian in "Interesting Times" and Bruthra in "Small Gods". Apologies if I've missed anyone out - you'll notice each have a certain depth of character and have firm, solid beliefs to which they adhere and determined-ness and sharpness of character, while, like GW in Lords and Ladies (which is a supreme book) making small mistakes which make them human. Then of course he reverses that for the ultimate Anti-hero effect like Rincewind. What he does is ultimately very simple in conception and execution but very effective, like his characters, which makes for comelling reading. My favourites are:

Wyrd Sisters
Lords and Ladies
Masquerade
The Rincewind books (ALL of them!)
Men at Arms
Feet of Clay
Theif of Time
Small Gods
Moving Pictures
The Truth

and I can't remember what others. However as far as my bookcase in concerned, I regard him more as no-brain reading - I read him when I've been working hard and want to massage my brain for half an hour and reading him is something for my brain to do while it's bored.

Edd