I’m not one of those people who likes, say, jokes… I’d rather just smirk sardonically at life than go to a comedy club. Surprisingly, I do like funny books, if they’re just funny incidentally, and I do like weird British humor. I find writer Terry Pratchett one of the better writers of surrealist comedy of any kind, and he writes… well… It’s kind of fantasy…only in the sense that the world is actually a disc set on the back of four massive elephants… who are, in turn, are riding atop a giant turtle. (Kind of like ours, right?) The disc is a board game for the various panoply of gods who bet on the stakes of hapless wizards and random citizens.
As for the worlds in that universe, well, they’ve got vampires and trolls. Death makes occasional appearances… with his granddaughter. And his horse. And his lovely black and white house and garden. And his four buddies, apocalyptic horsemen, who’ve stayed in touch all these years. There are kingdoms, and witches, and the odd Handsome Prince with his beloved werewolf girlfriend. There’s an interspecies police force that employs a golem. And dwarves. Mostly, Pratchett’s Discworld books are like a fairy tale gone quite thoroughly mad. And I await each new one with glee.’
They’re impossibly relevant to present day, this-world politics and history. They’re satire. They’re just darned funny. Check them out!
I’m off to get Pratchett’s newest book! He’ll be in the Bay Area soon.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 7:30 PM
CODY’S BOOKS
Speaking/Signing autographs
2454 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704
Thursday, September 22, 2005 7:00 PM
THE BOOKSMITH
Speaking/Signing autographs
1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
Enjoy!
