REALLYMAD
Posts: 102
Joined: 30/3/2010
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I'm so pleased to discover this thread. Pratchett has been one of my personal heroes since I first discovered him through Mort, which I bought as a freebie when I ordered Arthur C.Clarke's 2061 from the Encounters Book Club (later to become the SF & Fantasy Book Club - remember those?).
I cried laughing; it was almost as if I had found a kindred spirit in print. If I ever work out how to leave a signature thingy in here I'd seriously think of putting in "I don't know about you but I could murder a curry!" said by Death as he took on Mort as an apprentice.
From that moment I was hooked and I have every single Discworld novel in hardback. My preferred choices tend to gravitate around the Guards and Death but if I had to list them I would say:
Mort
Night Watch
Guards Guards!
Reaper Man
Men At Arms
Soul Music
Monstrous Regiment
The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents
Going Postal
Thud
Good Omens also of course.
Sorry, can't make that list any smaller, I am simply a huge fan. It makes me that much sadder therefore to admit that some of his more recent books, whilst still completely enjoyable, do not quite manage to clear the bar that Terry himself has set so highly with his body of work.
A lot of this has to do with his illness; Terry has Alzheimer's. More frequent lapses in concentration as just one symptom of his failing health must make it incredibly difficult for the man to stay focussed. It wouldn't surprise me that assistants were even typing for him on occasion, the resulting changes in his creative processes unravelling the concentration. Unseen Academicals did make me laugh at moments but the ending sadly ran out of steam and deflated somewhat.
Terry was recently honoured as the subject of the annual BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture. So worried that he would be unable to perform without his illness kicking in and messing him up, Terry asked Tony Robinson (surely the man born to play Nobby Nobbs; more on that later) to speak on his behalf from a prepared script while the man himself sat up on the platform beside the podium. The lecture was about Terry's life as a writer and also his support of voluntary euthanasea and the wish to end his own life on his own terms when he felt the time was right. I'm a grown man and I don't mind telling you there were a couple of tears by the end.
When that time comes our comfort in his passing will be the wealth of joy and happiness he left us all in his books. He is a genuinely kind, modest and warm man who has not let the bright lights blind him.
I met him once. I've never been one to ambulance chase celebrities but he came to our area during a nationwide booksigning tour for his latest book, Interesting Times. I couldn't resist. He was scheduled for 2 hours; he had been sat there for 6 when I finally found myself face to face with him and no sign of the queue, out the door and around the corner, diminishing anytime soon. I overheard him asking the people ahead of me who the three brand new copies were for. "All for me and I would like them all signing please, along with these other twelve other books of yours I bought while I was here, three copies of each of course..." replied one of the girls who for the 90 minutes I had been stood behind her had bleated on non-stop about every tiny little item of Pratchett fine detail minutei you could possibly imagine. "One to read, one to keep as a pristine copy for my collection and one spare, just in case. I always buy three brand new copies of each of your books," she continued.
To which he replied:
"Then you must be very very sad."
I howled inside but stifled it as she looked genuinely crestfallen. That said, he signed all 15 books, stamped them all with a special exclusive Unseen University rubber stamp, smiled and said "thank you" at the end and she left with a massive grin on her face.
As I approached his little desk I noticed him wincing and rubbing what must have been an extremely sore wrist underneath an athletic support for the lower arm. All that signing, hours of it. I asked him "Long day?" He looked up, exhausted but smiling nontheless and replied, "Why? You don't have 15 books as well do you?". I laughed and shook my head as he sighed in relief, no doubt noting the rest of the queue in the corner of his eye. Then I said to him "I don't mind if you don't sign it Terry, save it for the next one. It was a pleasure just to meet you."
He just sat there for a moment, smiling wider than just before. He asked me my name, I gave it. He signed my book, stamped it and gave both the book and the stamp to me. Then he reached over to a pile of T shirts the publishers had produced for the book signing, signed a shirt and gave that to me too. He turned to the shop staff and said "Don't charge him for that."
Thank YOU Terry. For everything.
_____________________________
"Hahahaha, you've ticked all the points on the "wounded bunny" checklist tonight!"
#1 wankiest attempted put-down in messageboard history.
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RE: Best Pratchett book - 
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