Review of Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett is a humorous tale about what happens when alchemists learn to make film and subsequently movies or "moving pictures". Then suddenly lots of people feel compelled to travel to the small town of Holy Wood and become a part of the moving pictures business. I'm sure it goes without saying what Holy Wood is a satire of. A sort of strange magic is involved with the moving pictures though that not only compels people to get into the business, but that also seems to make the actors go into trances while making the films and be able to do things that they have no experience with. However this magical force is not benevolent and it feeds off the moving pictures growing stronger and more powerful with disastrous results. I would not count this book among my favorite Discworld novels, but it's definitely good for a laugh in places and I'd recommend it to fans of the series.

Review of Eric by Terry Pratchett

Eric by Terry Pratchett is about a young boy who attempts to summon a demon to grant him wishes, but instead of a demon, Rincewind, an inept wizard shows up inside the magic circle. Much to Rincewind's surprise he finds that even though he is not a demon, because he was summoned as one, he has the power to grant wishes. Hilarity then ensues because as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. This book was a short but fun read and I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the Discworld series or just if you enjoy British humor.

Review of Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett is about secret order that decides to summon a dragon with magic to terrorize the city of Ankh-Morpork in order to stage their own hero to defeat it and become the next ruler of the city. However their plans go terribly wrong and it's up to the night watch to defeat the dragon and apprehend those responsible for summoning it. I found the book to be rather amusing even if it's not one of my favorites in the Discworld series. I particularly enjoyed the humorous portrayal of secret societies and the larger than life character of Lady Ramkin, noblewoman and dragon expert.

Review of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson is the tale of how the Sword from the Stars(Excalibur) was first created long before it ever came into the hands of King Arthur, and the life and ordeals of the man destined to wield the sword as he unites the tribes of ancient Britain against an evil warlord. This story takes place about a thousand years after Ancestors of Avalon and two of the characters are specified as being reincarnations of characters from the previous book, though it is indicated that they had reincarnated multiple times in the intervening years. It's not necessary to read The Fall of Atlantis and Ancestors of Avalon before reading this book, but it will help in understanding the history of these characters.

While I did enjoy reading this book, it was unfortunately not as good as Ancestors of Avalon and I only rated it three stars. It was slow paced like the previous two books that I had read, but in this case the slow paced bits were rather tedious and at times I wasn't sure what they added to the story. After reading The Fall of Atlantis and Ancestors of Avalon I had this strong craving to read more and I just didn't get that feeling with the Sword of Avalon. It's really a shame because the story idea is an excellent one and could have been done so much better. I would still recommend this book to fans of the series, but just don't expect it to be quite as good as the previous books mentioned.

Why Reading Fiction is Important

This is a lecture given by Neil Gaiman about why reading and specifically reading fiction is so important. I found it to be quite moving and profound.

This site has the lecture both in text and in video.

Review of Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett is a hilarious satire about ancient Egyptian mythology with some Greek satire thrown in as well. Young Teppic, the heir to the Djelibeybi desert kingdom, is sent off to be educated as an assassin because it is one of the professions that provide the most all round education. Shortly after he graduates his father dies and he goes home to take his place as the new king. Wanting to be a dutiful son he decides to build a pyramid for his father that is twice as big as any previously built. The pyramids tend to generate weird quantum energy and the sheer size of the new pyramid being constructed starts to do some strange things to time and space. This book made me laugh a lot and as always I really enjoyed the humorous footnotes.

Review of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson

I really enjoyed reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson. In this story the combined kingdoms of Atlantis are destroyed by a cataclysm and the survivors must make their way to new lands to preserve their knowledge and traditions. The story kept me engaged despite being slow paced and when it was over it left me craving more. There are more books in the series, but not with the same characters(unless you count reincarnations that aren't even mentioned in the books for the most part). This book is the direct sequel to The Fall of Atlantis and takes place about 30 years later. The Fall of Atlantis was not originally part of the Avalon series, but Ancestors of Avalon connects it to the rest of the series. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical type fantasies with spiritual themes or anyone that is fascinated by the legends of Atlantis and Avalon.

Review of Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett is about a group of three witches who interfere in the affairs of the kingdom and use magic to try to help restore the rightful heir to the throne after the king is murdered and the killer takes his place. It is a very hilarious parody that is a mix of Macbeth and Hamlet with some other Shakespearean themes thrown in. As always I love Terry Pratchett's use of comedic imagery and footnotes. I definitely recommend this book to Discworld fans and anyone who enjoys witty British humor.

"Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages."

 ~Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

Review of The Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley is the story of two sisters who grow up in the temple of light in the Ancient Land and tells about the difficult decisions and struggles they face and how their relationship is strained as they go down different paths. The story does contain elements of romance and mystery, but it is ultimately about the struggle between the light and the dark, good and evil. Romance isn't really my thing but I did not feel that the romantic elements in this story were overwhelming and I enjoyed the story overall even if was a bit slow paced at times. The only small peeve I have is that the title is misleading.

The story really isn't about Atlantis being destroyed and in fact most of the story doesn't even take place in Atlantis. A better title might have been "The Events Leading Up to the Fall of Atlantis", but I suppose that title would be too long and awkward. The Fall of Atlantis was not the original title though. It was originally published as two separate books, The Web of Light and the Web of Darkness, and then republished as one book under its current title. Another thing that people might not know is that this book is actually a part of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon series. Originally it was only connected to the series by one minor detail that most would overlook, but then the book Ancestors of Avalon was published which is a direct sequel to The Fall of Atlantis. I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed other books in the Avalon series.

Review of Sourcery by Terry Pratchett

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett is a story of what happens when a stronger wilder form of magic gets reintroduced to the Disc when the world's first sourcerer since the dawn of time is born. The inept wizard Rincewind is recruited, yet again, quite against his will into putting a stop to this new magic before it results in the Apocalypse. This book is quite hilarious and I just love Pratchett's imagery and humorous footnotes.

Review of Mort by Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett is the story of a young boy who becomes an apprentice to Death. There comes a time when Death wants to take a bit of time off and leaves Mort in charge of his duties, but things don't go quite according to plan. In some ways the story reminds me of The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Disney's Fantasia. This book is very humorous both in plot and in imagery and I especially love the comedic footnotes. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed other books in the Discworld series or anyone who enjoys British style humor.

Review of Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett is about a young girl that accidentally gets bestowed with wizard magic in a world where men are wizards and women are witches. She tries to train as a witch but finds it to be inadequate to learn to control her powers and must seek out Unseen University to try to get training as a wizard. While this book wasn't quite as funny as The Colour of Magic or The Light Fantastic, there were still plenty of bits to make me laugh and I really enjoyed the theme of defying accepted gender roles.

" Million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten."

 ~Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

"It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done."

 ~Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

Review of The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett has lots of witty humor and hilarious imagery. It takes place right where The Colour of Magic left off and continues the adventures of Rincewind and Twoflower and this time the fate of the Disc is at stake. It was a very enjoyable read and made me laugh so many times. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys silly British humor.

This is so true, books are definitely an escape for me.

"The pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp."

 ~Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic

But I can’t pick just one!

I feel like this all the time!

In addition to this I’m also thankful that I’m able to carry hundreds of books around in my bag.

Well I don’t actually have a bedtime, but there are so many nights I read much later than I should.

Thankfully I never watch reality shows, unless you count documentaries which in my opinion are the only “real” reality shows(and maybe the news, but that’s usually too depressing for me to watch).

I so wish this was true. Then my doctors would stop nagging me about exercising.

It's an addiction!

I definitely can't limit myself to just five favorite books.

I’ve heard some people can actually see what’s happening in books like movies in their heads. I’m so jealous of those people. I definitely hear a voice narrating in my head and sometimes separate character voices as well, but as for picturing what is happening in the book, it’s usually just still images that aren’t very vivid color-wise.

I know I have a real problem when I spend more time on book sites looking for more books to read than I actually spend reading.

I really need to follow this advice more, but sadly life often gets in the way.

Review of The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett is the first book in the Discworld series. This book details the adventures of Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist, and Rincewind, a failed wizard who acts as his guide, and lots of other humorous characters. This book is extremely funny, both in the events, and in the imagery used. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys British style humor.

Review of Strata by Terry Pratchett

Strata by Terry Pratchett was a quick but entertaining read. It's about a company that manufactures planets much like Magrathea from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The main character is contacted by a stranger who claims to have found a flat planet seeks to hire her to investigate this flat "discworld". She joins up with this stranger and other crew members on an expedition to explore this planet to try to determine how it was built and by whom.

It's been many years since I read this book so most of it was like reading it for the first time. There were some bits I remembered though and laughed at them just as much as I did the first time. I especially liked the ending. I don't recall if I was as surprised by the ending the first time I read the book since it was so long ago, but it really wasn't what I was expecting and I thought it was very clever.

On the whole I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The disc planet in this book is not the same one that is featured in the Discworld series, but it gives you a glimpse into how Pratchett first came up with the concept of Discworld, so I like to consider it a sort of unofficial prequel to the series.

The only thing that bothered me about the book was that there were some parts where it felt like events weren't quite in order, especially towards the end. Eventually I figured out that this was due to flashbacks and it wasn't immediately clear that's what was happening as I was reading it. It's possible this is just due to the way my ebook is formatted, but I don't feel like digging out my paper copy to thumb through it and check.

Review of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is an enjoyable albeit a challenging read. My first impression of the book is that I think I would have had a very hard time getting into it if I had not seen the movie first. This is mostly because the beginning of the book to be rather slow paced and because it took place in the 1800's the language was often hard to follow(many words the built in dictionary in my Kindle didn't even recognize). I think though that anyone who has had a lot of experience reading classic literature shouldn't have too much trouble with it. Ironically I had hoped that reading the book would help me understand the movie better, but in reality the fact that I had seen the movie helped me understand what was going on in the book better than I would have otherwise. If I had not seen the movie first, I believe I would have given up before I finished the first part. However since I knew what I had to look forward to, I pushed on and really enjoyed later parts of the book.

For those not familiar with the movie, Cloud Atlas is a series of interconnected stories that all take place during different time periods. Three stories take place in the past, one story takes place around the present, one story takes place in the future, and one story takes place far in the future after the fall of civilization. For those that have seen the movie I would say that much of the content is the same, but of course there are differences. One major difference is with the formatting. The stories in the book do not go back and forth nearly as much as they do in the movie. In the book you are presented with the first half of the first five stories, then the sixth story is told in full, then you have the second half of the first five stories told in reverse order. There is a reason it is done this way and I think it's a very interesting literary device. The only annoying thing is that once I got to the second half of each story I'd have to go back to the end of the first half and reread a few pages to remind myself where the story left off.

Overall I think I really enjoyed the book even though it was a challenge for me and I would say that my favorite parts of the book matched my favorite parts of the movie. I really enjoyed reading about the stories in greater detail than was shown in the movie and I thought that the themes of reincarnation and overthrowing oppression were just as strong in the book as they were in the movie. The only thing that disappointed me somewhat is that the endings of each story didn't seem to be as powerful as they were in the movie.