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Back to the land of reading books that make me sleepy. this one is pretty good, but because I *have* to read it, it makes me sleepy. Also I ate a banana, and it is sitting heavy in my tummy. Maybe that is just all the candy that preceeded it :p My class isn't until 3:30, but I am going in early, so I can go see Carl first and get a ylabus for my tuesday class (I'm worried I will find out I already have somethign due ;p) and find the room. It is in a building which was being renovated last term. I'm actually surprised it is finished, to be honest.
The second 'book bit' of this post is a short review of one of the boks I read over the holiday, which is
I have to say that of all the various Discworld books I have read in the past few years, this has got to be my favourite, for a number of reasons. I don't recall anything in it that was uproriously hilarious, though. TP books used to all have at least something, but lately, they get a smile from me and not much more. Well, he's just written so many of the damned things, it's no wonder it is getting a little stale, I think. But this book *was* better, and that's because things were *different*, or at least, I perceived them to be. Maybe they were just better done.
The plot concerns a conman named Moist von Lipwig who is employed by Vetinari to take over the Post Office. This is because the main clcks company has been taken over itself relatively recently by some shifty bankers headed by a rather ambitious figure who sees himself in line for Vetinari's job, the silly fool. Moist is very unscrupulous, but of course, not *utterly* so. He isn't violent, and hates weapons. He prefers to use people skills to get what he wants. He is really good at tricking people. And that's what makes things go in this book. there is magic, but it is all relegated to background and sub-plots. No gods make notable appearences or really affect things. There is a bit of your usual TP weirdness surrouning letters and what happens to them when they pile up to much, but really, most of the action is carried forward *by the protagonist*, and his own ideas and schemes. Even the thing that makes theimpossible task at the end of the book *work* is a scam, conceived of by the protagonist. I like it! The background characters stay where they should, for the most part. vetinari is present, but doesn't really do much, and what he does do is...mostly acceptable. the Patrician can be a little too omnipotentnt/omniscient for my tastes, but he rarely crosses the line in this book.
The other thing I like about the mail theme, is the hermes aspect of it. I mean hermes *was* the mesenger of the gods... a claim that Moist does make (of course, it is a boast purely for shomanshipo, but it works for him ;). And what else was hermes known for? But where in other books, TP might use theme like that and then lay them out blatantly, here he doesn't. Well, I mean, he does and he doens't. There is the winged costume thing, sure, and s I said, he does *claimn* to be a messenger to the gods, at least. but I mean, the trickery aspect of the Hermes analogy isn't made blatant. And really, that was always my favourite thing about him, anyway.
All in all, probably the best of the lot of Discworld book that have come out in the past few years, but still not quite up to the standard of some of the earlier bits. I want moooore :(
...Wow, thinking back, the most recent book that I can think of that too me, has really good, memorable quotes was Carpe Jgulum. That makes me sad.
"The world is your oyster..."
"Why would I want it to be some nasty little sea creature?"
"Because, my dear, they get eaten alive...'
(Paraphrased ;)
The second 'book bit' of this post is a short review of one of the boks I read over the holiday, which is
I have to say that of all the various Discworld books I have read in the past few years, this has got to be my favourite, for a number of reasons. I don't recall anything in it that was uproriously hilarious, though. TP books used to all have at least something, but lately, they get a smile from me and not much more. Well, he's just written so many of the damned things, it's no wonder it is getting a little stale, I think. But this book *was* better, and that's because things were *different*, or at least, I perceived them to be. Maybe they were just better done.
The plot concerns a conman named Moist von Lipwig who is employed by Vetinari to take over the Post Office. This is because the main clcks company has been taken over itself relatively recently by some shifty bankers headed by a rather ambitious figure who sees himself in line for Vetinari's job, the silly fool. Moist is very unscrupulous, but of course, not *utterly* so. He isn't violent, and hates weapons. He prefers to use people skills to get what he wants. He is really good at tricking people. And that's what makes things go in this book. there is magic, but it is all relegated to background and sub-plots. No gods make notable appearences or really affect things. There is a bit of your usual TP weirdness surrouning letters and what happens to them when they pile up to much, but really, most of the action is carried forward *by the protagonist*, and his own ideas and schemes. Even the thing that makes theimpossible task at the end of the book *work* is a scam, conceived of by the protagonist. I like it! The background characters stay where they should, for the most part. vetinari is present, but doesn't really do much, and what he does do is...mostly acceptable. the Patrician can be a little too omnipotentnt/omniscient for my tastes, but he rarely crosses the line in this book.
The other thing I like about the mail theme, is the hermes aspect of it. I mean hermes *was* the mesenger of the gods... a claim that Moist does make (of course, it is a boast purely for shomanshipo, but it works for him ;). And what else was hermes known for? But where in other books, TP might use theme like that and then lay them out blatantly, here he doesn't. Well, I mean, he does and he doens't. There is the winged costume thing, sure, and s I said, he does *claimn* to be a messenger to the gods, at least. but I mean, the trickery aspect of the Hermes analogy isn't made blatant. And really, that was always my favourite thing about him, anyway.
All in all, probably the best of the lot of Discworld book that have come out in the past few years, but still not quite up to the standard of some of the earlier bits. I want moooore :(
...Wow, thinking back, the most recent book that I can think of that too me, has really good, memorable quotes was Carpe Jgulum. That makes me sad.
"The world is your oyster..."
"Why would I want it to be some nasty little sea creature?"
"Because, my dear, they get eaten alive...'
(Paraphrased ;)
lethargic