2023 ⤴

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

read

I gave a little presentation on this one for book club. Sam Vimes is right up there with the all-time great Sams.

Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett

read

I'm on a mission to read all the books about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, just not in order :)

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

read

Sam Vimes on vacation! Shout out to Stephen Briggs, btw. He is a great reader, and his involvement with Discworld runs deep. If you're going to listen to Pratchett, he's the narrator you want.

The Illustrated Eric by Terry Pratchett, illustrated by Josh Kirby

read

Faust Eric is a tale of three wishes gone wrong (right?) that take us on a journey through history, all the way back to the creation of the Universe. with fabulous illustrations!

Under the Tuscan Sun: at Home in Italy by Frances Mayes

book club pick

read

book club goes overseas! do you like books about home renovations? apparently, I do. who knew?

Mort by Terry Pratchett

read

assassins, princesses, Death, and Death's apprentice. but make it funny.

seriously, Terry Pratchett is one of the few writers whose books consistently make me laugh out loud. this is a lighter read than the City Watch books I've been so enamoured with. it's just fun.

I regret to say that sometimes my media consumption feels more like a chore than entertainment. not just reading, but TV, films, podcasts...everything. they become a means to an end, whether that end is learning about a particular subject or engaging in a current cultural conversation, or simply that I want to be "a person who reads."

what a delight, then, to find myself reaching for a book instead of my phone, eager to spend time this these characters in this world.

Thud by Terry Pratchett

read

of course, I'm cheerfully reading the City Watch novels out of order. Thud comes after Night Watch and before Snuff, if you're playing the home game. I do quite like these later installments—Sam struggling with Dukedom and fatherhood and a Watch that must keep up with the changing times.

Holes by Louis Sachar

book club pick

read

masterful children's lit. engaging to read, great characters, and extra kudos for the structure. intertwining the past and present is not always easy, but Sachar does it beautifully.

Devil House by John Darnielle

T's recommendation

read

John knows his way around a phrase. that's obvious (see The Mountain Goats discography). not my kind of thing, but cleverly done.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

book club pick

read

fun! dinosaur attacks are so brutal. great example of its genre. proposes that capitalists should be eaten by dinosaurs.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

read

stunning. ouch.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

book club pick

read

a re-read. recommended this for book club. interesting to note which stories were people's favourites. some stories have new resonance for me after reading In the Dream House. I love speculative fiction.

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

book club pick

read

points in favour: I like the language. this narrated style of children's literature has largely fallen out of favour and I miss it. points against: racism, social Darwinism.

Emotional Labor: The Invisible Work Shaping Our Lives and How to Claim Our Power by Rose Hackman

read

this year's fixation: domestic and emotional labour.

The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett

read

the last Tiffany Aching book. the last Terry Pratchett book. in the afterword (during which I bawled my eyes out), Rob Wilkins notes that this book was “not quite as finished as [Terry] would have liked when he died.” despite this, the book is a deeply satisfying conclusion to Tiffany's story. I don't think books have a responsibility to teach us how to live, and yet that is one of the things I like best about these latter Discworld books. they are so full of empathy, kindness, strength—and humour, foibles, stubborness—that the characters feel as real and familiar as friends and neighbours.

with each passing year, I become more determined to make conscious choices about how to live my life. I seek out new perspectives, new ways of being. I'm also seeking reassurance—we can't know that we're getting it right, but we hope we are. I am learning how to work, how to rest, how to connect, how to live with integrity. the quiet dignity of the witches' work, the acts of service that bind their community together...these things leave me feeling inspired and freshly committed to doing good where I can, even when good is unglamourous, thankless, and tedious. because good work is its own reward, and being there for people hopefully means they will be there for you in turn.

GNU Terry Pratchett. We miss you.

Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey

read

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

read

giving Night Watch a run for its money, this one. what a superb book. the genius of Lord Vetinari is how he understands precisely what the city needs and moves people around like chess pieces in order to keep things functioning...which results in hilarious premises like saving a convicted con man from his death in exchange for said con man running the post office.

the story of the clacks network and what happens to the Grand Trunk Company is infuriating and all too familiar. Discworld is one of my favourite fantasy universes precisely because of its clear parallels to our world. happy endings on the Disc make me feel hopeful in a way pure escapism might not.

Making Money by Terry Pratchett

read

Going Postal is the superior novel, but only because it might be the best Discworld novel. hard to compete with that. the second in the Moist-von-Lipwig series strikes me as more lighthearted, and deeply satisfying in the way it deepens our relationship with these characters (and their relationships with each other).

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

read

I don't know if I can say I enjoy Miranda July's work, but it is fascinating. no one does it like her.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

book club pick

read

The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos

read

Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

read

it's a murder mystery! it's City Watch novel! it's about civil rights!

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

book club pick

read

You Just Need to Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People by Aubrey Gordon

read

I'm a bona fide Maintenance Phase stan, so I knew I was gonna read this book. it is well-researched and thoughtful, as I would expect from Aubrey, and I hope it gives people some new tools for approaching conversations about these deeply ingrained cultural myths about fat people.

The Time Traveler's Wifes by Audrey Niffenegger

read

I still love it. I am more aware of its flaws than when I was a teenager, but in casually glancing at some reviews of this book, many of the "flaws" that put off other readers are things I enjoy about the book, or at least am not bothered by: pretentious characters, the constant name-dropping of artists and musicians, the fucked up and problematic relationship dynamics...oh yeah. total Alicia-bait.

re-reading this at twenty-seven offered another layer of meaning. Clare was born the same year as my mom. she is trying to get pregnant around the time that my mom had me. I was now reading passages about Clare at twenty-seven, thinking about her life and mine and my mom's.

since Stephen Moffat's adaptation came out recently (I will not be watching it, thank you), there was a fresh wave of discourse around the story, and there is some excellent analysis out there about how troubling it is to present this as romantic. fair! but Henry and Clare think their story is a romance. and the truth is, I care about Henry and Clare. I can't unring that bell. I am rooting for them.

this book about time-travel is a time-capsule read; I will return to it again and again, the story never changing, but my mind and heart different every time.

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

read

this is a five-star book. I was drawn to it due to the lipogrammatic conceit (the novel uses fewer and fewer letters of the alphabet as it progresses) but found beyond the cleverly-executed gimmick was a novel about totalitarianism and community. it's beautifully done. and feels more poignant than ever...

Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory by Sarah Polley

read

on my birthday, I woke up early and went for a walk through the urban forest in my city, following the trails, no destination in mind. I emerged onto an unfamiliar street, but quickly realized where I was: near my favourite breakfast spot. since I was by myself, I popped into the drugstore to find a book. and there, among the Nora Roberts and James Pattison novels was this memoir by Sarah Polley.

what good fortune, to stumble upon this book.

“I know now that I will become weaker at what I avoid, that what I run towards will strengthen in me. I know to listen to my body, but not so much that I convince myself I can't do things or that I can't push myself; not so much that I can use the concept of listening to my body as a weapon against my vitality.”

Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

book club pick

read

perfectly charming! enjoyed this a lot. but having to read descriptions of "chiseled" men takes years off my life.

Everything/Nothing/Someone by Alice Carrière

read

this belongs to a particular sub-genre of memoirs which are either the zenith or nadir of memoir-writing, depending on who you ask. this is a particularly well-crafted example of that sub-genre.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

read

back to the Discworld book that started it all for me. I recommended this lately, so I thought I would revisit it. wow. just superb. I first read The Wee Free Men in 2020 (I think), and devoured the rest of the books in the series. there is a grounded practicality to Terry's fantasy universe that I find deeply comforting.

Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography by Elisabeth Sladen

read

our Sarah Jane 💔

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

read

maybe my favourite Tiffany Aching book?? but I love them all.

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

read

the best opening sequence of a Tiffany Aching book.

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

read

in which Tiffany goes to the city! how fun to read this after reading so many Watch novels