Okay, look, this is why I am so upset by #TheWatch adaptation. I think I read my first #Discworld book a couple of decades ago, as a young teenager. I'd never read anything like it in my life. After that I went to the library every week & meticulously hunted for them, over years.
It took me five years from discovering #Discworld to catch up with them. I remember going to a little Worcestershire bookshop and buying a copy of Wintersmith and Terry Pratchett signed it for me and I just - I didn't know what to say to him! I was in awe!
The #Discworld books gave me a grounding in empathy and the complexity of human nature in a way no other book has. When I call Terry Pratchett a philosopher, I am not joking. I am being entirely sincere, because he was one of the brightest minds I've ever come across.
I remember in #SmallGods, when he described the way that gods would die when the structure of a religion grew around them like a tomb, and people worshipped the hierarchy of the church and the comfort of ritual.
I remember when Granny Weatherwax was asked, when she needed to choose between a mother in labour or the baby, if she would ask the father which one to save, and she said that he had loved his wife for years, but never known the child, and why would she hurt him by asking?
I remember when Sam Vimes explained his 'boots theory of economics', that the rich are rich because they can buy high quality products that last, and the poor stay poor because they have to buy cheap products that constantly must be replaced, and end up spending the most.
And in Carpe Jugulum when a priest loses his faith in a religion that is overcome by ritual and evangelism, it is an atheist that helps him get it back by explaining that if you really believe in something, want to make a difference, you put your whole self into it & never stop.
And, and, and. Every book is about human goodness, human kindness - and that it is HARD. You have to make yourself be good. You actively decide to be good every day of your life. It takes work. Every person has a darkness within them, but they make a choice.
It is so difficult to articulate, but when you read books like this, and see them called 'silly' - because they are fantasy novels, because they have a sense of humour - it's crushing. When nearly every adaptation is a strange quirky parody, it's miserable.
It can be tough to find your way into #Discworld if you've never read anything like it before. Most people say 'don't start with Colour of Magic' (correct). But any of us can help you find the right book, and you can be moved by this incredible man's words.
Terry Pratchett died a few years ago. The loss was devastating. I can't imagine the books that he would have written, the strides in intersectionality he would have taken, the paths his characters would have trod.
But please. The adaptations never tell the story. They don't show the wit, the kindness, or the bright fierce cleverness of the mind behind the novels. Read the books, give them a chance, and you'll be astonished by what you find.
And always, forever - #GNUTerryPratchett
“A man is not dead while his name is still spoken.”
“A man is not dead while his name is still spoken.”
If you haven't read #Discworld before, maybe reply to this tweet with a couple of your favourite books and we can all try and help you find one you might like? You can read in any order, so there are lots of possibilities!
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