As I write this there is a documentary currently showing on BBC1 called A Life of Grime which follows some real-life characters in their day to day jobs. The common thread is that while all their jobs are essential, not many of us would want to do them. Well, does catching rats, collecting rubbish or unblocking sewers appeal to you? These are the jobs that we don't like to think about and instead just assume someone else will do. We put our rubbish out in the morning and by the time we get home from work it's gone, as if by magic. And talking of magic (nice link huh?) the Discworld also has a number of essential jobs and none more so than that performed by ...  Read the complete review

JK Rowling has nothing on this... Terry Pratchett's seemingly endless Discworld series is forever being likened to the Hitchhiker's Guide books of the sadly missed Douglas Adams (hmmm... could one refer to it as a trilogy in twenty-something parts, I wonder?). The reason I bring this up is that in Adams' novels, Arthur Dent has the particularly human habit of stating the very, very, obvious, of which a prime example is "So this is it, we're going to die". Mort, the fourth book in the saga of the Discworld, and in quite a few ways its true starting point, turns this idea on its head somewhat, as the principal character is dead already. He's ..  Read the complete review

Well, a bit of a Patchett-athon recently so I thought I'd add and opinion about the 1st of his books that I'd read. I love Pratchett and find his books get funnier and funnier as I go through the series. Although Mort is the 8th in the Discworld series it is the 1st to be centred on Death. Currently available for £4.79 from BOL this is a great read and well worth the money. The plot: --------- Mort is a bumbling farmhand, not even good at frightening the birds off the crops for his dad. His uncle suggests that his dad gets Mort 'prenticed and so off they go to the apprentiship fair in the market square. After waiting for the ...  Read the complete review

If you're an ardent Discworld fan you'll know that the year's wait for each book can be torture. How do you get through it? Well I spend the time reading them all again - except the year that Harry Potter was big, but that's another story. Going back over the old ones is a little wierd, because there is a high degree of evolution across the series - both in writing style, and in the nature of the Disc itself. After you've read the incredibly tightly crafted, intellectual style of the middle books, and then come out the other side, into the ridiculous economy of the latest novels, (so economical that, quite often, I can get to the end without being ...  Read the complete review

Firstly, sorry about the bad pun in the title. By now, I think almost everyone has heard of Terry Pratchett and the Discworld series. And you can always tell those that haven't - they're the ones looking on bemusedly whilst their friend tells them about "this world on the back of a turtle, and there's a city called Ankh-Morpork, and loads of wizards live there, but the best character is Death..." I always find it easier to chuck a book at them and say, "Here, read this." Mort is the book I usually chuck.For most people, Mort is the place where the Discworld series really started to pick up pace. It concerns a boy ...  Read the complete review