Having seen clues in many posts
I'm assuming that the full works of Terry Pratchett will feature highly on almost every B3tans list of shit-hot reads. So, rather than telling you what you already know (i.e just how fucking good an author Terry Pratchett is), I suggest a question within the QOTW - a meta-QOTW, if you will.

Namely - what's your favourite Terry Pratchett novel, and what's your favourite quote? And why?

I'll get the ball rolling - favourite book's got to be 'The Fifth Elephant.' I love all the Sam Vimes novels, and this is the ultimate. It's funny (as you'd expect), but a lot more action-oriented than most of his novels. The tension throughout is masterfully controlled, and, no matter how many times I read it, my heart still begins to pump during the epic chase.

Favourite quote's got to be "Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life."

Over to you...
(Pavlov's Frog figures no-one really reads sigs anyway, Thu 15 May 2008, 21:39, 12 replies)

Never read a Pratchett novel in my life
Read The Hobbit because it was a set text at school in my first year.

Read Sci-fi when I was in my pre and early teens.

Haven't read any Gaiman either.


Does this mean my membership to b3ta is rescinded?
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 15 May 2008, 22:07, closed)

Men At Arms
"This is your club with a nail in it! you will eat it, you will sleep on it, when Detritus say jump you say...what colour!"


Although frankly, there are so many awesome Pratchett quotes (and thats awesome like ten million hot-dogs) that I cant pick a favourite, that was just the first one that sprung to mind that I knew word for word without looking it up.

I have not just made an utter berk of myself by making a claim like that (word for word, not having to look up) when it isn't true have I?

Probably
(BeardyWierdy, Thu 15 May 2008, 22:19, closed)

Lords and Ladies
Of all the Discworld books, and I've read the lot, many times, the witches are by far my favourite story arc. If I ever have a daughter, she's being named Esmerelda, potential for vicious bullying or no.

Of those, it's tough to choose, but I'd say Witches Abroad is my preference. Obviously, the narrative is effortless, and the plot engaging, and the characters bursting with dimension, but it's also, I think, the most evocative of all his books. Genua is somehow much more New Orleans than New Orleans.

The best quote though, by far, comes from Soul Music: 'would they remember some felonious monk or shout for Glod Glodsson?'. Genius. I fell off the bed laughing.
(WarneMarsh My priority for frivolity begets quality jollity, Thu 15 May 2008, 22:46, closed)

Witches Abroad
Simply for Greebo being turned human. "Greebo's technique was unscientific and wouldn't have stood a chance against any decent swordmanship, but on his side was the fact that it is almost impossible to develop decent swordmanship when you seem to have run into a food mixer that is biting your ear off."

And pretty much any novel with Greebo:

Nanny Ogg's cat. A huge, one-eyed tom who divides his time between sleeping, eating and fathering the most incestuous feline tribe. He is technically a mottled grey but is covered with so much scar tissue that he looks like a fist with fur on it. He can only be said to have ears because there's no other word for the things left on top of his head. Greebo's good eye, his left one, is yellow. The other one is pearly-white. He radiates genuine intelligence. He also radiates a smell that could knock over a wall and cause sinus trouble in a dead fox. He also once tried to rape a she-bear, but the bear refused to come down off the tree. Although he is addressed by virtually everyone as "Yarrgeroffoutofityahbastard", to Nanny Ogg he is still a cute little kitten and still sleeps on her bed when not out at night looking for something to fight, rape, eat (or all three). The way he affectionately tries to claw her eyeballs out in the morning is as good as an alarm clock.

Has eaten at least one vampire.
(Big Smurf Brush me daddy-O, Thu 15 May 2008, 23:24, closed)

Going Postal
Not my favorite book, but my favorite quote: "You see, I believe in freedom, Mr. Lipwig. Not many people do, although they will, of course, protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be completely without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based." - Lord Vetinari

My favorite book is "Hoggfather" - it's a better christmas story than any other I've read or been subjected to.
(aeon chicken Like the Millenium Falcon, only slower and noisier, Thu 15 May 2008, 23:44, closed)

The Last Hero
Hope I live after I get old. This story (and Cohen) is inspirational. Especially to incipient Old Gits like me.
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Fri 16 May 2008, 9:35, closed)

oooh,
Of all the discworld books I like the City Watch arc best, generally speaking, but for me the stand-out scene is in night watch. when they have the fight in the past and it's all going wrong and it's suddenly not funny, it's terrifying and just for a few seconds, in your head, these people are really about to die.

I've very rarely been sucked into a book to quite that degree and it had a powerful effect on me.

as for quotes, google the annotated pratchett file and see a million classic lines, but the first to come to mind:
"It was darker than the inside of a cat"
( Mockingbird Practitioner of SCIENCE, Fri 16 May 2008, 10:17, closed)

Interesting Times
Just a glorious adventure, and of course featured the very welcome return of Rincewind.

Favourite quote - "Can I have them mashed?"
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 16 May 2008, 12:02, closed)

My fave is usually...
...the last one I've read, and yes, re-read. Top of the list are the City Watch books and 'The Nightwatch' probably top. The idea that Vimes lands back in time and finds he has to teach himself all the guile and cunning that he's accumulated over 20 odd years because the man that did it has been murdered is...inspired. Who else could have taught him? I love the way the Watch has become multi-cultural, dwarfs, trolls, an igor, warewolf, vampire - all rubbing along together with friction points breaking out all over. I used 'Detritus' crossbow' in one of my posts (most popular too!): "Little did I know that during a temp placement as a filing clerk at a family planning clinic, Cupid would be lying in wait for me, and rather than the usual cute little bow and arrow, he’d borrowed Detritus’ crossbow. I’m still – 23 years on – reeling from the blow and will possibly never recover."

Also 'Small gods' is very good. Especially when death finally visits the evil man in the religous hierarchy and he discovers that there IS an after-life and for him, it will be very unpleasant indeed.

'The Thief of Time' is also good - I love Lu Tse with his sayings of Mrs Cosmopolite, his old landlady. "Is it not written: 'Oo, you are so sharp you'll cut yourself one of these days'."

I'm also a fan of the witches and the Igors, but less so the wizards. Vetinari is a class act too, his grasp of politics is superb.

Just remembered my favourite bit of all (probably): the Guild of Fools and Joculators, and Verence in 'Wyrd Sisters'. The description of the misery in the guild and being beaten as a boy for daring to make up a new joke are truly heart-rending. If I could remember the exact passage I'd quote it for you verrily n'uncle forsooth.

For those of you that have got this far and yet have never read a Disc World book - start with 'Wyrd Sisters' - if you don't like it, well, they're all quite short. And don't be put off by the covers - I hate the covers.

Just remembered - the phrase used of the Seamstresses Guild: 'Ladies of negotiable affection' - class.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 16 May 2008, 14:32, closed)

Mort.
The impressive effect was rather spoiled by a patch of ice.
OH, BUGGER.
( Maladicta, Sat 17 May 2008, 15:19, closed)

Thud!
My absolute favourite... it just mirrors and parodies our present world completely. As with an above poster, I love all the Sam Vimes novesl - I'd consider him my fictional hero. When Detritus gives his little speech about leaveing some ideas behind, that was what made me in to a complete Pratchettphile, it just echoed resoundingly thourgh my head... absolutly fantastic.
(Potty Jag har smör i min rumpspringa, Sat 17 May 2008, 20:45, closed)