Terry Pratchett, Thud!, and Where's My Cow? discussion

Cafe Society
1

Last night I had the pleasure of going to a Terry Pratchett book signing in Denver, where he spoke about the future of the discworld series (new Tiffany Aching books, the possibility of Angua/Carrot puppies, and an Unseen University soccer team, among other things) and, of course, signed copies of Thud! and Where’s My Cow.

I stayed up until 3 am finishing Thud! and I loved it. Although I think Night Watch is his best in recent years, Thud! has a lot of great commentary on parenthood, is an interesting mystery, and made me laugh hysterically quite a lot. Also, any book that’s heavy on Angua rocks my world.

Where’s My Cow? comes from the book that Vimes reads to his son every day at 6 pm and it’s a charming children’s book, although you have to be familiar with Discworld to “get” it. Beautiful illustrations.

2

I just finished Thud about three hours ago. As you said, not quite Nightwatch, but excellent nonetheless. Interesting dwarf stuff, and a new Disc chant: “Is that my cow?” :smiley:

3

On Friday, I walked into a used bookstore in Nashville, near Vanderbilt, and bought a brand-new, unread copy of Thud! at a trifle above half price.

Who in OG’s name would not even try to read it? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

4

THAT IS NOT MY COW. :mad:

Apparantly since Where’s My Cow hasn’t technically been released yet I could make some decent scratch eBaying my copy. Tempting, but…nah.

5

Hi - I read a summary of Thud and it sounds funny and possibly like my kind of book - But, do you think I could enjoy having not read any other “Discworld” books? If not, which book do I start with? Thanks.

6

Great Offler, that’s a loaded question!

Just speaking of the Watch sequence…start with:

  1. Guards! Guards!*
  2. Men At Arms
  3. Feet of Clay*
  4. Jingo
  5. The Truth
  6. Nightwatch
  7. The Fifth Elephant*

*essential for proper background.

7

Darn it!! How come the US gets Thud! first? It’s not even out on Amazon UK yet.

I tend to buy the UK version 'cuz of the cover art…

8

That should have been, I tend to but the UK version of Discworld books because of the cover art…

9

Strictly speaking, no, but the backstory helps a hell of a lot. Also, it’s really cool to see the Watch evolve over the course of the series.

You don’t need to read all of the books in order, but the aforementioned Watch sequence is probably the best place to start.