false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170349126m/47990.jpg 47990 20 Terry Pratchett is a phenomenon unto himself. Never read a Discworld book? The closest comparison might be <I>Monty Python and the Holy Grail</I>, with its uniquely British sense of the absurd, and side-splitting, smart humor. <I>Jingo</I> is the 20th of Pratchett's Discworld novels, and the fourth to feature the City Guard of Ankh-Morpork. As <I>Jingo</I> begins, an island suddenly rises between Ankh-Morpork and Al-Khali, capital of Klatch. Both cities claim it. Lord Vetinari, the Patrician, has failed to convince the Ruling Council that force is a bad idea, despite reminding them that they have no army, and "I believe one of those is generally considered vital to the successful prosecution of a war." Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch, has to find out who shot the Klatchian envoy, Prince Khufurah, and set fire to their embassy, before war breaks out. <p> Pratchett's characters are both sympathetic and outrageously entertaining, from Captain Carrot, who always finds the best in people and puts it to work playing football, to Sergeant Colon and his sidekick, Corporal Nobbs, who have "an ability to get out of their depth on a wet pavement." Then there is the mysterious D'reg, 71-hour Ahmed. What is his part in all this, and why 71 hours? Anyone who doesn't mind laughing themselves silly at the idiocy of people in general and governments in particular will enjoy <I>Jingo</I>. <I>--Nona Vero</I> 1128623 book 1989 Jingo (Discworld, #21) total:4077|5:68|4:71|3:43|2:12|1:3| 4077 15995 5090 95 5 2 false false Wed Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jan 31 06:47:12 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 06:04:46 -0800 2008
Sounds unpleasantly familiar, which is probably why I was drawn to reading this...more...]]> 4 1 true false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 07 06:29:45 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 07 08:37:52 -0700 2007 nice to have that for books, actually, as some of the contents still come as a surprise upon rereading. I may remember ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 05:04:05 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 05:05:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 19 19:44:17 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 21:08:59 -0700 2009 Jingo the Discworld looks into the dark heart of war, land disputes, assassination, scienc...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 12 18:44:14 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 18:44:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 09 12:16:59 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 19:02:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Jun 26 18:51:40 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 18:57:40 -0700 2008 Fans of Jerome K. Jerome, George Orwell, and other distinctly English humorous authors will enjoy Pratche...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri May 23 13:19:12 -0700 2008 Fri May 23 13:20:24 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 23:58:12 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 23:17:48 -0700 2009
Jingo is up there with the best. You'll probably want to read Guards! Guards! and Men At Arms prior to reading this book - otherwise many of the character-based jokes are at risk of going over your head.
more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 19 09:26:03 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 09:28:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Nov 24 08:49:17 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 08:49:17 -0800 2008 The Last Continent isn't about Australia at all, Jingo isn't about the Kennedy assassination, Lawrence of Arabia, Ozymandias, Atlantis, or race relations--actually, in all seriousness, it isn't about that last one nearly as much as Pratchett's later books with dwarfs and golems....more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 00:14:18 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 00:16:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 05 08:48:34 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 08:50:38 -0700 2009 2 Jingo is a really great, funny book about Discworld jingoism and its rather hilarious manifestations. Leonard de Quirm and Lord Vetinari are perhaps the most unintentionally funny characters in Discworld...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 01:02:03 -0700 2009 Tue May 19 01:25:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Aug 28 08:57:37 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 05 22:51:13 -0800 2007
Like in Miss Bianca in the Orient, Klatch is an amalgamation of the old B...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 21 15:11:45 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 15:44:24 -0700 2008 Jingo reads almost as an "extra" book in the Watch subseries of Pratchett's Discworld series. It's one of the few books of his that I've read that really benefits from a prior knowledge of the characters and their world. The story itself has the feel of something Pratchett felt driven to...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 03:40:29 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 03:50:53 -0700 2008 Terry Pratchett books. I think especially now, when the United States is still in Iraq and Afghanistan, this book should be on a required reading list in schools. Full of humor and wit, the book also is rich in satire and simple down-to-earth adventure. It amazes me ho...more...]]> 5 0 false true Thu Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Sep 06 05:55:16 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 20 12:19:31 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 31 10:03:58 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 10:07:43 -0800 2009 Anyone who wants to give Pratchett a try should start with the Watch books, which I believe Guards, Guards! is the first of.]]> 5 0 false false Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 21:33:41 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 12:34:06 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=47990