Hogfather (Discworld #20)
Where is the big jolly fat man? Why is Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho? The darkest night of the year is getting a lot darker...
Susan the gothic governess has got to sort it out by morning, otherwise there won't be a morning. Ever again...The 20th Discworld novel is a festive feast of darkness and...more
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This book is a reminder that what we think of as sweet harmless stories come from darker, scary places. And that is for a reason. So many things stem from the simple fact - we, humans, need to believe; we need to create and fantasize to make the world make any sense, to have the world we think of as perman...more
The Auditors have decided that they need to "remove" the Hog Father...so they contact the Assassin's guild and Mr. Teatime (pronounce it "Teh-ah-tim-eh." ) is sent to "inhum" him (but Hog Father isn't human). As you can imagine chaos ensues. With Death taking over the Hog Father's role to keep belief in him alive, while Mr. Teatime (pronounce it "Teh-ah-tim-eh.") and Susan (Deaths grand daughter) are in the realm of the tooth fairy...Teatime trying to use what's there to a...more
I enjoyed the hijinks at Unseen University more than I expected to. The daft old wizards were funnier than I'd seen them be before; underling wizard Ponder and the thinking machine, Hex, are charming.
The send-up...more
Let me share a few of my favorite quotes from near the end of the story. These may help you understand what...more
Hogfather (now a major television drama series), is Discworld no. 20 and a continuation of this mind-blowing otherworldly creation that Pratchett is famous for. This brilliant novel is a festive feast of darkness and death (but with jolly robins and tinsel too!), complete with the energy of ‘the Hitch-hiker’s guide to the galaxy’ and the inventiveness of ‘A...more
It's been awhile since I last read a Discworld novel, tiring somewhat after reading the first 18 books more or less chronologically. Picking up the series again, I cannot help but smile for two reasons, for every Discworld novel is both a solid read in its own right and a catalog of references to the charming stories preceding it. Another brick placed on the edifice of one of my most enjoyable literary experiences.
Belief is a powerful thing and in the magically ch...more
robes and scythe) replacing Hogfather (Pratchett's Discworld answer
to S. Claus) with a fun handfull of subplots running around the main
story. Death practices: Ho HO HO. Death's grandaughter is looking up
the tooth fairy and University teachers are trying to figure out why
imps and garish instafairies are out stealing socks and pencils or
puking in corporeal form. It all ties together.
The best part about this whole book was the hog...more
It’s like Terry Pratchett saw The Nightmare Before Christmas and then decided do something completely different.
For those not familiar with Pratchett’s work, he manages to combine the absurd (A Tooth Fairy who subcontracts) with the sublime.
Death, as always, makes a great central character. By turns clueless...more
'Ik wil,' zei meneer Kruimpjes van de supermarkt, 'dat je Berevaar arresteert!'
'Waarvoor dan?' zei Korporaal Bolleboos.
'Dat zit me daar zomaar allemaal pakjes weg te geven!'
Er zat iemand op de stoel. Met een kind op zijn knie. Maar wel een raar iemand, onder dat rode pak. Een knokig iemand, met holle oogkassen en een valse baard. WAT WIL JIJ VOOR JE BEREWAAKSAVOND, KLEIN MENSJE? Waar is de echte gebleven? Waarom komt de Dood door de schoorsteen gekropen? De dag voor Berewaak is dit jaar nog donk
Meanwhile, Susan, Death's adopted grandaughter, is working as a governess to some well-meaning but rather pretentious members of the Ankh-Morporkian upper-middle-class. She spends most of her...more
I came back to the Discworld after a very long break due to being 'over it' after overdosing on so many Discworld novels in the late 90's...I'm glad I did.
Hogfather is just one story that features in the Discworld series. If you don't know what the Discworld is, then you must lead a poor shallow inconsolable life and no amount of funny witty puns collected in to an adventure filled story is going to...more
The real Hogfather is incapacitated (in fact, mysterious forces are trying to kill him) and Death has to hitch up the hog-driven sleigh and make merry for the children of the Disc. It's in everyone's best interest to make sure they really believe in the Hogfather. Death tries to the best...more
Here's a conversation between DEATH and His grand-daughter, Susan, that I think answers the question appropriately:
"'.... Now...tell me...'
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HADN'T SAVED [THE HOGFATHER:]?
'Yes! The sun would have risen just the same, yes?'
NO.
'Oh, some on. You can't expect me to believe that. It's an astronomical fact.'
THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN.
She turned on him. 'It's been a long night, Grandfather! I'm tired and I need a bath! I don't...more
Terry Pratchett is just an amazingly creative mind, and the world he created is stunningly detailed. Sure this is a Santa Claus retell, but it's clever, fun...more
So ist es. Der Schneevater ist verschwunden, aber irgendjemand muss ihn vertreten. Doch ob TOD dieser Aufgabe so gerecht wird? Dessen Enkelin Susanne...more
Death: Humans need fantasy to *be* human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.
Susan: With tooth fairies? Hogfathers?
Death: Yes. As practice, you have to start out learning to believe the little lies.
Susan: So we can believe the big ones?
Death: Yes. Justice, mercy, duty. That sort of thing.
Susan: They're not the same at all.
Death: You think so? Then take the universe and grind it d...more
Susan, Death's granddaughter just wants a normal life. In her current job as a governess to two terminally c...more
This is a Discworld book. If you know what that means, then you already know the most important things one could say about Hogfather. If you don't know what the Discworld is? There's a wealth of material about it on the Internet, but suffice it to say that the Discworld is a comedic fantasy realm where magic and gods and minor deities all act in concert to produce the funn...more
Who would want to harm Discworld's most beloved icon? Very few things are held sacred in this twisted, corrupt, heartless — and oddly familiar — universe, but the Hogfather is one of them. Yet here it is, Hogswatchnight, that most joyous and acquisitive of times, and the jolly old, red-suited gift-giver has vanished without a trace. And there's something shady going on involving an uncommonly psychotic member of the Assassins' Guild and certain representatives of Ankh-Morpork's rather extensive
...more
it helps if you're already familiar with Pratchett's other Discworld books, but it's not entirely neccessary. It's easy to fall into Pratchett's beautifully detailed, lovingly madcap world--a world that's not entirely unlike our own.
The book takes place on Discworld, a flat, disc-shaped planet that's supported on the back of a giant turtle that endlessly "swi...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backseat Book Club: Discussion Questions | 1 | 6 | Nov 29, 2012 02:24pm | |
| Goodreads Librari...: Hogging the fixes | 3 | 47 | Jan 14, 2012 02:16pm |
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1 quiz
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"
MY POINT EXACTLY.”

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Jan 06, 2013 03:31am
Jan 06, 2013 04:30pm