Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "pratchett"

What defines a good book for you?

For me a good book is one that fulfils its purpose, whether that is to make me laugh, show me a world I did not know previously, or help me improve my history knowledge etc.

It has to keep me gripped to The End. I have to be eagerly looking forward to reading the next chapter when I read in bed. (And be mightily miffed if the Sandman comes along a bit early and I don't get to read for as long as I'd like).

A good book will have writing that takes my breath away with the joy of how it is put together. P.G. Wodehouse is the master there as far as I'm concerned.

Humorous books have to not only make me laugh out loud, but to keep me smiling until The End. I love books which are obviously funny but which raise smiles by their subtle use of language, puns etc. Again Wodehouse is brilliant here and so was Terry Pratchett.

Crime fiction has to bring out the "I've got to find out what happens next" feeling. And it must deliver on its promise. Historical fiction has to make me feel "yes, it could have been that way" and so on.

Good books I always re-read. Maybe that is the true test of a great read.

When times are tough, or your own situation is going through a difficult patch, what books do you turn to for some comfort and cheer?

Do you look to escape for a while via the printed word or does that aspect not matter as long as you're reading?

I tend to turn to humour and this is where the wonderful books of P.G. Wodehouse and Terry Pratchett in particular come to the fore for me.

All of their work is capable of withstanding multiple re-readings and I usually pick up on gags, in-jokes etc., that I missed before. (I just do! I also don't believe I'm alone in that).

After humour, I turn to crime - reading wise that is! I adore Agatha Christie but I enjoy contemporary crime too. (See Wendy H Jones and Val Penny for more on these, especially if you like your stories set in Scotland).

After crime I turn to history and that can be a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. I've enjoyed Jennifer C. Wilson's Kindred Spirits series here as that combines a very different take on history with ghost stories.

By this stage, I'm usually looking for some non-fiction to get my reading "teeth" into and then I'm back to the funny works again.

Above all, I have a fabulous time doing all of this!

Whatever you read, especially now, enjoy. Take care, keep well, be kind, and God bless.

Working out what to read next is probably the reader’s most difficult dilemma though it is a lovely one to have.

I mix up reading novels with short story and flash fiction collections. I also mix up the genres I read. I also like to mix up the mood of what I read. I also mix up reading classic and contemporary.

At the moment I’m happily reading some of P.G.Wodehouse’s works as I want a lighthearted read. Am loving getting into the stories of Jeeves and Wooster again.

Am currently reading Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen and I was delighted to come across a reference to Blandings Castle, the scene of some of my favourite Wodehouse stories with the lovely Lord Emsworth and the wonderful Uncle Fred.

Not just here but in series books, I love those little “nods” to other places the author writes about.

I see this a lot in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld too. In the fabulous Maskerade (a spoof of opera and The Phantom of the Opera especially), the Lancre witches come to Ankh-Morpork where so many of the other Discworld novels are set.

I love links like that and often I will find my dilemma about what to read next is solved because having read Maskerade again, for example, I wold probably go on to re-read one of the Sam Vimes books, the common link here being that fabulous fantasy city.

I have a very soft spot for humorous fiction, ranging from Jane Austen’s irony in Pride and Prejudice (in particular) all the way through to Wodehouse and Pratchett.

Story writing is challenging enough but to make it funny as well takes a particular skill set and one I think the world could do with much more of especially now. Well, let’s be honest, 2024 has not been a great year, has it?

So books and stories which make me laugh will always go down well with me. I do wish humorous fiction was taken more seriously, funny enough.

I’ve long held the view it is looked down on a bit because it “looks easy”, Big mistake there. I learned years ago if someone makes something look easy, that same someone has worked hard for years to get to that point.

For a writer to come up with funny lines for their characters, they have to know their creations inside out and ensure that what the characters speak is something which arises naturally out of the situation they’re in.

Nothing must seem forced in any book. It never works. Humour especially cannot be forced - readers literally won’t buy it. It’s the equivalent of laughing at your own jokes, which most of us don’t do.

But when a writer gets the humour right, it is sublime.

January can be the gloomiest month of the year. Christmas is over and it is still ages before spring turns up. It is a great time for getting more reading done though!

One of the simple delights in life is curling up with a good book in a cosy chair with a hot drink or several to hand.

For me, January is definitely not the time to be reading anything gloomy in itself. I want something to make me smile or laugh (Wodehouse, Pratchett and Austen are my go-tos for this).

I also like to read plenty of short fiction (it’s so often easier to find funny short stories tor flash fiction than novels - well that’s been my experience).

But if there is anything positive to be said for January, it is a good reading month. Escaping into a world contained in the pages of a book always seems like a good idea to me but never more so than when it is dark and cold outside.

Now it’s no secret the books I read often depend on what mood I’m in.

When life is grim (and the news even more so), then I will usually go for humorous reads such as works by Wodehouse, Pratchett, and Austen, something I know will make me smile basically. I see it as having something lighter to counterbalance the darker side of life.

But books too have their moods and certain genres play on this to good effect - horror, crime, and thrillers, all indicate the moods of their stories to name but a few.

Now I’m one of those readers where I don’t want the mood the book to match my mood. I like that counterbalance though there are books I will always read regardless of what mood I’m in.

For example, I will always find time to re-read Agatha Christie or Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time (which is a fabulous book and the only novel to make me change my view on a historical person, in this case Richard III).

So which books do you use to lighten your mood?

Which ones do you read regardless of mood of book or your own mood?