The Colour Of Magic | Cinema Parrot Disco

Welcome to Day Two of my annoying End-Of-Year Lists! Today I’m ranking the thirteen books that I read in 2016 (but it’s still a Top Ten as I didn’t really like the bottom three very much). As always, I rank things according to my own personal taste. For example, number 13 is a far better & more well-written book than 12 or 11 – I just enjoyed 12 & 11 slightly more. I’m also quite proud that I somehow managed to review them all (poorly, though – I suck at book reviews even more than movie reviews) so I’ve included the links to what I said about each.

So now, counting down to my very favorite, these are all the books that I read in 2016:

Three Not-So-Great:

13. Straight White Male by John Niven

12. The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

11. The Death Cure by James Dashner

Top Ten Much-Better-Ones:

10. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

9. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

8. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

7. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

6. The End Of The World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker

5. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

4. Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

3. The Bazaar Of Bad Dreams by Stephen King

2. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill

1. The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Can I just say that, while I highly recommend at least my top seven, I want to give a special mention to Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts. I’ve now read several of his books after wanting to find out if he was as good as his father (Stephen King). I’ve really enjoyed all his books so far but, finally, 20th Century Ghosts is one that I really loved. As with all short story collections, some stories are much stronger than others. But the best ones are fantastic!

**See you for two more end-of-year lists over the next two days. Tomorrow I’ll be posting a list of My Top Ten Movies Watched At Home In 2016 then will end on Friday with My Top Ten Movies Released In 2016 (going by UK release dates). 🙂

The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett (the first novel in the Discworld series)

What It’s About: (via Amazon)
Imagine, if you will . . .

a flat world sitting on the backs of four elephants who hurtle through space balanced on a giant turtle. In truth, the Discworld is not so different from our own. Yet, at the same time, very different . . . but not so much.

In this, the maiden voyage through Terry Pratchett’s divinely and recognizably twisted alternate dimension, the well-meaning but remarkably inept wizard Rincewind encounters something hitherto unknown in the Discworld: a tourist! Twoflower has arrived, Luggage by his side, to take in the sights and, unfortunately, has cast his lot with a most inappropriate tour guide—a decision that could result in Twoflower’s becoming not only Discworld’s first visitor from elsewhere . . . but quite possibly, portentously, its very last. And, of course, he’s brought Luggage along, which has a mind of its own. And teeth.

My Thoughts:

This book got second place in my poll asking which book I should read next (I reviewed the winner, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, HERE). I really liked The Colour Of Magic! I far preferred it to Neverwhere. This is my very first Terry Pratchett book – I’d been wanting to check his stuff out for a long time but really didn’t know where to start. Maybe I was too ambitious in deciding to start with the first Discworld novel… I didn’t know there were 41 in the series! Maybe I’ll read one each year. Yep, that’s my new goal. And if I make it to book 41, it’ll mean I’ve lived to a pretty ripe old age!

This book, published in 1983, is a comic fantasy. I’m a big fan of the fantasy of The Lord Of The Rings novels and my all-time favorite book is comic sci-fi (The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy) so checking out a comic fantasy really appealed to me. It isn’t laugh-out-loud funny like Hitchhiker’s but I loved the subtle humor. The characters of the pessimistic only-knows-one-spell wizard Rincewind and the childlike & always optimistic tourist Twoflower are fantastic and work so well together. I hope they’re together in a lot of the other books? I see only some are “Rincewind” tales. Then, of course, there’s Twoflower’s violent & overprotective chest of luggage and his strange talking camera.

This bizarre cast of characters, along with the many more they meet on their journey, are what truly make this book so hugely enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong – the story is fun but even the best story won’t hold my interest if the characters are dull. It’s not a very long book but the characters are so richly developed that I know, even if I take some time in getting to the next book, that I’ll easily remember the small details & characteristics of even the lesser people, animals, creatures & anthropomorphic furniture we only meet very briefly. Rincewind is the most straightforward & least bizarre of those in the book but he’s also the very best – he’s one of those characters you feel like you actually know after reading the book. This may only be my first Pratchett novel but I can already see why his books are so popular. I’m certainly eager to read more Rincewind tales and also to meet other crazy characters created in the mind of Terry Pratchett.

My Rating: 4/5