Reading Wednesday

Finished reading: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett. This is one of the most underrated Discworld novels, I think. I don't see it pop up on favourites lists very much, at least not when there are active conversations. Part of the reason for this might be that it's a complete one-off. As far as I know, Teppic and Ptraci don't show up in any of the other novels in the series. When you only get to meet a character once, it's easy to forget them in a series as long as this one.

Pyramids is really, really good. And after giving it some thought, it occurs to me that it might be a good book to use to introduce someone to Discworld. Reasons: It's placed in the series after things start to get awesome, there aren't any previous novels that one would need/want to read in order to familiarize them with the characters, and it's an excellent example of Pratchett's humour. It's very, very witty. Also, while some of the other novels fall a little flat if you don't know much about what is being satirized (The Colour of Magic relies a lot on familiarization with '70s and '80s fantasy genre, Dungeons and Dragons, and Lovecraftian mythos), most people know at least a few things about ancient Egypt and the cliches that one typically comes across in its portrayal.

That aside, I really like Teppic as a character, and I wish Pratchett had done more novels with him. Since he left Djelibeybi at the end of the novel, it would've been pretty easy for him to pop up almost anywhere on the Disc. Ah, well.

Currently reading: The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien. It's been a while since I last read any Tolkien. By a while, I mean years. But my dear friend Clara really loves The Silmarillion, so I decided to give it a go. I came across the book in a secondhand store in Victoria - I found it a little odd, there were tons of copies of Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit as well, but out of the two stores I went to, there was only one copy of The Silm between them.

Part of what finally pushed me to getting this book is that the copy at the bookstore had originally been someone's gift, and the inside cover had an extremely enthusiastic note to the recipient. It made me smile. I'm going to copy it here, so you guys can see - and tell me if you agree with it. ;)

( Christmas, 1997 )

Now, I'm not far enough into it to say it's the "best thing T's ever written", heh. But I'm enjoying it so far. It's a little tricky to get everything straight, but I've read enough epics that at this point I can just let that wash over me.

Reading next: I have no idea. Nonfiction, probably. Maybe that book on British naval history that I picked up in Victoria? Then again, maybe not, it's kind of heavy and my wrists have been a bit sore lately. Hmm....

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✿ 2016 Eurovision will be in Stockholm. Seaster tossed the news at me this afternoon. What it means: We'll be going together. :D Well, it's possible that plans will change between now and next year, so nothing is definite yet. But as it stands now: Sea and I will be going to Eurovision together next year. Wonderful! It'll be nice to see my friend again, and to go to Stockholm again, and of course Eurovision sounds like a good time. And Clara said that she wants to join us, since she missed the opportunity to go to Eurovision when it was in Malmö, so hopefully she'll be able to meet up with us too.

✿ Someone recently recommended that I watch Empress of China, the 2014/2015 C-drama about Wu Zetian, starring Fan Bingbing as Empress Wu. After taking a look at some of the fabulous costumes, I'm starting to think I should definitely watch this. Oh my god, such gorgeous period clothing! On the other hand - It has 96 episodes?! I can barely get through all of Anno 1790, even though I love it to pieces, and that series only has 10 episodes! Which really says some things about my lack of attention span for television, but anyway... After I clear a couple more things off my to-watch list, maybe I will give it a try, just a little bit, to see if I like it. I'll, uh, worry about the length of the series later.

✿ My birthday is this Friday - the 10th. I will be 29. If people didn't keep reminding me about it, I would probably forget. It doesn't feel very important this year. But my parents keep bringing it up, so I guess I might as well write it down. I'll be going out for Japanese with my family, which will be very nice, though I'll probably have to remember to explain that you aren't supposed to eat the whole ball of wasabi paste all at once. Again.