One thing I love about Pratchett's work is that he has such a way with words, he's able to describe fictional settings in a way that makes them feel real, or if not real, then vivid in such a way that someone reading might instantly realize, "Oh, I know of a place like that". I love this kind of thing.

I came across this description of Ankh-Morpork while reading Mort, and it is just so - well, so Ankh-Morpork, really. It's nice. Especially since settings are so important to me. I find it hard to get invested in a place if I can't get a sense of it, if I can't feel like it's somewhere that could actually exist, even if it doesn't.

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Poets have tried to describe Ankh-Morpork. They have failed. Perhaps it's the sheer zestful vitality of the place, or maybe it's just that a city with a million inhabitants and no sewers is rather robust for poets, who prefer daffodils and no wonder. So let's just say that Ankh-Morpork is as full of life as an old cheese on a hot day, as loud as a curse in a cathedral, as bright as an oil slick, as colourful as a bruise and as full of activity, industry, bustle, and sheer exuberant busyness as a dead dog on a termite mound.

Another short book this week. It's nice!

Currently reading: The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett. Still as lovely as it always was. It's nice, coming across all of the delightful little quotable parts that I've never really forgotten but are always nice to read again (and again, and again). I find myself liking Twoflower more than I used to - maybe it's because now I have some actual experience being a tourist. But I still sympathize with Rincewind a lot.

Will read next: I'm not sure. Not something Pratchett. Something a lot different would be better. Maybe something nonfiction; I have a book on the Norwegian heavy water sabotage that I've been meaning to read for ages, but haven't gotten around to, and I really want to read it before I watch Kampen om tungtvannet (the recent miniseries about that historical event). Or a comic book - I still have some Vinland Saga that I haven't managed to get to, and one volume of Age of Bronze that I haven't read yet. Or maybe I'll read some Jo Nesbø; I have The Son but I haven't started it yet. Anyway, something of a completely different genre would be best.

Wow, I actually have something to talk about, for once. Usually I don't, because I'm the slowest reader ever, and if I put up an entry every Wednesday it would usually be the same book, but - well, anyway.

Finished reading: Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. It's a look at France during the 14th century, from a variety of angles - politics, culture, religion, the plague, fashion, the aristocracy, and so on, focusing especially on the life of Enguerrand VII de Coucy (when applicable, at least).

I can't say much about it in terms of how it covers the facts; my knowledge of this time period is limited to the following: plague, Middle English literature, and goings-on in Scandinavia. But it's very thorough. And it's very engaging and readable, which is very important for me, though it did take me a little bit to get into it. Because it looks at so many different things over the course of time, it's easier to get an understanding of what was going on, I think.

... And it also sparked fanfiction-related interest for me, so, there is that. Anyway, the book is worth a look, I think; though if one has already studied this area at the time period then it probably covers lots of things that one already knows.

Currently reading: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. I was going to start my Pratchett-reread with The Colour of Magic, but that was buried behind something else in my bookcase, and I needed to grab something before running out the door with a piece of toast in my mouth - you know how it is. But then again, since this is a stand-alone novel, it's as good a place to start as any.

This is my first time re-reading it; I read it once when I was in high school, and that was it. At the time, though, I was really into it. Read fanfiction and everything. I was really into Aziraphale/Crowley, heh. This time around, well, I still like their friendship/Arrangement/mutual respect and so on, but I also find myself very interested in some of the other characters too - mostly Anathema Device and Agnes Nutter. And of course the Four Riders of the Apocalypse are just as fascinating as ever. (Especially War. What a gal.)

I'll probably be finished it by tomorrow. After that, I'll have to dig out The Colour of Magic. But I've decided that I'll have to space my re-reads a bit with other stuff in between. No more than two Pratchett novels at a time - and preferably only one at a time. This is because I've found on previous reads that if I take in too much Discworld at once, it all kind of runs together. And worse, my writing style starts to absorb some of it, and it isn't really suited for it. So, after CoM will probably be something by Jo Nesbø, because I have a lot of his books but there are still some that I haven't read, and I'm not even sure which ones they are because I've been reading the entire series out of order.