Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

I'm always happy to pick up a Discworld and find out that it heavily features death. This one turns out to be a bit complicated, but fun and I really enjoyed reading it.

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

People who read the Discworld novels often say to me: oh the ones with the XXX are the best. It could be the Witches, the Unseen University, the Líbrarian or The Watch. They all have their afficianados.

I like the Witches, and I love the Librarian. But the Watch are the boys for me, after reading this one I've finally decided which of the books I like the best: this one.

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

Ah, the witches. And the wizards. The librarian and elves. What's not to like about the magic of the Discworld?

I'm like a lot of others and really enjoy the Discworld novels when Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg make an appearance. And I definitely have a very soft spot for the librarian.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Since I'm not yet half way through the Discworld output, this blog is going to be quite full of me oohing and ahhing over Terry Pratchet. I imagine.

This one is about religion and how gods exist because people believe in them. The more believers, the bigger and more powerful the god. But actually it's more about how the administrators of a religion corrupt it for their own ends.

Discuss.

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

I am reading Pratchett, Terry's Discworld output in publication order. That means I've read a lot and I still have a lot to go.

Briefly it's humorous fantasy based on the Discworld which is carried on the backs of four elephants who in turn stand on the back of an enormous turtle, A'Tuin, who swims through the universe.

Quite.

In this one we meet some already well-known characters: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat. They have adventures then they go home.

And it's pretty standard Discworld fare, which isn't to say it's bad or boring. And there are some laugh out loud funny bits, and there are some "roll your eyes when you work it out" references to Earth culture. So for me it jogged along, and being along for the ride with Granny Weatherwax is always worthwhile, although I prefer her sidekick Nanny Ogg (and not only because of her penchant for red boots). But it's not one of my favourites - which tend to feature Death.

Welcome to my new blog!

I love reading. I read. A lot. At work I'm famous for it, everyone knows that when I go for lunch, more likely than not I'm heading to McDonalds (the nearest place) for coffee with my book. Anyone is welcome to join me but there are rules.

Rule 1: you are not allowed to talk to me when I'm reading.
Rule 2: refer to Rule 1.

Simples.

Up to now I've kept a sort of online diary over at my h2g2 page. But I want to open my reading diary to... well, to whom? To the world, a it happens, and since the relative success of my public transport blog I thought I'd give it a go.

The concept is simple (it has to be since apart from being famous for reading I'm also famous for having a brain the size of a pea). I will make a post whenever I start a new book and then if anyone wants to talk about it they can leave a comment.

But what do I read? Well, everything. Currently I'm working my way through a few series:

• the Percy Jackson series (waiting for the 5th and final book to be delivered)
• the Chronicles of Narnia (in publication order - oh look, I'm waiting for the 5th to arrive)
• the Discworld novels (also in publication order, I'm up to Reaper Man)
• the Swallows & Amazons series (there will shortly appear a post about Winter Holiday)
• the Chronicles of Prydian (I've read two, I think there are four but I seem to have lost momentum)

In addition I've recently discovered a liking for reading about science (physics in particular) and science history. I love biographies and autobiographies (official and unofficial). Fantasy features large, as does historical fiction (and romantic historical fiction on occasion). Travel writing is another thing I'm becoming addicted to and am always on the look out for new (to me) writers. Classic and modern, fiction and non-fiction. I particularly also like classic Russian literature but never seem to have the bottle to read it.

For such a voracious reader I'm sorry to say that I don't use the library as much as I should because I love to own the books I'm reading. We are members of our local library, but since the Gruesome Twosome also like to own books (and since I'm such a pushover to "muuummmm I don't have anything to read, can you buy me a book?") we don't use it much. Perhaps we should make that a resolution this year. Use the library.

There is another reason for not using the library as much as we should is that I am very lazy about reading books in German. I hardly ever do and am hoping to rectify that this year. For Christmas I was given a set of 15 Classic German Books and I'm looking forward to making a start on those.

I'm also very happy to receive recommendations and, indeed, I'm hoping to get some...

That's enough waffle. Feel free to comment, make recommendations or generally shoot the breeze.