Discworld Reading Club - Guards Guards (Challenge #55)

[CourtnieMarie]

11 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

The thing that gets me about the Librarian in this book, and the thing that really starts to make him a deeper character is:

 

(spoilers for the second half of the book)

  Hide contents

He gets so into being a deputized Watchman, and there are a lot of hints that he gets into it because he's lonely.  He takes it seriously because he doesn't get to feel camaraderie much, and goes out of his way for the people who are kind to him.

 

 

I noticed that as I've reached pretty much the halfway mark; they've just adopted and tried to utilize Errol lol

[elvenengineer]

I just downloaded the audiobook of Guards, Guards for my drive home (~20 hours) tomorrow. Looking forward to listening to it!

 

(It's okay if I join this thread even if I'm not officially challenging right?)

[CourtnieMarie]

8 minutes ago, elvenengineer said:

I just downloaded the audiobook of Guards, Guards for my drive home (~20 hours) tomorrow. Looking forward to listening to it!

 

(It's okay if I join this thread even if I'm not officially challenging right?)

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! i was wondering where you were  i don't think anyone will mind if you join us  

[Volki]

Yay there is still plenty of time to finish before the challenge ends. I definitely like the librarian and I would like to read more about his adventures. I also enjoyed Vetinari as a character.

 

 

[sarakingdom]

3 hours ago, Jarric said:

They are great books, but I actually think my favorite is Night Watch (although in a way I guess it's more of a Vimes book than a Watch book?)

 

Night Watch is possibly my favorite Discworld book, though not, I think, a very representative one, while Men at Arms and Feet of Clay feel like sort of "golden age" Watch stories, if you know what I mean.

 

Night Watch is very Vimes, true, but it's also very revealing about the Watch and Vetinari, and the city itself.  As I think about it, I sort of feel he's using Vimes to reveal more about the other characters and the city than the book actually reveals about Vimes, even though we spend most of our time with Vimes.  Although that may be unfair:

 

(Biggish spoilers for Night Watch)

Spoiler

You could make a really good case, between some comments of Colon's in the beginning and the parallels between the two Young Sams and the father-figure that Vimes has to be to them, and a few other things, that the whole book is about Sam getting to grips with becoming a father, and the choices you have to make as a father in a dangerous job, and what you want to make the world for your child.  I've never considered that angle of the book before, but I'm pretty sure it's there.

 

But it's also incredibly, incredibly revealing of what the city is, and who Nobby and Colon are, and who Vetinari is, and what the guilds are.  It's hard to understand Ankh-Morpork the same way after Night Watch.

 

24 minutes ago, CourtnieMarie said:

I noticed that as I've reached pretty much the halfway mark; they've just adopted and tried to utilize Errol lol

 

Awww, Errol.   And Sybil, god, she's great.

[sarakingdom]

2 hours ago, elvenengineer said:

(It's okay if I join this thread even if I'm not officially challenging right?)

 

Absolutely, we're just timing by challenges so we have a schedule that's natural for folks.  Challenges are not mandatory.

 

2 hours ago, Volki said:

I definitely like the librarian and I would like to read more about his adventures. I also enjoyed Vetinari as a character.

 

The Librarian has at least an appearance in most of the books set in Ankh-Morpork.  And Vetinari is an increasingly interesting character.

[CourtnieMarie]

13 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

Awww, Errol.   And Sybil, god, she's great.

 

yes! <3 Sybil!!

[RisenPhoenix]

So I finished the book just now. (Right, hi guys, I've been reading it too.)

 

I think I got actual chills reading Venitari's speech to Vimes after the climax, and then promptly realized that I possibly identify a bit too much with the patrician. 

 

Also so anyone else read the Long Earth series by Prachett and Baxter? Because one of the main characters in THAT series makes a mini-cameo at the end of the book making a special salve...

[Broba Fett]

On 12/20/2016 at 7:10 AM, CourtnieMarie said:

Errol

Errol was phenomenal.  

[Infinity.Creates]

7 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

So I finished the book just now. (Right, hi guys, I've been reading it too.)

 

I think I got actual chills reading Venitari's speech to Vimes after the climax, and then promptly realized that I possibly identify a bit too much with the patrician. 

 

Also so anyone else read the Long Earth series by Prachett and Baxter? Because one of the main characters in THAT series makes a mini-cameo at the end of the book making a special salve...

The Long Earth? Where? What?

 

(I have to say, I last read that book before the second one came out)

[sarakingdom]

7 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

So I finished the book just now. (Right, hi guys, I've been reading it too.)

 

Wooo!  Was I right?  Is Pratchett good for what ails you?

 

7 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

I think I got actual chills reading Venitari's speech to Vimes after the climax, and then promptly realized that I possibly identify a bit too much with the patrician. 

 

That is so easy to do.  Believe me, I've been taking a lot of paradoxical comfort from some of his thoughts on politics lately.

 

3 hours ago, Broba Fett said:

Errol was phenomenal.  

 

And all those, ahem, hardened Watchmen getting soppy over their new puppy, that was pretty great, too.

[RisenPhoenix]

2 hours ago, IAmInfinite said:

The Long Earth? Where? What?

 

(I have to say, I last read that book before the second one came out)

 

In part of the epilogue:

Spoiler

Lobsang shows up.  He says nothing, but the other monk remarks to him by name.  Add in that Prachett mentions the monks are yellow clad, and that is often hos Lobsang shows up in his ambulatory units, given his monk-based history, and we have us a tiny cameo.  Probably more in the form of Prachett just using the name in TLE, rather than a real cameo, but whatever.

 

Also TLE series is fairly enjoyable, but I need to see how the most recent book turned out, since it was the last one with Prachett.  Having finally read a discworld novel, this makes me even sadder.

 

2 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

Wooo!  Was I right?  Is Pratchett good for what ails you?

 

Yea, it was a good way to end the night.  And have my selfcare day.  Now onwards to reading Mort.  Because Death. <3

[sarakingdom]

46 minutes ago, RisenPhoenix said:

In part of the epilogue:

  Hide contents

Lobsang shows up.  He says nothing, but the other monk remarks to him by name.  Add in that Prachett mentions the monks are yellow clad, and that is often hos Lobsang shows up in his ambulatory units, given his monk-based history, and we have us a tiny cameo.  Probably more in the form of Prachett just using the name in TLE, rather than a real cameo, but whatever.

 

 

He might be making the same Tibetan monk joke, or it might be an actual cameo, because:

 

(Good Omens spoilers)

Spoiler

When the Four Horsemen ride in Good Omens, Death is Pratchett's Death.  (Although it was Gaiman who wrote him in.)

 

48 minutes ago, RisenPhoenix said:

it was the last one with Prachett.  Having finally read a discworld novel, this makes me even sadder.

 

When you see how good Pratchett was by the end of the Discworld series, you will be very sad indeed.  He's at least four times better than this in the last decade of Discworld books.  (In the last couple, you can tell by the writing that he's very sick, and it's hard, because you know what you're losing.)

 

50 minutes ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Because Death. <3

 

Death <3 indeed.  He's a precious cinnamon roll, as the kids say.

 

(Are you rushing to get to Hogfather?)

[sarakingdom]

10 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

I think I got actual chills reading Venitari's speech to Vimes after the climax, and then promptly realized that I possibly identify a bit too much with the patrician. 

 

There is, by the way, something a little brilliant in his observation that you shouldn't build a dungeon you wouldn't happily spend the night in yourself.  I mean, it looks like light wit at the time, but then it's this deep realism about the job risks of dictators, and then when you consider that he actually means it and this is how he governs the city, it's pretty fascinating to look at the political implications of what he's doing.

[RisenPhoenix]

13 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

(Are you rushing to get to Hogfather?)

 

Maaaaaaybe.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

If everyone wants to read Mort first, we can rearrange the order. It doesn't really matter to me. But I'm not sure if everyone else got both books yet.

[RisenPhoenix]

7 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

If everyone wants to read Mort first, we can rearrange the order. It doesn't really matter to me. But I'm not sure if everyone else got both books yet.

 

Don't mind me. I'm actually terrible at bookclubs, because when I *have* to read a book it becomes homework and I don't enjoy it. I read GG because it had been on my list and needed a laugh and Sara has been yelling at me to do so for a while now. Mort I'm reading just because I want more Death in my life. When you guys get to it I'll chime in with my thoughts.

[Infinity.Creates]

18 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

 just because I want more Death in my life. 

The best contexual statement

[sarakingdom]

23 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

when I *have* to read a book it becomes homework and I don't enjoy it

 

So really we owe it to you to not read Mort next.  Carry on.  BTW, if you need a lot more Death in your life, I think Reaper Man would be right up your alley.

[Raincloak]

I actually didn't love "Reaper Man."  It had its moments, but I read "Thief of Time" first and by then the Auditors had gotten a lot more subtle.  "Reaper" seemed cartoonish.  It's not the worst Discworld book but I think it's the weakest of the Death books.

[AverageFish]

Read this as my first intro to Pratchett earlier this year, so following along for the discussion.

[CourtnieMarie]

just finished earlier today! good stuff. i had an inkling to type out the patrician's speech to vimes and post it on my fb... i didn't but damn. i love that stuff.

 

excited to dive more into the world. does wyrd sisters take place in the same city?

[Jarric]

Finally got round to finishing this over Christmas (I'm a really slow reader). I must of read it half a dozen times, but I picked up on something I've missed every time until now:

 

[talking about the Watch House] "Over the door a motto in the ancient tongue of the city was now almost eroded by time and grime and lichen, but could just be made out:

 

FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC

 

It translated - according to Sergeant Colon, who had served in foreign parts and considered himself an expert on languages - as 'To Protect and to Serve'"

 

I never read the motto properly because of the comment afterwards, but "Fabricati Diem, Pvnc" is Latin(ish) for "Make my day, punk".

[sarakingdom]

On 12/29/2016 at 1:22 PM, CourtnieMarie said:

just finished earlier today! good stuff. i had an inkling to type out the patrician's speech to vimes and post it on my fb... i didn't but damn. i love that stuff.

 

Yeah, it's great stuff, and they're a great double-act.  Fantastic POVs on both of them, and I sort of love how they have these POVs that disagree quite strongly, but neither one is actually wrong.  And that speech is a great one.

 

"Down there," he said, "are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness.  Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul.  Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don’t say no."

 

On 12/29/2016 at 1:22 PM, CourtnieMarie said:

excited to dive more into the world. does wyrd sisters take place in the same city?

 

No, it's set in a different country, although I think that both Wyrd Sisters and Mort have scenes set in the city, with people travelling through.  It's a really broad but heavily interconnected world.  They're rural witches up in the mountains, which is kind of a cool shift of focus.

 

3 hours ago, Jarric said:

It translated - according to Sergeant Colon, who had served in foreign parts and considered himself an expert on languages - as 'To Protect and to Serve'"

 

I never read the motto properly because of the comment afterwards, but "Fabricati Diem, Pvnc" is Latin(ish) for "Make my day, punk".

 

Yeah, two cop jokes for the price of one.

 

I always thought that one gets funnier and funnier as Vimes grows into being Vimes later on.

[sarakingdom]

So we're officially spoiler-free on this book.  Feel free to spoil away, and to keep discussing it here.  (Quick show of hands, is anyone still reading?  I think we can hold off on spoilers for a bit, if so.)

 

When the new challenge starts, we'll get a thread up for Wyrd Sisters and get it pinned.  This one will be unpinned, so it'll just float down into the normal book club threads.  I'll try and keep track of them in the new threads as we go.

 

Please come back for the next one, and feel free to recruit your friends.  Wyrd Sisters is also a good intro book, especially for Shakespeare geeks and people who love them some badass female protagonists.  (A little something for everyone in our intro trio.)