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R E Loten
The Discworld Series - Terry Pratchett
'What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.' - Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
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This is a serious contender for my favourite series of all time. I was first introduced to the crazy world that is the Disc in my early teens. A friend told me I had to read them and the covers looked interesting so I gave one a go - more to please her than anything else. I think it was probably Wyrd Sisters and having not read Macbeth at the time, I didn't really get a lot of the humour in it. That didn't matter though - the rest of the book is utterly bonkers and I loved it. For a while, the Witches were my favourite sub-series. However, I think that title now has to go to the City Watch books. Along with a handful of others, these books are my go-to ones when I'm feeling a bit down and they never fail to lift my spirits. They're clever, they're witty, the characters are larger than life and even the bad ones are good. One of the things I really love about them though is the social commentary within them and the fact that it doesn't matter when they were written, they still feel fresh and relevant each time I read them.
I've almost completed my collection of hardbacks and if ever I'm lost, you will probably find me in my study, stroking the spines and cooing over how pretty they look on my shelf. If I'm not there, I'll be curled up in the chair reading one!
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It's not Discworld - but I'd also include Good Omens in this section!
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My blogs on Terry Pratchett and the Discworld books can be found here, here, here and here. (It seems Sir Terry's writing is a topic I just keep coming back to!)
The Thursday Next Series - Jasper Fforde
'Hardly an author has styled the parallel universe tropes with breaking the wall elements to such perfection as Fforde did.' - Mario the lone bookwolf, Goodreads
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This is a series I stumbled across in my local library. I was looking for something to read and my eye was caught by the title of the first book The Eyre Affair. As I enjoyed Jane Eyre I was intrigued and checked it out. Since then, I've read almost the whole series and was excited to discover recently that a new instalment is expected in 2023. The world of Thursday is exactly how I want the Book World to be with characters becoming real and people being able to hop in and out of books at will. At times it's vicious and dangerous but I love all the intricate subplots, especially when it comes to the characters from forgotten books and the characters that might have been but who didn't make the final re-write. Even Thursday herself gets drawn into this world and comes face to face with the literary versions of herself. The stars seemed to align when I bought my first ever brand new car - A Fiat Panda - and the last three letters of the registration plate were THU. I bought the car on a Thursday and I'd just finished reading one of the books, so what else could I call her, but Thursday Next. Very few people got it, but by the time I'd finished explaining the name, there were several more readers of the series!
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My full blog on the series can be found here.