Terry Pratchett died this week.
The first Prachett book I ever read was Only You Can Save Mankind, when I was ten. Then The Colour of Magic, at eleven. Then Jingo. Then, I think Maskerade, then I saw the animated version of Wyrd Sisters, then I spent my birthday money on lots more of the discworld books, whatever they had in my local waterstones. I'm now reading Raising Steam. It's the last one for me. It's the last one for all of us.
Last week, I reread Peony in Love for my feminist book group, which meets next week. I read it back in November or December as well, so I won't repeat what I said then.
The Housemates was a book I've had sitting on my unread pile for a while. It reads like someone watched Big Brother, hated it, and decided a fitting punishment for the contestants would be to mash it up with the Saw movies. Everyone involved in the torture-gameshow is a criminal, and the whole thing is arranged by their victims. Uncomfortably gory and violent, but compelling and quiet well plotted. The ending, when it comes, is more obvious than I thought it would be.
Fortunately the Milk... I saw at the library, and had finished it before I got home. A short children's book, with lots of illustrations, about a father explaining why he was delayed bringing home the milk. Definitely does not including a time-travellings stegosaurus.
I read How to Become a Police Officer: The Insider's Guide because I'm applying to join the WMP when applications open on Monday. Some of this is inspired by Commander Vimes. Vimes is who I want to be when I grow up. It's a pretty good guide, which talks through the recruitment process in depth with examples of questions that are likely to come up. I'm confident about the tests - SJT, verbal and mathematic. I'm confident about the phone interview and the bleep test (I ran one in my garden the other day). I'm less confident about the initial application form and the face to face interviews, and the roleplay, and the essay questions. We'll see. I guess if my application form is fine, that'll mean I've gotten the hang of answering the competency questions, or at least that I'm better at it.
Mr and Miss Anonymous is another book I've had sitting on my unread pile for a while. I read it because I'm aiming to read all the unread books on my Kobo. Then maybe sell it or give it away. I love my Kobo, and it was my faithful companion for months when I couldn't afford a Kindle. But now I can, and the Kindle is better maintained with a better range of cheaper books. Plus, I can read my Kobo books on that, or my phone, or my nexus.
Anyway, it's about a couple who donate to an egg and sperm bank. They meet afterwards, fall in love at first sight, then don't see each other for years. They meet again when they find out that something very dodgy happened to their genomes. There are lots of contrived coincidences and love at first sight suddenly happening. All very silly. Quick read though.
Something Fierce is the memoir of a girl who served as a revolutionary in South America in the eighties. I'm glad I read, since that's an area and a time period I don't know a lot about.
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