Goodbye, Terry Pratchett
It was the cover above that greeted my young eyes, more years ago now than I can count with my fingers. It was held on a shelf in a room where I was trespassing, the bedroom of my older brother. I took that book, and hurried out to sit in the sunlit living room of my childhood home. I opened the cover, not knowing what I was about to find. Inside there was a fantastic world, a world flat as a disc, carried upon the back of four enormous elephants, themselves riding through space on the back of an even more enormous turtle. More importantly, in that book I discovered my joy of reading. I did not put that book down that day, not until the story was over. I did not eat or drink, or pause. I read it from start to finish, and then went back to the forbidden room to try and find more.
That was my first experience with the work of Terry Pratchett, who has been my favorite author since that very day. This morning, the world bade him goodbye as he passed away at the age of 66. Here at the Central Library there is now a little display of some of his works at the front welcome desk, and yes I have placed that strange, odd covered edition of Hogfather there, in hopes that someone will see it, pick it up, and discover their own joy of reading, perhaps to move on to devour all of Terry’s Discworld books, or to the works of Douglas Adams, or Tamora Pierce, or Diana Wynne Jones. There is an author out there that speaks to everyone. Terry Pratchett was mine, and I shall miss him.
As an important little addendum, I will share this link to an excellent graphic by Krzysztof Kietzman for those of you who look at 40-some book Discworld series and are at a loss where to even start. There are many smaller ‘series’ that you can tackle so you’re not overwhelmed, and that link will guide you where to start.
