a return to form

I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so the tidying up in the garden was postponed and I decided to curl up with a good book instead. I've been listening to a lot of books over the last few years and not reading many, so it was time to change that. I curled up with a mug of coffee, the sweeties/candy left over from Hallowe'en and the latest book from Terry Pratchett- "I shall wear Midnight".

I've been a fan of TP for about 12 years, and like many thousands of his fans was saddened to hear that he had contracted Alzheimer's. When I read Unseen Academicals last year I was heartbroken by the loose/baggy quality of the story. After all it was about wizards and football/soccer so it should have been perfect for me. But I was very disappointed: I only laughed once while reading the book, and that is a very low score for a TP book.

But the latest Tiffany Aching story had me laughing out loud several times, smiling almost throughout (except when the Cunning Man was on the page and the opening drama with the Petty family), welling up with tears towards the end, and delighted and relieved that the master craftsman had written another tremendous book.

I feel bad for criticising Unseen Academicals, as by most authors' standards it is a good book, but TP fans are used to brilliant, exceptional books, and it was hard to read something that wasn't up to scratch. Thankfully, "I Shall Wear Midnight" is tremendous, and as a Pratchett fan I can recommend it wholeheartedly for teens and adults alike- with or without a large mug of coffee and some Cadbury's caramel.