Pratchett, Terry - Hogfather

Someone tries to get rid of the beloved Hogfather, and it's up to Death to take his place! And while he's doing that (much to the disgruntlement of the faithful but snarky Albert), Susan attempts to figure out exactly what's going on and why previously non-existant deities and myths keep popping up, like the oh god of hangovers.

Everyone was right! This is my favorite Death book so far, not in the least because all the subplots worked together, the main threat was genuinely creepy, and ... it was good.

I wasn't actually that scared of Mr. Teatime, largely because I was reading The Truth at the same time and all the amoral assassin figures were running together for me. On the other hand, that world Susan ends up finding herself in? THAT was creepy.

I loved Death and Albert's conversations about how things should be, particularly Death's insistence that people would have a good Hogswatch and he would damn well make sure of that. I also liked Susan a lot more than in Soul Music, largely because I got a much better sense of her personality in this book.

I feel I should have more comments, except I keep saying the same things about Pratchett's books.

ETA: Oh! I forgot! One of my favorite parts was Susan berating her charges for attempting to be twee via lisping and cute looks. And the poker. And "I was fairly confident."

Pratchett, Terry - The Truth

Sketchy notes because I feel like I'm boring everyone with the Pratchett posts.

I skipped ahead a little because when I borrowed this, I was running out of the next in line for the Death and Witches and Guards books.

William de Worde starts printing the news tidbits he gathers, and soon, he and The Ankh-Morpork Times are embroiled in a conspiracy involving Lord Vetinari, the City Watch, and some very unpleasant moth-ball-sniffing people.

I was particularly interested in how Pratchett takes a sideways swipe at classism in this book, and I very much like how he dealt with William's privilege. I wish Sacharissima had more to do, though I liked her, and I was very surprised by how much I liked Otto by the end. My favorite part was probably the thunder of Ankh-Morpork finally booming at all the right places with Otto gleefully yelling, "And a castle!"

On a side note, this got me more interested in the Watch, and right now I'm reading Guards! Guards! and wondering how Vimes got to where he is in The Truth.

Fun, not my favorite Discworld book, but among the better ones.

Common and hidden knowledge, addendum

coffeeandink has got a round up of more. My current favorite takes on the meme are vassilissa's US-specific references non-USians are expected to know and littlebutfierce's ruminations on culture and immigration and the push to assimilate and the pull to remember your roots.

Anyway, here are some answers and explanations! (original post)

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I was also tempted to ask what the difference was between the ROC and Taiwan (ha, depends on who you ask!), what are some things traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year (fish, long noodles, year cake, etc.), how popular is eating dog in China (because I am evil), who are the Han people (traditionally thought of as the "actual" Chinese), why is opium always described as "the Chinese vice" (also because I am evil), and probably more I can't think of.