120, WG88, M61, E112, / NG32, F59, MF0, D8, B8, Frz0, NA4, C1

Terry Pratchett, A Hat full of Sky

Klar, dass zumindest Band 2 und 3 der Tiffany-Aching-Serie auch wiedergelesen werden wollten. Hier freute ich mich vor allem auf den Teil mit Miss Level, der Hexe, bei der sich zwei Körper eine Seele teilen, oder die Hexe mit vier Händen und Füßen. Auch ihr Ordnungsliebender Hausgeist Oswald hat es mir angetan, und der Hiver ist absolut genial.
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The moon was on the way of being full. A gibbous moon, it's called. It's one of the duller phases of the moon and seldom gets illustrated. The full moon and the crescent moon get all the publicity.
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It's always surprising to be reminded that while you're watching and thinking about people, all knowing and superior, they're watching and thinking about you, right back at you.
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(Terry Pratchett, A Hat full of Sky, 2004)

119, WG87, M60, E111, / NG32, F59, MF0, D8, B8, Frz0, NA4, C1

Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men

Dieser Diskworldband um die unvergleichlichen NacMac Feegle, der bei mir definitiv in den Top Five rangiert, taucht immer mal wieder in meinen Gedanken auf und will/muss wiedergelesen werden. Die Nachfolgebände auch, aber der auf jeden Fall. Schon der ganze Hintergrund mit der Landschaft des Chalk, den Schafen und Tiffanys Großmutter Granny Aching, die Granny Weatherwax mehr als ebenbürtig ist, faszinieren immer wieder aufs neue, und wie jedesmal wünschte ich mir aufs neue, dass mir das Buch in Tiffanys Alter untergekommen wäre.
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I'll never be like this again, she thought, as she saw the terror in the Queen's face. I'll never again feel as tall as the sky and as old as the hills and as strong as the sea. I've been given something for a while, and the price of it is that I have to give it back.
And the reward is giving it back, too. No human could live like this. You could spend a day looking at a flower to see how wonderful it is, and that wouldn't get the milking done. No wonder we dream our way through our lives. To be awake, and see it all as it really is ... no one could stand that for long.
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This is a dream, after all, Tiffany told herself. It doesn't have to make sense, or be nice. It's a dream, not a daydream. People who say things like 'may all your dreams come true' should try living in one for five minutes.
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(Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men, 2003)

135, WG78, M68, E128 / NG57, F62, MF5, B2, D6, Frz1, C1, NA1

Terry Pratchett, The Truth

Irgendwie ist dieser Discworldband ein echter Süchtigmacher, denn anders kann ich es mir nicht erklären, warum ich ihn mir Jahr für Jahr wieder vornehme und immer wieder von neuem gefesselt bin von den ersten Gehversuchen einer Zeitung in Ankh-Morpork, bei denen gleich eine Verschwörung gegen Lord Vetinari aufgedeckt wird. Einfach immer wieder schön.

Und erstaunlicherweise fand sich selbst bei diesem zigsten Wiederlesen etwas neues zum zitieren:

'Look at it like this,' said Sacharissa, starting a fresh page. 'Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes.'
'Yes, but that's not very -'
Sacharissa glanced up and flashed him a smile. 'Sometimes they're the same person,' she said.
This time it was William who looked down, modestly.
'You think that's really true?' he said.
She shrugged. 'Really true? Who knows? This is a newspaper, isn't it? It just has to be true until tomorrow.'
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It glittered altogether too much; sometimes glass glitters more than diamonds because it has more to prove.
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'But I'm not even sure there is enough news to fill a -' William began, and stopped. That wasn't the way it worked, was it? If it was in the paper, it was news. If it was news it went into the paper, and if it was in the paper it was news. And it was the truth.
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(Terry Pratchett, The Truth, 2000)

Auch in Carpe Jugulum gab es wieder einiges, das schwierig und mindestens eins, das meiner Ansicht nach unmöglich zu übersetzen ist. Ich lasse mich allerdings gerne belehren.

'Oh, I don't know, I really don't,' said Nanny. 'I mean, it's flattering and everything, but I really don't think I could be goin' out with a man with a limp.'
'Limp what?'
Nanny Ogg had always considered herself unshockable, but there's no such thing. Shocks can come from unexpected directions.

(Terry Pratchett, aus: Carpe Jugulum, 1998)

138, WG71, M68, E127 / NG67, F70, D11, NA12, C2, B10

Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

Der letzte richtige Witches-Band in der Discworldserie vor den Tiffany-Aching-Bänden wird wohl auch immer mein Lieblingsband bleiben, auf jeden Fall der meistgelesenste. Mir erscheint er der düsterste zu sein, in dem Granny Weatherwax an ihre Grenzen kommmt, was einiges heißen will.

She distrusted a moon like that. A full moon could only wane, a new moon could only wax, but a half moon, balancing so precariously between light and dark ... well, it could do anything.
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What had she ever earned? The reward for toil had been more toil. If you dug the best ditches they gave you a bigger shovel.
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(Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum, 1998)

Natürlich wimmelte es in 'Pyramids' wieder von Wortspielen, von denen mindestens zwei ziemlich unübersetzbar sein sollten:

There was always someone back home who wanted to be certain that deposed monarchs stayed that way. It was usually a case of heir today, gone tomorrow.
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(Priests were metal-reinforced overshoes. They saved your soles. This is an Assassin joke.)

(Aus: Terry Pratchett, Pyramids, 1988)

136, WG69, M67, E125 / NG67, F69, D11, NA12, C2, B10

Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

Erst nach dem lesen fiel mir ein, mal zu checken, wann und wie oft ich diesen Discworldband schon gelesen haben, nur um festzustellen, dass er offenbar einem 10-Jahresrythmus unterliegt. Ende 2000, kurz nach Weihnachten 2010 und jetzt Weihnachten 2020. Und das völlig unabsichtlich. Vielleicht hat sich diese geniale Analyse von den physikalischen Besonderheiten von Pyramiden im Raumzeitgefüge auch auf die Fähigkeiten des Buches ausgewirkt sich in meinem Bewußtsein bemerkbar zu machen.
Abgesehen davon war es wieder ein pure Wonne zu lesen und ich würde ihn jederzeit unter den Top Five meiner persönlichen Lieblings-Discworldbände einordnen.
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When you die, the first thing you lose is your life. The next thing is your illusions.
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And Dil was realizing that there are few things that so shake belief as seeing, clearly and precisely, the object of that belief. Seeing, contrary to popular wisdom, isn't believing. It's where belief stops, because it isn't needed anymore.
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No one is more worried by the actual physical manifestation of a god than his priests; it's like having the auditors in unexpectedly.
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I mean, we think we believe that the gods are wise and just and powerful, but what we really believe is that they are like our father after a long day. And we think we believe the Netherworld is a sort of paradise, but we really believe it's right here and you go to it in your body and I'm in it and I'm never going to get away. Never, ever.
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Teppic knew that Dios had hard words to say about the Ephebians for having gods that looked just like people. If the gods looked just like everyone else, he used to say, how would people know how to treat them?
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(Terry Pratchett, Pyramids, 1988)