To paraphrase Browning, how do I love Terry Pratchett, let me count the ways…
What I love about him the most is that he is endlessly creative and funny. He’s the only person I know who can satirize entire industries and organiztions and concepts like Hollywood, politics, and war. He can transplate our culture to the Discworld and entertain his readers and educate them at the same time.
The Truth takes on newspapers and their effect on society. It takes on tabloids; it takes on the media and the need for the public to be informed. And, there’s Pulp Fiction jokes. In The Truth William de Worde tracks down the truth behind the Patrician’s inexplicable attack on his secretary.
But the mystery bit is really just something to move the story along. Tacked on to it are funny episodes where The Ankh-Morpork Times staff try to figure out what they’re really doing, how to make colored pictures using imps and a vampire iconographer, how to deal with the Guild of Engravers who are out to put The Times out of business.
So, why am I following up books about the 1665 plague and the American Revolution with Pratchett? I find that, when I read a really good book, it’s hard to find something to follow it up with. So I tend to fall back on old favorites.