I've read it before, more than once, as with most of the Discworld books, but this time I reread it as a reaction to having watched the terrible BBC America show The Watch. It's a fantasy show 'based' upon Sir Terry's books and focusing on the characters from the Ank-Morpork City Watch. Sadly, the only thing the show has in common with the books, are names. Everything else is different and just bad. (You know something is Truly Awful when a word is not only italicized but italicized in BOLD.)
After watching The Watch I wanted to cleanse my mental palate. So I've reread Guards!Guards! and enjoyed it immensely. That's the nice thing about good books that bear up over time. When you return to them, as you inevitably do, reading them is like visiting with beloved old friends. It was nice to meet Captain Vimes, Sgt. Colon, Nobby, Carrot and Lady Sybil again for the first time. And I had completely forgotten about Lord Vetinari and the rats. (I don't believe Sir Terry ever did anything else with that in other books. Did he?)
The only problem is that, now I have the horrible urge to go and reread all the other Discworld books. Including the later ones where Sir Terry got a bit preachy and heavy-handed.
I suppose there are worse ways to spend ones time.
No comments:
Post a Comment