Welcome to Litsy!

This is Terry Pratchett, so of course it‘s funny, ridiculous, and in places cuttingly truthful and deep. It was hard to put down! Jackrum, Wazzer, Shufti, all the other members of the regiment, and especially Polly are wonderful characters. I believe this is my #bookspin for June!

I'll admit to being a little worried that based on a couple key reveals, this book wouldn't hit the same upon reread. I'm happy to report the impact is still felt. Even knowing what's to come, how the characters act, and particularly what they say, is affecting. It's not just that you're invested in how things turn out, how the characters fare, it's finding out what success would really mean in this situation. 1/?

Having wrangled some gnarly filing systems, I feel this in my BONES.

PSA: Do not use folk songs as life advice. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Decapitation by hand seems to be a theme with this group....

“...just settle for ripping their heads off...“
He's got a plan, and safety protocols!
Well thought out indeed...🥴🧛🏻‍♂️

"tea was really useful. It gave an excuse to talk to everybody." not the first time I see something and think sir Terry loved tea too :)

A week end away but my e-reader is still with me... Even before visiting a bookshop in Paris ;)

Young Polly Perks cuts off her hair, (and would have bound up her bosom had it been necessary), and enlists in the Borogravian army in order to find and hopefully rescue her slightly simple older brother. Cue some well-aimed satire on masculinity, the stupidity of warfare and patriotism, and the perils of organised religion. Vintage Pratchett.

Just saw that TERFs were trying to claim Pratchett yesterday, and while my nonbinary ass occasionally suffers some Gender Pain on the reread it's pretty ludicrous to look at his body of work and think he'd be a TERF. #OokBOokClub #fuckTERFS

I loved this one, Pratchett tackles in his special subversive way gender, war, religion and the intersections of all of those. I found it both a fun adventure to read and a clever commentary on the things that make countries tick, even if they aren‘t really good for the individual.

#PratchettPosse
#OokBOokClub

Polly dresses as a man to join the army to find her brother and save her family‘s inn. And finds that she‘s not as alone as she thought.

A Discworld book about war would not nearly have had the effect it did if it had been set in Ankh-Morpork. We see the horrifying casualties of war, from the point of view of the people that would have been The Other for any other author. And that gives us a powerful place the failures of war. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

When this isn't a book about gender (and it's not for a big chunk) it's mostly a tale with too many characters and too little time (sidebar: it took place over a week?!) but it is entertaining in the way Pratchett is. When this IS a book about gender it hurts me a lot. Unfortunately it ends there, which means it gets quite a few blows in in the last 20 pages. I am going to wait a Long Time before revisiting this one, if I ever do.
#OokBOokClub

I'm going to finish this book on International Non-Binary People's Day and I'm just 😣 about it all
#OokBOokClub

Shocked it took this long to get a Some Like It Hot reference in this book, but using Daphne as a name can be nothing but! Not that the original Daphne's joyful gender fuckery is really present here...
#OokBOokClub

One of my issues with this book, and Night Watch right before it, is what feels like an excess of characters. I cannot name everyone in the regiment, but it's not a group so large that anonymity is possible. I'm concerned some sort of twist is going to center on someone who's been here the whole time and just... ignored by the narrative.
#OokBOokClub

I hope the "you can tell what someone is as soon as you -know-" either gets interrogated/worked through more OR it stops happening. I don't remember how much biological essentialism is in this book!
#OokBOokClub

#OokBOokClub

Hello friends! Open discussion is in the FOLLOWING POST marked as a spoiler. Find the Monstrous Regiment post & tap "show me" on the spoiler tag to join in the discussion. Join in whenever you can! Today. Tomorrow. Next month! The post will always be up so just tag each other & we'll jump in to discuss with you. Feel free to chat about anything!

#Discworld #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

Running a little behind on #OokBOokClub and, while we are pretty firmly in territory I've just read the once, I have to say, I remember even less than usual about this one. On this read all my gender sensors are going to be vibrating constantly and I hope it isn't tiring!

Finished in time for the #OokBookClub discussion! I think?
Anyway, this is a pick for me. The author has really hit his stride and the action generally follows a very successful pattern. It's new and familiar at the same time.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

My June reading wrap up. It was a month of LOTS of audiobooks, quite a few graphic novels, and a bit of traveling.

Favorites: Monstrous Regiment, A Master of Djinn, Pet, and The Butterfly Effect.

I have spent the day cleaning and doing adulty things I very much did not wish to do.

So I‘m rewarding myself with Terry Pratchett and #AudioBaking some cookies.

#LittenListen

I have been rereading the Discworld series in order for the last few years, and had forgotten how much fun the audiobooks were!

The complications in MR of women taking on male personas in order to join the army to find and save their men, then later having to pretend to be men pretending to be women, and the rabbit hole going deeper and deeper, I was laughing so hard! This is one of my favorites. 💛 Sir Terry Forever!

Polly cut off her hair in front of the mirror, feeling slightly guilty about not feeling very guilty about doing so.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

#CuriousCovers #LittenListen #man on the cover

I‘m hoping my hold on this comes in soon so I can use it in this month‘s #audioathon. I love the Discworld novels, and this is next up on my series reread.

#OokBOokClub-ers, our Discworld adventure continues TODAY with #MonstrousRegiment!

Looking forward to our discussion next month!

Happy reading!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

#OokBOokClub

Just a friendly reminder that next month we'll be reading #MonstrousRegiment! Dig out your books, put in your library holds, or place your orders! The next Discworld adventure continues on June 8th! Woohoo!

If anyone wants to be tagged/untagged for future posts please let me know! Happy to oblige!

#Discworld #SirTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett #PratchettPosse #ReadAlong #BuddyRead #EpicBuddyRead

Reading this for a reading challenge! I'll confess, I haven't read many of the Discworld books before... I'm enjoying this one, though it feels weird to know that characters do recur (like Vimes) while I actually don't know anything about them and feel like I'm missing tons of context.

Polly Perks disguises herself as a boy and joins the army to find her brother Paul.

Not as good as some of Pratchett's but it had its moments.

Polly sighed. “We all are, sir. Really women. Not just dressed up as women. And right now I don‘t want to put any trousers on because then I‘d be a woman dressed up as a man dressed up as a woman dressed up as a man, and then I‘d be so confused I won‘t know how to swear."

Excerpt From: "Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchett. Scribd.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Read this book on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/book/163631568

"Polly felt questing eyes boring into her. She was embarrassed, of course. But not for the obvious reason. It was for the other one, the little lesson that life sometimes rams home with a stick: you are not the only one watching the world, other people are also people, while you watch them they watch you, and they think about you while you think about them. The world isn‘t just about you."

Read more: https://www.scribd.com/book/163631568

Several copies of the pamphlet seemed to have reached every home, even so. It was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.

Excerpt From: "Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchett. Scribd.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Read this book on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/book/163631568

Sorry I‘ve been lurking a bit lately, folks, but just because I haven‘t been posting doesn‘t mean I haven‘t been reading! I‘ve been on a Terry Pratchett bend. I read Mort in print, but I‘ve realized I prefer these on audio— the jokes come fast and furious and I can roll through any slower plot points more easily. I‘m almost done with the Moist von Lipwig books, and then I haven‘t decided if I‘ll finish Death or start the City Watch... #discworld

I didn't love this book. It felt like a single gag joke that was stretched out to 500 pages. **SPOILER Girls dress as boys to go to war, then have to go undercover as women to infiltrate the enemy SPOILER**. The feminist moral is important but not as subtle as Pratchett usually makes it. Still, a good book.

Book 78 of the year finished Sept 23, audio

It's been a bit since I've made one of these. 🤣

Book 31 of the year, Finished April 17, audio

From a culture that represses women, 17 year old Polly joins the army as "Oliver" to find her older brother who is presumably a prisoner of war. She is given help from an unknown source to disguise herself thoroughly as a man and slowly discovers that she's not the only woman in disguise.

#OctoberXFiles #MonsterMash

Decided to go ahead and finish it. Still didn‘t love. (I‘m bailing on this one. It‘s the first Pratchett that I haven‘t loved, and just have no desire to finish it. )

Just a bunch of girls pretending to be boys. Another great one by Pratchett.

Gotta love Pratchett 😆

This is my 5th re-read and first with my daughter. I love this book so much and watching my daughters reactions to all my favourite parts was beyond satisfying. One of my favourite fantasy tropes is the girl running off to war dressed as a boy. Èowyn in LOTR was my first but Polly is my favourite.

One of Pratchett‘s best, a later work with polished writing and a sensible plot. Pratchett goes full on feminist and anti-war with this one. Great characters and observations, as usual. It is a stand-alone Discworld book, with some beloved Ankh-Morpork characters making cameos. Great fun and very relevant today. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Maybe the printing press was heavier than the siege weapon. Just a few words can change everything.

I find this passage in Monstrous Regiment so hilarious. It‘s now a family in joke that has morphed from a thumbs up and a “I want to explode your donkeys” when we are pleased and/or proud of an act or accomplishment to a thumbs up exploding with sound effects. I started reading MR with my girls at bedtime a few months ago. Last night we finally got to to the jolly good donkey hating. Best way to end bedtime reading ever.

Idiots, get yourself some trousers!

My first Pratchett! It was a good palate cleanser for me after 3 really heavy topic reads. I will keep Discworld in mind for the future 😊👍🏻