Well worth a read, especially the last entry, random footnotes to life. ( )

Wonderful.

This book collects many shorter pieces of non-fiction written by Pratchett, ranging over many topics, from his early years working as a journalist, to writing fiction, to his thoughts on many other topics, particularly including death and “assisted suicide”.

I read this book before the sad news of Pratchett’s death, but even so these later passages were very moving, written

as they were when he knew that his Alzheimer’s was going to doom him.

This book is probably as close to an autobiography of Pratchett that we are ever likely to get (though doubtless there’ll be many a biography). It has a beautiful introduction written by Neil Gaiman. ( )

This would have been a 5 star but there were quite a few items that appeared in more than one of the speeches are writings. I still loved it but I wish there had been a little more original writings and a little less repeating. ( )

There are some books/series that you read and you never really think about the author and then there are others where the author touches your life in some way - Terry Pratchett is one who has touched my life. The crazy thing about books though is that I didn't even pick up one of his books until over a year after his death. This author and his books, both of which mean so much to me and that I feel a connection to, never even knew of my existence.

My husband had read and owned a few Discworld books and suggested them to me since we have a pretty similar taste in books. I finally picked up the first Discworld book "The Color of Magic" in the fall of 2016 more than 6 months after my father passed away and a long summer of depression. It was ok, I didn't see what all the fuss was about since so many people gushed about Pratchett. My MIL commented on the picture that my husband had gotten all the audiobooks for her and she loved them. That got me to thinking about how when we were up in central Maine there weren't any radio stations I liked so I listened to audiobooks and now, even though there was a radio station I liked where I was living, I did have 2 hours of commute time every day and if I wanted to get more reading in that was the perfect way to do it. So a year later I stared listening to the audiobooks on my commute. The great thing was, there are 41 books in the series so I didn't have to think about what I was going to listen to next (very helpful when dealing with anxiety and depression). I didn't know if I would listen to them all or if I would get sick of them after awhile or if they just wouldn't hook me but I did listen to them all, I didn't get sick of them, and they did hook me. I have since bought some of the young adult books for friends kids and recommended them to a bunch of people.

Terry Pratchett, and his humor and characters, were with me as I navigated depression after my fathers passing. I love his strong female characters and his sense of humor and observation. There are a lot of connections too (and I know I'm going to forget some). He had one child, a daughter, who he adored just like my father and me. He watched his dad slowly passed away from cancer just as I did. That first book "The Color of Magic" was published the year I was born. He passed away from Alzheimer's which my mother has (though he had different type). I'm sure there's more I just can't think of them right now....

And now I am going to find every book he has ever written (he does have some non-Discworld books) and read/listen to them.

This book wasn't the best of his that I have read since it isn't a fiction book (my go to), it is a collection of short things he has written for newspapers or magazines or transcripts of speeches he has given. Regardless it was a nice way to get to know him on a more personal level though I think this would really only work for fans of Pratchett himself and not someone who was looking for an interesting book to pick up. ( )

I miss Terry Pratchett. :( ( )