The Humour Club discussion

May you live in interesting times.

The above is a supposed Ancient Chinese curse, though the origin of the phrase is hotly debated. It seems an apt title for a Discworld adventure, anyway, as things in that
far-off land are always INTERESTING. (And possibly cursed...)

Some of our old favorites - Rincewind, Luggage, and Cohen the Barbarian - are back for a round of madness, mayhem and assorted silliness in this volume.

What a long strange trip it promises to be...

I've already 50 pages in. Can't put it down. The ereader melted onto my hand.
Kidding. I just like Rincewind. Reminds me of...me.

I probably won't start this one until next week. I just finished Willie-Washer's Local No. 38. While it was certainly no Pratchett, it was reminiscent of a Discworld novel, with a group of zany characters on a quest.

Wow, another fast paced adventure. Seems Rincewind brings a little life (and pace) to the discworld books. Old Cohen the Barbarian does too I guess?

I loved the idea, and the dialogue, of the Old Age Horde. Sounds like they are still living the best years of their lives eh?

A good discussion point brought up by this book was old age. The Hourde was made up of a bunch of well past their prime barbarians that, by most people's standards, should have hung up their horned helmets and stopped going on quests. However, they overcame the bias and succeeded, added a few more kill notches to the old sword handle.

What is your view on life, work, and old age?

I know one extreme view, that my father and step mother subscribe to, is that once you are too old to 'work' and you become a 'burden' to your family you should drive off the end of a pier.
Seriously, they have 'the plan' they call it. They've told all of us kids that if one day they become 'too sick' they seriously plan on driving the car/truck/buick into the lake (preferably when it is frozen). They will most likely make it look like a brake malfunction. I'm serious.
I think this is a very strange view on life. I say, keep fighting orks and kings even while strapped into one of them electric scooters!

So, this is what you were discussing while you were eating your Canadian Tire steaks...

I say as long as you are enjoying life, you should probably stick around as long as possible. I tend to agree with the not-being-a-burden thing, though. There is NO WAY IN HELL I want either of my boys bathing or dressing me, and I'm not keen on giving their inheritance to an old fogie's home. BUT, on the flip side, drowning in a Buick in a frozen lake really has no appeal to me...

Gee, this is just like old times when only the two of us read the Red Green book. "And what did you think, Melki?" "I liked the part where he used duct tape, Bookworm."

Well, this makes two in a row I wasn't that crazy about, though I did enjoy the antics of The Silver Horde. And Disembowel-Meself-Honorably was a great character.

I'm just glad the witches are back next month.

I also liked the DMH fellow. And the luggage was back, with a new family in tow? That was kind of strange.

I actually wouldn't mind being a burden to my kids. It's the circle of life thing right? They bother me now, I bother them later.

Any opinion on the location of the story?
I find whenever I read books based in the East (China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, etc) I feel lost. I know almost nothing about the geography, the people, the history. I'm thinking I missed a lot of the humour in Interesting Times b/c of it.

Same here. That's probably most of the reason why I didn't enjoy this one more.

Sorry to be so late to the party! I thought the best was the depiction of the problems with the Tina, language. But I'm weird that way.

I hadn't really thought about the theme of age, but I liked how they didn't quit. This means something to an aging backpacker. (I did the longest miles last month that I've done in a decade or two--since before my boys were born. And it mostly felt good, except that 12 mile descent from Mt. Robson. So I sort of identify with how they got really good at not using too much energy). The bit about all the aging heroes who had died in the last year was pretty poignant, though. My Mom and MIL both suffer a bit from a tendency of everyone they've known all their lives to have died. It's not so fun.

Strange timing, we just had a funeral to go to and I was joking (I know, manners) about having to endure all the 'old lady' kisses and yelling into old aunt whoever's ear...but, realized there are now to old aunts anymore. The 'old ladies' are now my Mother in law and her generation...yikes!