Tag: Fragments

Terry Pratchett – A Blip of the Screen | Review

Title: A Blip of the Screen

Author: Terry Pratchett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 322

Rating 4/5

 

 

This book is beautiful, a hardback collection of some of Terry Pratchett’s short fiction from throughout the years as it was published by newspapers, anthologies and more. The book is a beautiful artifact in and of itself, especially because of the colour illustrations that are included inside of it, but the artifact is just the beginning.

What I liked about this is that it really was a comprehensive look at Pratchett’s entire career throughout the years, featuring early versions of stories like the Nomes books. There are some Discworld stories here too, although I felt like I’d read at least one of those before. Regardless, they were a great addition to his body of work, and there wasn’t a single story that I didn’t enjoy.

I guess the main criticism that I’d level at it is that a lot of the pieces that were included were pretty much just fragments. That was counterbalanced by the fact that Pratchett wrote short introductions to each piece to give them some context, but then it led to some strange situations where the introductions were as long as the pieces themselves.

If you’re a serious Pratchett fan then this one definitely deserves a place on your bookshelves. There’s a lot to love here, and I also like the way that it makes you feel like you’re heading behind the scenes. It does a great job at showing the evolution of Pratchett’s career, and it also does a great job at showing the huge breadth of his imagination. I got my copy used and so it didn’t cost too much, making it a cracking read that didn’t cost a lot of money. So if you like Pratchett anywhere near as much as I do, I suggest you grab a copy.

 

 

Click here to buy A Blink of the Screen.


Graham Greene – Collected Essays | Review

Title: Collected Essays

Author: Graham Greene

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 352

Rating: 3.5*/5

 

Graham Greene - Collected Essays

Graham Greene – Collected Essays

 

There’s only so much I can really say about this because this is literally a collection of Graham Greene’s essays on a variety of topics. Some of them are pretty dull and difficult for me, as a modern reader, to really understand the context. Others of them are super insightful, particularly the essays in the section where he deals with his thoughts on other well-known authors.

I can’t really recommend this if you’re not a Graham Greene fan, because part of the beauty of this is that it teaches the reader a little more about what his life was like and how the world around him related back to the books that he wrote. But if you are a Graham Greene fan then the chances are that you’ll get a lot out of this, even if it is pretty heavy going.

I read this as my “bedtime book” after reading Graham Greene’s letters, and I must say that the essays make for better reading. The letters were pretty much introduced as fragments without any real context, which made it difficult for me as a modern reader to understand what he was talking about. There’s no such problem here, which made the book much more enjoyable.

All in all, you should have a good idea already as to whether this is something that you might be interested in. I’m glad I got to it.

 

Graham Greene

Graham Greene

 

Click here to buy Collected Essays.