The Sir Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge (January) - Soul Music

Due to the dearth of Terry Pratchett in the house (I own 3 books :/), I kinda put off this reading challenge until my cousin went to the library. Because any excuse to go to the library always results in a Terry Pratchett book being borrowed.

Soul Music has a lot of things going. First, it's in Ankh-Morpork, at least most of the time. Second, it has Death, my favourite Anthropomorphic Personification WHO ALWAYS SPEAKS IN CAPS. Third, the Unseen Academy is involved. All this promises to be a humorous story, and doesn't disappoint.

Basically, the book is about the creation of Rock-and-Roll, or as they call it, Music-With-Rocks-In-It. That, and it's the introduction of Susan, the grand-daughter of Death who is unexpectedly called in to take over the family business.

I haven't read another book that has Susan in it, although I did read Mort, so it was really fun getting to know another Discworld character. Susan is so, so human. She likes to think of herself as very rational, but she's also an idealist (the opposite of idealist: Lord Vetinari) and rather than doing the Duty of Death, she tries to make things right.

I can really identify with her.

I like to think of myself as rational (the major reason why the SDP failed to impress me in their door-to-door visit. I want answers, not handshakes!) and I'm quite sure I'm idealistic (I have this impression that everyone is meant to be friends and life should have happy endings). Of course, I'm also irrational for a good part of the time (which means my average is normal) and can be really cynical. What a jumble of oxymoron's and paradoxes I am.

Of course, there are many many quotes that I simple loved (or laughed (at) ) in this book, most of them from Archchancellor Ridcully about the students (and what a nuisance they are, and what a pity that a university had to contain students). But most of all, I have this quote stuck in my mind:

"Unseen University was used to eccentricity amoung the faculty. After all, humans derive their notions of what it means to be a normal human being by constant reference to the humans around them, and when those humans are other wizards, the spiral can only wiggle downwards."