2018 Geek-A-Long: Discworld

I think a person’s bookcase says a lot about them. When I go to someone’s house for the first time, I judge them first on the visibility of their book shelves, then the content of their book shelves, and finally, the quality of their coffee. I suppose having a “judgement checklist” probably explains why I don’t have that many friends. The only people who put up with me long term are the ones that are doing the same thing when they come to my house.

The Geek-A-Long is the second longest relationship I’ve ever had, so I think I owe you guys this:

I’m enough of a coffee snob to grind my beans fresh for each cup, but I legit drink upwards of 12 mugs of coffee a day. So I live the Keurig life, and buy my beans in bulk at Sam’s Club. I don’t usually use sugar, but when I do, I use it cubed. I don’t have a lot of counter space, so my Keurig has to share real estate with the microwave.

My main bookshelves are in the dining room. On the first wall is the China Cabinet and the D&D shelves.

The China Cabinet is maybe 20% nice dishes and 80% the toys and D&D minis that Mabel the Merciless can’t yet be trusted with. In my defense, that Professor Layton figure is nice, and he has accessories, and not everything needs to be chewed on.

On the opposite wall, we have the non role playing books. They leave no question as to whether or not I’m a nerd with a toddler, and am also a hot mess. I guess they probably show off my general (lack of) commitment to housekeeping, since I couldn’t be bothered to clear the clutter before taking the photo below. If it’s anything, it didn’t seem so bad IRL. And now that I’m looking at the picture, it looks like I use them as a junk drawer. I do. But they are at least 10 feet away from where I am typing this, and I’d have to stand up to clear them off AND retake the photo, and that’s basically a week’s worth of cleaning for me. I already vacuumed this week, so my quota is met.

In contrast, Jac has an honest-to-god coffee bar set up in her kitchen. It’s a work of art. Pinterest would be jealous. It’s always wiped clean and has a display rack of her finest mugs. She has full espresso and milk frothing capabilities. Her bookshelves are pristine. They are organized alphabetically, and she doesn’t tolerate random books being shoved on top of other books. But you know what she doesn’t have? A fine collection of Terry Pratchett books. So there. This little walk through my life was brought to you by the one photo I had planned on taking for this post before I started writing it:

I was so excited when I saw that Discworld made it to the top of the leaderboards. I got into Terry Pratchett when I was in college, because my ex was a huge fan. The relationship was awful, but at least I got Discworld out of it. If you’ve never read them, they are a series of comedic-fantasy books that have several ongoing story arcs. My favorite Discworld books are definitely the Death and Susan books. Susan was 20-year-old-me’s Patronus. She is the granddaughter of the Death, and I like her best in her early career as a nanny. She has many of the powers of Death, but is just trying to live her life. The Hogfather, which was made into a really good mini-series on BBC, is my favorite of all the books. There are a lot of Discworld books, and not all of them are winners. You can just skip right on over Color of Magic. It’s not great. That said, some of them are truly amazing. I like the Susan books best, but if you are new to the series, I recommend starting out with the Night Watch books, and then reading the Susan books, and then you’ll be familiar enough with the world to just pick out the ones that interest you.

Just to come out in front of the obligatory “But I love Color of Magic” comments that I’m sure are in my future, hear me out on this. There are many Discworld books. One of them is the best. But, one of them is also the worst. The worst Discworld book is still better than lots of other things. But if someone is going to start a new series, they definitely shouldn’t star there.

Here is my recommended Intro-To-Discworld Reading List:

1. mini-series on BBC
2. Men at Arms
3. Night Watch
4. Mort
5. Soul Music
6. Hogfather
7. Thief of Time

There are over 40 Discworld books, so those seven are just a taste, but they are my favorites, and a great way to get your feet wet in the series. I very much regret not getting to meet Terry Pratchett before he died. None of my books are signed, and I love a signed book more than just about anything else in the world.

The Discworld rests atop the backs of four elephants, who ride the back of a turtle, the Great A’Tuin. In Discworld, Orangutans can follow their dreams of becoming librarians, Governesses are no laughing matter, and you can funnel your more murderous tendencies into a lucrative career in the Assassins Guild!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgdzSWtHzOS/?taken-by=doctor_llama

Giggler6 nominated Discworld to the 2018 blanket, saying:

Discworld

1. The books are awesome, hilarious and just go read them
2. No seriously go read them
3. So many cool designs could be made from – guilds, universities, characters, races etc.
4. 2018 is the 35th anniversary of the first novel being published
5. Over 80 million books sold in 37 languages it should be popular
6. Please

Happy 35th anniversary, Discworld! Thanks for the laughs, thanks for the quotes, thanks for Captain Vimes, and Susan Sto Helit, and University classes on seeing the things that are really there.

Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download the Discworld pattern here. Instructions and charts for both knit and crochet are listed in the pattern. When you’re finished making it, don’t forget to Instagram your squares at us @lattesandllamasyarn with the hashtag #geekalong!

If you’re having trouble with double-sided knitting, we have a how-to video here and a tutorial on crochet here. Want to hang out with other people making the blanket? You can find moral support in the Geek-A-Long group on Ravelry here.

~ Megan-Anne

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”-Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms.

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