My office currently has too many boxes belonging to other people, it’s making it challenging to get to my TBR Pile. Instead I’m reading books I’ve read before, most of them are by Terry Pratchett. This should finish soon because I went into my favourite second hand book shop Helena’s Curiosity Shop. I didn’t take photos this time, but I did buy some books. Her prices are very reasonable so four books barely made a dint on my credit card. I’ll introduce the books to you as I read them. If I was able to get to my TBR pile what I would find is mostly non-fiction and some classics. I need fiction at the moment, my brain won’t concentrate on anything heavier.

Picking Terry Pratchett books from my shelf at random netted me Small Gods. It turns out I remember very little of it from the last time I read it. The first thing that hit me in the face was the phrase ‘The Turtle Moves’. People keep quoting it at me and all I do is nod politely. But, it’s a password and you’ll need to read the book to figure out what it’s for.

One character who keeps popping up in a number of the Discworld books is Dibbler. You’ll probably know the type. Someone who is always popping up with a new business idea, some of them are slightly dodgy, but they’re always promising you the best deal. You’ll see him referred to as ‘C.M.O.T. Dibbler’. Those initials stand for ‘Cut-Me-Own-Throat’. A bit graphic, but it gets the idea across that he’ll always give you the best deal. But it’s best not to ask about his sausages inna but or his meat pies. Small Gods is set in a different type of country so this Dibbler is called ‘Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah’. His tray of edibles is just as dodgy as his Ankh-Morpork counterpart. I’m looking forward to attempting to make some of edibles to put on my tray for next year’s convention. They won’t be edible, but that won’t stop me trying to sell them to people. I made good money for charity last time.

I’m always amazed at Pratchett’s turn of phrase.

Vorbis had a terrible memory for names. He knew every one. The sergeant paled a little, and then saluted crisply.

This paragraph made me stop and think. Normally someone with a terrible memory for names is exactly that, they have trouble remembering people’s names. But Pratchett has to do things…Differently. He’s showing us that it’s not a good thing for your name to be remembered by Vorbis. In fact, it is likely to lead to being inquisited…with torture.

General stuff about the book. It’s about religion. Gods need belief in order to exist and Om is currently very small. Om is now in the body of a turtle and he needs to get people to believe in him in order to grow. His problem is that his religion don’t believe in him, except for Brutha, but Brutha is a novice and unlikely to ever be more. But he never forgets anything, he can’t read but he knows the entire Book of Om completely. And when Pratchett puts in a character who never forgets a name and a character who remembers everything sparks will fly.

This is a great book for those who are investigating their religion or someone else’s. It’s also a great book for those who are atheist or agnostic. I say that because you will have examined religion with care and found it wanting, this book will illustrate some of those problems.

I always recommend Pratchett books. It is rare to find someone who doesn’t like them. I understand you exist, but you are rare. Treasure your rarity. In case you want to click through, look at the book and consider buying here is the link. Thank you to all those who clicked last week, you made me very happy.