Mort by Terry Pratchett

Mort was my favorite Terry Pratchett book on the top 100 list. I’ve now completed all 5 Terry Pratchetts on the list and more exciting than that is the fact that Mort was my 50th read on the list. (For those of you who failed 2nd grade, that means I'm halfway done!) Now, I’m just hoping that the second half of the list will take less time to read than did the first half (28 years).


This story (like The colour of Magic, Night Watch and Guards! Guards!) takes place on Discworld—the planet that travels through space on the back of a giant turtle. The main character’s name is Mortimer (Mort for short) and is regularaly referred to by others as “boy” due to his lack of skills, non-descript characteristics, and minimal self confidence. After failing to be chosen by any of the employers at the job fair for an apprenticeship, Death (yes THE Death) hires Mort to be his apprentice.

As the story develops, so does Mort. He learns through challenges and failures as he plays the role of Death; meanwhile navigating a relationship with Death’s adopted daughter. The story is very amusing, easy to read and the plot is clever and unique.

Favorite Quotes:

“The creator had a lot of remarkably good ideas when he put the world together, but making it understandable hadn’t been one of them.” (pg 5)

“Mort hesitated. He wanted to say: you’re wrong, he’s [Death's] not like that at all, he doesn’t care if people are good or bad so long as they’re punctual. And kind to cats, he added.” (pg 70)

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG-13

Overall Grade: B

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yes…except for my friends who are Twilight series junkies.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

There was a page in the back of my copy of A Tale of Two Cities which read: “By the year 2000, 2 out of 3 Americans could be illiterate”. This ad was put together by the Ad Council in (I believe) 1989. I scoffed at the ad, but it made me wonder—what exactly does it mean to be illiterate? I don’t know for sure. I started reading Treasure Island—which I read once before in fourth grade. I distinctly remember understanding almost nothing my first time through; which is why it ended up on my “to read” list. This recollection made me curious. According to the introduction, Treasure Island was written in 1895 and is “aimed at a young and chiefly male readership.” I don’t know exactly how old “young” is but I’ll assume 10-13ish. This leads me to conclude that a) because the book was written for boys, I, as a 10 year old girl wasn’t able to understand it by virtue of the fact that I was a girl, b) I was illiterate, or c) I thought it was just easier to skim the book and use cliffs notes instead.

Well, even if I was illiterate at age 10, I’ve redeemed myself by comprehending Treasure Island much better this time through. It was only 190 pages and therefore made for a quick, two day read. I think I had the story mixed up with Robinson Crusoe and kept waiting for the sweet natural water slide and the treetop resort and was disappointed when I realized they weren’t coming. Aside from that, it was an action packed pirate story in which the young boy managed to commandeer a ship from pirates—so, as you can tell—it was very realistic.

Okay, I’ll stop with the mockery. In all seriousness, it was a cute story, well written, intriguing, and fun to read.

Oh, here’s a piece of trivia for you. You know the famous pirate Long John Silver? He originated in Treasure Island.

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG.

Overall Grade: B-

Would I recommend this book to my friends: I’d recommend it to parents who want something to read to their kids.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities was another great Dickens read. As it turns out, not only do I not hate Dickens, but I think I actually really like him. There. I said it.

A small bit of trivia for those who don’t want to read A Tale of Two Cities—the two cities to which the title refers are London and Paris. The story takes place in the late 18th century and seems somewhat historical in nature. Unfortunately, I don’t know how much of it refers to “true” history and what is fiction. Maybe someone can help me out there (Matt?...).

While overall the book was very well written and understandable, one thing is bugging me. Dickens, numerous times throughout the story, wrote paragraphs which were a string of sentences each beginning with the word “that” each of which seemed (to me) inconclusive.

I personally, might write a sentence beginning with “that” as follows. That the orange had long passed its prime, was obvious.

Dickens’ “that” sentences were more like this:

That the yellow bee had last week gathered nectar from the flower. That the hummingbird danced lightly on the planter, green feathers shining in the sunlight. That certain people are wrong in the majority of their opinions but insist on spouting garbage as if it is fact.

I simply don’t understand. These sentences leave me feeling as if I’ve accidentally stepped off the curb into traffic and can’t gain balance in order to retreat.

I assume the seemingly incomplete “that” sentences were grammatically acceptable during Dickens’ time but I’m going to need some explanation. Maybe my second grade teacher forgot to teach me about those.

I digress.

The story is a mysterious historical adventure drama about a man (Dr. Manette) who is imprisoned unjustly; his daughter (Lucie Manette), her husband (wouldn’t you like to know?), their banker (Mr. Lorry), and the hero (not telling). I’m leaving out a bunch of other characters including villains…because they’re jerks. I’ve decided not to expand much on the plot as the story is written such that the reader has little idea about what is going on until pieces unfold throughout. It is a great story. I’ll leave it at that.

Favorite Quotes:”When he cared to talk, he talked well; but, the cloud of caring for nothing, which overshadowed him with such a fatal darkness, was very rarely pierced by the light within him.” (pg. 136)

“All the women knitted. They knitted worthless things…” (pg. 171)

“A solitary old bachelor,’ answered Mr. Lorry, shaking his head. ‘There is nobody to weep for me.” (pg. 288)

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: You could easily make it PG-13 or R.

Overall Grade: A-

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Totally.