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David McK (3425 KP) rated Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes in Books

Mar 31, 2023  
Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes
Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes
Rob Wilkins | 2022
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I don't often read non-fiction - I had enough of that during my school/university days - preferring instead a 'good story'.

I was also going to say that I don't often read biographies.

Except that, truth be told, this is actually the first one that I've ever read (despite attempting, in the past, to start some and then getting bored senseless within about the first 10 pages or so ...)

And also, truth be told, it wasn't one that I was really going out of my way to look forward, except that the late, great Terry Pratchett is/was one of my favourites and that I saw this on sale for something like 99p.

Written by long-term assistant Rob Wilkins, this has been compiled - I think that's the right word - from 'official' notes/memories as provided by Pratchett himself (before his untimely death, in 2015, to a rare form of Alzheimer's) and from personal recollections of Rob himself, covering Pratchett's entire life story from his childhood) where he was told by his headmaster he would never amount to anything and hated reading), right on through to his diagnosis and eventual (unassisted) death.

The last part, in particular, is particularly moving.
  
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ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Colours of Death in Books

Apr 18, 2022  
The Colours of Death
The Colours of Death
Patricia Marques | 2021 | Crime, Paranormal, Thriller
8
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Colours of Death is a detective novel set in a present day, alternative Lisbon. A minority of the population are Gifted with either telepathy or telekinesis, and they are heavily regulated. When it comes to light that a death on a train might have some Gifted involvement, Inspector Isabel Reis is put on the case with her team. She is a telepath, and her own problems with that gift soon make themselves known.

They’re a fantastic cast of characters, and they work well together )literally, in the case of the police team). It’s another angle on discrimination: instead of religion or skin colour, the Gifted are discriminated against because of their gifts - something they have no choice or control over.

This novel feels a little dystopian in places: when people go ‘missing’ if they lose control of their gifts, for example. And all Gifted are kept on a register where they’re regularly assessed. If they exceed a certain level, they’re removed from society for everyone else’s safety.

I really enjoyed this - the storyline was interesting, gripping, in fact, and exciting when it needed to be. The main character was flawed and very likeable, and the food constantly made me feel hungry!

I will be looking out for the next book in the series.