The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld by Terry Pratchett, Compiled by Stephen Briggs

I've only read a few of the Discworld novels through, and those have generally been the later ones... Night Watch, The Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith and Thud, Plus two of the very earliest, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic. And I've seen the movie Hogfather and own it on DVD, along with Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters. And yes, I have my favorite passages from all the Discworld Novels I have read.

But this book collects the very best passages from each novel into one place, so you can enjoy both the wit and the wisdom in the Discworld novels without having to read every novel at once.

This isn't a book to sit down and read all at once, but slowly and at leisure, enjoying the silliness and truth of each passage. I found myself enjoying the passages from some of the books I haven't read, and laughing outright at more. Such as this one, from "Soul Music". " 'mumblemumblemumble' said the Dean defiantly, a rebel without a pause." and "The Patrician was a pragmatist. He never tried to fix things that worked. Things that didn't work, however, got broken."

The plot of each book, in broad outline, is listed before the quotes from the book, and some of the quotes are annotated as well, but without the books before me, I can't tell if the annotations are in the original text of the books or not. But if you have a favorite saying or passage from Discworld, it's sure to be in here. And if there are books you haven't read, you might just discover some new favorite passages and sayings from this book.

For all of the wit and wisdom without all of the tedious plot and boring parts, you can't beat this book with a stick. Well, yes you can, but it wouldn't be very productive. This book will give you more enjoyment than any other activity than reading the original books, and if you've read them, bring back to mind the best things you loved about them.