The Terry Pratchett Diary

Discworld Companion Books

by Terry Pratchett, The Discworld Emporium

Sir Terry Pratchett left us, far too early, in March 2015. To celebrate his life and works, we've given over the 2017 Discworld Diary - which will be a perennial diary - to remembrances and tributes from some of those who knew and loved him and his extraordinary body of work. With an introduction from his daughter Rhianna Pratchett and an afterword from longtime friend and colleague Rob Wilkins.

Genres: Fantasy

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2016

About the author

Sir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983–2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.

Reviews

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not crying, I've got something in my eye that's all.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not crying you're crying, etc

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final of the Victor Gollancz Discworld Diary endeavors is dedicated to the man himself instead of a particular guild (and a small part of me will always be sad I'll never see a Seamstresses' Guild Diary but such is life, eh?).

Unfortunately, I don't know if it's due to the memorandum (so somber) nature of the diary, but it's the plainest one yet. I complained about last year's being pretty bare bones but this one has a very small illustration every other page and a random Discworld quote at the bottom of every second page. Not entirely worth the price of admission.

The real draw here, for me at least, is reading the tributes each writer or artist has contributed to the diary, with a few people having longer tributes (his daughter obviously, Neil Gaiman, and Rob Wilkins have the longest ones) and some having shorter ones. These tributes talk about the connections each person had with Pratchett or how they worked together.

Unless you're an avid Discworld/Pratchett fan, I'd advise against running out and immediately picking this one up, plus, as you can see up top, this diary is planned to be a perennial one, so, yeah, unless you're a collector, take your time.

[mysilicielka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fakt, że ta pozycja jest dziennikiem, jest dla mnie najbardziej obezwładniający. Kolorowe strony, ilustracje, miejsca do notowania, uniwersalne daty bez oznaczenia dni tygodnia czy określenia roku, cytaty ze Świata Dysku - to wszystko sprawia, że chciałoby się korzystać z tej książki w sposób praktyczny. Tylko pomiędzy stronami ulokowane są często wzruszające, czasem zabawne, nieraz zaskakujące WSPOMNIENIA. Chociaż ciekawe, to zupełnie niechciane, bo wspomina się to, co już minęło. Świat, choćbyśmy bardzo chcieli, nie zatrzymuje się wraz z czyjąś śmiercią. Łączy nas wszystkich wspólnie przeżywany ból i dalsze osadzenie w codzienności. To banalne. To straszne. To logiczne. To smutne. Chociaż to wszystko rozumiem, to wciąż nie mam pojęcia, co w takich okolicznościach, można by w tym dzienniku zapisać.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is literally a diary that you can use to keep your appointments and stuff in, with the caveat that it’s designed in such a way that you could use it for any year and so it’s not immediately out of date as soon as it’s released.

As for why I’m reviewing it, it’s also chock full of Discworld quotes and little articles and essays by people who knew Sir Terry before his passing, which makes it an emotional read and a must-have collectors’ item for any Discworld fan. And of course, because of the very nature of the book, you can get through it quickly.

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be the oddest thing I've ever taken out from the library, as it's mostly a blank diary. With that said, it also includes some nice Discworld illustrations, enjoyable Discworld quotes, and fortunately includes short tributes to Pratchett from some of the people who knew him best. There isn't a lot to it, but it's done well and with plenty of meaning.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ripples...... A moving tribute to one of the greatest authors from the people who knew him best. This undated diary has Discworld quotes and illustrations that any fan will adore.

[Charles]

its totally a book fight me cont

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perennial diary full of Pratchett info.

[Wyktor Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way cool! A universal dairy filled with quotes, drawings, remembrances and tributes from family, friends, and colleagues.
A must-have for any Pratchett fan, like myself.

[NV⸙⚔⚆⚆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 (really great)

1. Emotional impact   | 4.5 (spectacular)

2. Thought-provoking | 4.25 (really great)

3. Characters | -

4. Plot | -

5. World building | -

6. Prose | 4.5 (spectacular)

[Tom Loock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This generic diary is called "2017 Discworld Diary" just once on the back cover blurb, but otherwise is only referred to as "Diary" and calendar days thus come without weekdays. Okay, so it could actually be used as a book for birthdays and anniversaries or as a diary if you do not need weekdays. I guess that is an advantage to some.

Previous diaries (Thieves Guild, City Watch, Vampires, Igors etc.) were all thematic and usually ranked between okay, good and great, but always contained an original section unique to it.
Sadly the latest one is not on that scale - though it does contain new art and original texts.

For those of us who love Pratchett and the Discworld this incarnation is so formulaic that it lacks any charm. Every 2-page spread week offers exactly one Pratchett-quote and a small colour illustration (mostly 4x4 cm in size and showing a DW character), often of nice quality. Some though (8.2. - 12.3. - 27.4. - 5.5. & 27.9. to mention just a few) are very ... generic? Unfortunately, many illus are repeated - often the weaker ones.

Unique to this diary are interspersed personal memories by the likes of Gaiman, Baxter, Smythe and Maddy Prior.

If the dairy series is to be continued, the quality can only improve.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fitting tribute. Thank you Terry.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really a book, just to be clear, but a blank journal with eulogy-esque passages written by people who knew him interspersed with quotes from discworld novels.