shewhomust | Adrift in L-space

I've been re-reading some early Pratchett.

This isn't a statement that requires much explaining, is it? It's been hot, and I've been lolling limply on the sofa, why wouldn't I be reading Pratchett?

But there was a specific reason, of a sort, and this is it: about a month ago, the Quizmaster put together one of his famous themed quizzes, and the theme was 'retail therapy' (evidence here). If you think that doesn't sound very interesting, you underestimate our Quizmaster - and I spent much of the time anticipating a question which never came, about the place of the shopping trolley in the Matter of Discworld. There was a question - no, there was a whole round of five questions, about shopping trolleys, but not that one. Never mind, I thought, I've been wanting to re-read 'Sourcery' anyway.

You may have spotted the flaw in my reasoning. In my mind, Sourcery is the one with the Sourcerer, wielder of a rawer, more powerful magic. This gives life to things which wouldn't otherwise be alive, but it also points out the problems of anyone having that much power - which Pratchett usually sidesteps by giving his wizards an inbuilt inhibitor, but in Sourcery he faces the problem head-on, and resolves it in his conclusion by having the powerful magician actively, assertively refrain from magic. In the copy of the book on my shelves, things were a little different. The Sourcerer's extremely powerful magic doesn't take on the paradox of magic itself, but illustrates what happen if it is used by the wrong person; so he can be overcome - or rather, since the Wrong Person is not the Sourcerer himself but someone who is making use of him, he can be freed. At the end of the book, he does agree not to do any more magic, but not in the way I 'remembered', and it doesn't really work out as a solution. It didn't take me long to realise that there were going to be no shopping trolleys, either. Many other good things: Luggage, particularly, but also Conina (daughter of Cohen the Barbarian) and the poetic Seriph of Al Khali. And a very neat solution to why the Patrician isn't putting a stop to this nonsense. But no shopping trolleys...

So I turned to the internet, which told me I was thinking of Reaper Man. Really? I don't often think of Reaper Man (probably because Mort is one of my favourites, and if I want to read Mort, I read Mort). But I wasn't averse to reading another book about Death (and isn't this the one with the Death of Rats?) So what I was remembering as the effect of wild magic is actually caused by the excess vitality lying around the place because people aren't dying properly. And I think I can be excused for not remembering that this is where the shopping trolleys fit in, because they don't really fit in, do they? The life cycle, from snow globe to shopping mall, is ingenious, but it feels like part of some other book. Or is this just me? There's a recurring narrative strand about how aspects of modern life came to the Discworld: postal services, banking, steam trains (Moist von Lipwig, I am looking at you, but don't take it personally - I rather like you, just not your stories) which are not my favourites. Anyway, so I reread Reaper Man, very happily. Death trying to be human, and revealing in the process how very much he isn't actually human.

Whether my subconscious was quietly tidying up my memory, or whether I was just having too much fun to stop, I don't know. Either way, next I picked up Equal Rites, which I would have said was another favourite, but which I have clearly not read in altogether too long, I had forgotten so much about it. As soon as Simon made an appearance, I realised where I had been going wrong: which was gratifying. There's even a point at which Simon's peculiar abilities are likened to sourcery, so my memory wasn't entirely off in assimilationg the two. It was also good to be reminded that once upon a time, way back in the early days of the series (this is only the third book, and it's the one I recommend as a starting point), the Unseen University had students - in fact, it had undergraduates...

"All books are tenuously connected through L-space," but they are also connected through the failings of my memory. Which has its drawbacks, but also its benefits. Checking the order of the Discworld books, I came across ~~Faust~~ Eric and recognised it as a familiar title which I did not remember reading. But there's a copy on my shelf, so I must have read it. Who says you can't read a book for the first time, twice? I'm looking forward to it.