I probably reread as many books as I actually read new books. So it was no particular surprise to myself to find that I had started on the Tiffany Aching Series yet again. The Tiffany Aching books are a series of five books set in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which is a sort of cohesive home to his marvelous collection of comic fantasies that transcend genre.
My favorite Discworld novel is Hat Full of Sky, which is the second of the Tiffany Aching books. It may be my favorite book of any kind ever. I don't know. Whenever I reread the series I start with the first book, Wee Free Men, which is hilarious, wise, delightful, and surprising, and I get confused because it is so brilliant. I think "How could it be that Hat Full of Sky is my particular favorite? It hardly seems possible for it to be any better that Wee Free Men."
Then I read Hat Full of Sky and I'm like
"Oh."
I said I don't really know if Hat Full of Sky is my favorite book ever, but there is this:
Do you know how in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, where they burn books, there are people secretly saving literary history by memorizing a whole book? I think if I had to choose one book to memorize it would be Hat Full of Sky.
It's a book that's good for me, and that always seems to make me better.
That's pretty serious, so here is my favorite joke from it:
"Here you are. Would you like some pickles?
"Pickles gives me the wind something awful."
"In that case-"
"Oh, I wasn't saying no," Mistress Weatherwax said, taking two large pickled cucumbers."
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