people say things like, if you like Pratchett read Robert Rankin or (spit) Tom Holt! It gets right on my proverbials. I for one have tried both Rankin and Holt and although they write in the same ballpark genre wise they are so different to Pratchett and lack both his subtlety and imagination IMHO.
I do agree, as I dont think there is anybody out there that comes close to writing like Terry. His imagination is out of this world. He must have ideas pinging around everywhere in his head.
No it doesn't. I like all three of them, they are all funny in their own way In My Honest Opinion. I read lots of authors and would consider myself rather dull if I considered one author very highly to the exclusion of all other.
Just because they were recommended for those who like Pratchett books, doesn't necessarily mean they are being compared directly, just that it is the reviewer's suggestion as something that may also hit the mark with this type of reader. I haven't read either of those, but would now probably give them a try. After all........ Try everything once except incest and folk dancing. -- Sir Thomas Beecham
I used to always say 'I'll try anything twice,' just to make sure - I was younger and more reckless then.
Its not the authors themselves I have a problem with, I reads a wide variety of authors but I do not presume that because someone likes say Douglas Adams they will like Pratchett. Recommending is all well and good it is the "You must read..." attitude that gets on my nerves and actually leaves me less likely to read the author, I found that a lot with peoples recommendations of "The Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell. That many people recommended it to me that it could not possibly live up to their hype.
I don't get annoyed really .. the person is just recommending something based on what he/she knows you like. If you said you like Pratchett, I would, for example, not recommend Enid Blyton. So the recommendation has to be necessarily based on what you are reading, otherwise it isn't likely to be very useful. So if you want someone to recommend a new author, this will happen .. I cannot see a way around it. This is not, as Mal says, a comparison between the two authors. Of course, if you do not want any recommendations at all, thats another matter
[quote:e796edcccc="Maljonic"]Do you mean critics recommending authors or people you know, or people you meet?[/quote:e796edcccc] Both but obviously its easy enough to dodge critics recommendations. Put it this way. I am a Pratchett fan, I am also a Stephen King fan but I do not tell my friends they "must" read King's or Pratchett's new book. Merely saying "I read this book, you might like it" is ok but I am talking about people who try to "convert" you to an author, rave on and on about them. Of course this is a personal gripe.
Okay, I still think you're being a little harsh though; I know many Discworld fans on this site only read Terry's books because someone told them they would like reading them, in some cases harrassed them into reading them and, of course, now they like them very much. If someone tells me, knowing me and my likes, that I must read 'this book' if I've read 'that book' then I'd certainly consider their opinion and store the information in the back of my mind for future reference. Then I might read 'that book' one day and either like it and think they were right, or hate it and think they were wrong and tell them so. I have a few friends that read books a lot and we often tell each other about books we think we should read. Obviously if someone kept telling me I must read books that turn out to be crap I'd soon start ignoring them.
I started reading quite a few authors based on the 'what are you reading thread' (or whatever it's called) I don't think anyone was stuffing the idea of a particular author down my throat, merely just saying.. 'I'm reading this, it's good, I'd recommend it' If someone mentions an author I am unfamilar with I generally try and do a check on Amazon to see what sort of stuff they do and read the reviews.- maybe even eventually buy it :shock: But in my experience my knowledge of new authors depends on people [b:4650e5d170]telling me about it or on my wanderings around book shops![/b:4650e5d170]
No it bothers me when someone tells me [i:91e00b97ea]not[/i:91e00b97ea] to read something. It's one of the reasons it took so long for me to get to terry pratchett. My mum was convinced i wouldn't understand it then i borrowed one out of the library by accident...i didnt pay much attention to the author and liked the blurb so took it out. I realised I loved his work. So no, I'll read anything if someone says it is worthwhile. I may look at alternate sources if I am unsure but most of what i read now is recomended or i have read reviews on...I like to know what I am picking up.
[quote:b49bf9d944="sampanna"]I don't get annoyed really .. the person is just recommending something based on what he/she knows you like. If you said you like Pratchett, I would, for example, not recommend Enid Blyton. [/quote:b49bf9d944] But I like Enid Blyton!
[quote:041e93b00c="Buzzfloyd"][quote:041e93b00c="sampanna"]I don't get annoyed really .. the person is just recommending something based on what he/she knows you like. If you said you like Pratchett, I would, for example, not recommend Enid Blyton. [/quote:041e93b00c] But I like Enid Blyton![/quote:041e93b00c] So do I, but I still wouldn't recommend it if you told me you like Pratchett
