favourite books #1

The Wee Free Men is the second Terry Pratchett book I've read, but it was my introduction to the Discworld and I've seen many people recommend it as a starting point. Even my edition marked it as the beginning, whether refering to the series, or to the story of Tiffany Aching I'm not sure (though probably the latter). Anyhow, I've read this a couple of years ago, so why am I bringing it up now?

Well, over the past years I've noticed that, while I happily thought of myself as a dreamer, I didn't exactly bother to to do anything towards becoming the person I always believed I'd be. Rather, I went along with whatever seemed safe and got myself in a bit of a pickle. So, when I happened upon this book, I found just the advice I needed. And, best of all, it was all very practical advice.

"I will give you some free advice, though."
"Will it cost me anything?"
"What? I just said it was free!" said Miss Tick.
"Yes, but my father said that free advice often turns out to be expensive," said Tiffany.
Miss Tick sniffed. "You could say this advice is priceless," she said. "Are you listening?"
"Yes," said Tiffany.
"Good. Now... if you trust in yourself..."
"Yes?"
"... and believe in your dreams..."
"Yes?"
"... and follow your star..." Miss Tick went on.
"Yes?"
"... you'll still get beaten by people who spend their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Good-bye."

If you're the kind of person that addnotates books, the above picture might give you an idea of how your first DW book will look like (mine is colour-coordinated!). And I've come back to my favorite passages over and over again because, really, is there a better role model than Tiffany Aching and can you think of more appropriate people to learn from than Miss Tick, Miss Level or Granny Aching (I mean, you can never know when turpentine will come in handy, can you?)?