It’s Okay to be a Nerd, A Year on Discworld: Book 7 — Pyramids
In a quest to escape the reality of 2020 and recapture my youth, I’ve set myself the goal of reading all 41 Discworld novels in one year. Join me on this voyage of discovery which definitely isn’t a complete waste of time. Mild spoilers, probably.
This week posed a unique problem. Problem is perhaps to strong a word. Mild inconvenience might be a better description. My usual process in this challenge is I read the book and something, some piece of my personal nostalgia or history pops into my head. Then, I ramble on about it while trying to put together a review or some literary criticism of the book in question.
That didn’t happen this week. As mentioned last week, I’ve been busy. The comic I worked on about psychology and the supernatural was released so there was various admin to sort out ( you can read it for free here by the way) and I was finishing the first draft of a non-fiction book I’ve been working on… more on that at some point in the future.
The results of which is I was too exhausted to apply any real critical thinking to Pyramids. As pleased as you probably are to read that, it was even better for me. Here, Pratchett tells the story of Teppic, the heir to the ancient, Egyptian inspired Kingdom of Djelibeybi. As a boy, he is sent away to the assassin’s guild of Ankh-Morpork but has to return when his father dies. He accidentally commissions a monument so vast in scale to his late father, it begins to warp reality.
Because I was simply too knackered to analysis it, I enjoyed it in a much stupider way.
This is the first book I’ve read that feel’s completely isolated for the rest of the Discworld and in a way it was like a little mid-challenge break. Because I was simply too knackered to analysis it, I enjoyed it in a much stupider way. A way I would have enjoyed it when I was younger. Actually, that’s not true. I had started Pyramids as a teenager but never got past the first few pages. I think I scanned through it looking for Rincewind or Death, and finding neither went elsewhere.
But I missed out. I felt a little gutted for my younger self. I in love with Egyptology in my youth. I have a distinct memory of going to Liverpool City Museum (which I think is called the World Museum now…quite the upgrade) around age 8 with my mum. Back then, in the entryway, there was a huge stone sarcophagus under the gaze of an onyx statue of Sekhmet… or maybe Bast, definitely a huge cat-lady either way. It’s bright and open now but back then it was dark with little natural light given the whole place an excited but sinister feeling.
With Pyramids, I actually achieved some escapism. Until I became too self-conscious.
On top of which, for a time, every character I made for RPG campaigns was an assassin, ninja, rogue or general sneaky bastard. It’s slightly cringe-inducing now, and there was certainly some edge-lord, misunderstood teen angst fulling that habit, but in Teppic, I might have found a slightly more 3d character from which to draw inspiration.
Part of this challenge was to escape the stresses and strains of modern life. I have failed each week in that endeavour. Though I have been able to reminisce about nice times from my past, I have generally been left with some internal conflict or a new goal to give myself. With Pyramids, I achieved some escapism. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the analysis of any art and think it’s important but I was enjoying this is a very different way. I was allowing myself to be entertained. Until I became too self-conscious.
I can’t be sincere! I’m British, damn it!
A few people have left me comments on here and twitter about my progress; little notes about Pratchett’s process and inspirations or there own thoughts on these early books in the series. It’s nice to read when people agree with you and interesting when they don’t. One chap, whom I’ll keep anonymous, said something about the first 50 or so pages of Pyramids being quite weak. In fairness, he did say that was something the thought he remembered so he may have misremembered. Chance’s are in a twitter exchange, the nuance of the point he was making got exacerbated in my mind. If you read this entry, sir, I’m not trying to incriminate you, I’m just trying to give some context for what happened next.
I utterly loved the opening of Pyramids. It is just an extended description of the Assassin’s Guide final exam. It’s hardly relevant to the plot but I found it incredibly enjoyable. Re-engaging my critical faculties I would probably say the entire section could be heavily cut down or that it serves no real purpose and delays us getting to story. I enjoyed my brain turning off until all of sudden I became worried I was reading it wrong, or I was enjoying it on a more based but more sincere level. I can’t be sincere! I’m British, damn it! What if I’m wrong to like it? What if I allowed to enjoy it, but differently?
I still wanted to be cool in the realm of the uncool.
Way back in the first week I mentioned I stopped reading Pratchett because someone I admired spoke disparagingly about the series. You might be inclined to think this person wasn’t into fantasy but you couldn’t be more wrong. This person introduced me to Dungeon & Dragons, Anime and tabletop gaming (it’s a miracle I’m married, I know).
I’ve never cared about the opinions of people who aren’t into the things I like, which always made me think I was a rebellious, independent thinker, but I realised I’m as susceptible to peer pressure as anyone else. I still wanted to be cool in the realm of the uncool. Of course, adults don’t really judge each other for not liking the right things. That’s crazy and it’s nonsense to chalk it up to peer pressure. It the result of some inner fear.
In Pyramids, there is a theme of things being done a certain way and of time having stood still. Ironically, one of my responses to this was doubling down on the feeling I had to think a certain way, the same way I thought when I was 14. I was wrong then and I’m kinda shocked to learn I still fall into the same traps.
Remember when I said I had no critical thoughts about this book? All those paragraphs ago? Looks like I was wrong about that too.
