Fae Friday

I’ve been meaning to hop on the #FaeFriday tag for a while. Hosted by Caffeinated Fae, it’s got bookish prompts inspired by fairies every Friday. This week’s prompt is:

Did you know that in certain lore, a fairy is born from the first laugh of a child? That is why this curious wannabe fae wants to know: What is a book that made you genuinely laugh?

This prompt spoke to me, because I think we could all use a good laugh right now. Things are…pretty depressing at the moment. This isn’t a current events post, but I also don’t feel right updating this week without acknowledging what’s happening, so I’m going to link to the statement on the Black Lives Matter website, which is full of resources and ways to help.

Now, my pick for a book that made me laugh is:

Blurb

Convicted con man and forger Moist von Lipwig is given a choice: Face the hangman’s noose, or get Ankh Morpork’s ancient Post Office up and running efficiently!

It was a tough decision . . .

Now, the former criminal is facing really big problems. There’s tons of undelivered mail. Ghosts are talking to him. One of the postmen is 18,000 years old. And you really wouldn’t want to know what his new girlfriend can do with a shoe.

To top it all off, shadowy characters don’t want the mail moved. Instead, they want him dead—deader than all those dead letters. (And here he’d thought that all he’d have to face was rain, snow, and gloom of night . . .)

My Thoughts

It was hard to pick just one Discworld book. I went with Going Postal because Moist and Adora are my OTP. Also, the book has things to say about the postal service, the government, and huge corporations, but you almost don’t notice the serious themes because it’s so laugh-out-loud funny.

Moist is an extremely fun protagonist. A con artist, he’s a master of the Indy Ploy and basically makes up more and more ridiculous schemes as he goes along. The first thing he tries to do after being put in charge of the post office is run away, and he has a nice character arc of changing from a criminal who thinks only about himself to a responsible(ish) citizen who does what’s best for other people.

And his romance with Adora Belle is the best. He’s the energetic, sunshine one, and she’s the grumpy, bitter one, FYI. Or, to quote:

There was a definite feel about Adora Belle Dearheart that a lid was only barely holding down an entire womanful of anger.

The minor characters are lovable and zany in typical Pratchett style and the situations are over-the-top. Moist saves the cat! Adora can impale a man with her shoe! There are burning buildings! Bar brawls! Hey, you know that broom can’t actually fly, right?

This book is such a fun ride, and if you haven’t read it already, I recommend it 110%.

More Quotes

“What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.”

“Run before you walk! Fly before you crawl! Keep moving forward! You think we should try to get a decent mail service in the city. I think we should try to send letters anywhere in the world! Because if we fail, I’d rather fail really hugely. All or nothing, Mr. Groat!”

“You hardly know me and yet you invited me out on a date,” said Miss Dearheart. “Why?”

Because you called me a phoney, Moist thought. You saw through me straight away. Because you didn’t nail my head to the door with your crossbow. Because you have no small talk. Because I’d like to get to know you better, even though it would be like smooching an ashtray. Because I wonder if you could put into the rest of your life the passion you put into smoking a cigarette. In defiance of Miss Maccalariat I’d like to commit hanky-panky with you, Miss Adora Belle Dearheart… well, certainly hanky, and possibly panky when we get to know one another better. I’d like to know as much about your soul as you know about mine…

Your local library hopefully has a copy of Going Postal, and it can be purchased through Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.

Hit me up with your favorite funny book recommendations in the comments, or search the #FaeFriday tag for more recs! And take care of yourselves out there.