A bitter sweet moment for me.

[MildredHubble]

As I posted elsewhere, recently I rediscovered a series of books titled The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy (featuring the adventures of my namesake )

I don't generally read fiction. It's quite rare that I get hooked on it. But these books were from my early childhood, back when there were only 3 books in the series. I couldn't believe it when I discovered that the series had grown to 8 books!

It's been wonderful to read them, though I read them a lot quicker than I did when I was younger. It brought back some memories of my reading ability at the time. Back when I was 8 I remember really struggling, it was like I saw every single word printed on the page (I could recall this specifically when reading the first book) and couldn't track at all. But I loved the stories so much I persevered.

It was a much less daunting task this time around though. I just finished the last book moments ago and really enjoyed living in that world again for a time. It made me feel happy! But as I finished the final page, even though things were going great for dear old Mildred, I also felt quite sad.

The author Jill Murphy passed away (I think in 2019). So there won't be any new adventures, at least not written by her. It's such a shame :-(

I wish I could write like Jill Murphy, I would be very tempted to try to write a sort of fan fiction follow up about Mildred's final year at Mrs Cackle's Academy for Witches.

I guess I just wanted to externalise my feelings a bit

Anyone else feel like this when they finish a book, or series of books?

 

[Misery]

One word: Discworld.

I've read those books about a bazillion times over, but honestly I have trouble going back to them now at all since Terry Pratchett passed away, I just end up depressed every time instead of laughing along with them as I used to.

 

[MildredHubble]

One word: Discworld.

I've read those books about a bazillion times over, but honestly I have trouble going back to them now at all since Terry Pratchett passed away, I just end up depressed every time instead of laughing along with them as I used to.

I haven't gotten round to Discworld but I have been informed that it's truly excellent!

Reading fiction is a once in a blue moon occurrence for me. But I did enjoy reading books by Terry Pratchett's collaborator Neil Gaiman.

I remember when it was announced that Terry Pratchett had started developing dementia :-( They were writing a series of books together at the time.

I think I would like Terry Pratchett's work. There was something about Neil Gaiman's books that evoked memories of the Worst Witch for me. Particularly Star Dust and Neverwhere. So as they evidently worked well together, I'm sure I'd be right at home reading Discworld.

I found out that Jill Murphy had died when I had a random thought on if she had ever worked with Neil Gaiman. I had a thought that maybe there was a million to one chance they might write a more "grown up" version of the Worst Witch stories. I'm not sure why, but it was just a random thought that popped in my head. Then while googling it, I found out the sad news :-(

I can understand why it's hard to read Discworld for you now :-( I hope that in time you will enjoy it like you used to.

 

[Misery]

I haven't gotten round to Discworld but I have been informed that it's truly excellent!

Oh yeah, it's brilliant.

I've read like 10 quazillion books over the years... in school I was an avid reader since I didnt really take any interest in social stuff... but even considering the sheer number of books I've read, the Discworld series stands out as being the best of them. Really good stories, and great humor.

Also some of my favorite characters out of any media, which is really saying something. Lord Vetinari is one of my favorites, also Death, you'd never expect someone to take the idea of the Grim Reaper and make him into a genuinely likable (albeit rather confusing) guy, but this series did that. The description of him standing there in a Santa-ish outfit while asking his servant "IS THIS JOLLY ENOUGH" is still one of my favorite moments in any book. It makes sense in context.

Lots of cool ideas in this series and it's one of those where I've read it a bit too much to the point where some of my speech habits are taken from it.

I havent read too much of Gaiman's stuff before, mostly just that one that he collaborated with Pratchett on... I cannot for the life of me remember what the name of that one is but I've got it somewhere.

I will say though that if you should try reading the series, the first two or three books in the series stand out as being sorta... bizarre. Some stuff that happens in them was outright retconned out later on and a couple of characters were so completely different afterwards (not because of any story events, they were just written entirely differently as if the first books never happened and their personalities had been totally flipped). Those couple of books almost read like prototypes, nowhere near as good as the rest of the series and they just are kinda funky.

Just great stuff overall though.

 

[MildredHubble]

Oh yeah, it's brilliant.

I've read like 10 quazillion books over the years... in school I was an avid reader since I didnt really take any interest in social stuff... but even considering the sheer number of books I've read, the Discworld series stands out as being the best of them. Really good stories, and great humor.

Also some of my favorite characters out of any media, which is really saying something. Lord Vetinari is one of my favorites, also Death, you'd never expect someone to take the idea of the Grim Reaper and make him into a genuinely likable (albeit rather confusing) guy, but this series did that. The description of him standing there in a Santa-ish outfit while asking his servant "IS THIS JOLLY ENOUGH" is still one of my favorite moments in any book. It makes sense in context.

Lots of cool ideas in this series and it's one of those where I've read it a bit too much to the point where some of my speech habits are taken from it.

I havent read too much of Gaiman's stuff before, mostly just that one that he collaborated with Pratchett on... I cannot for the life of me remember what the name of that one is but I've got it somewhere.

I will say though that if you should try reading the series, the first two or three books in the series stand out as being sorta... bizarre. Some stuff that happens in them was outright retconned out later on and a couple of characters were so completely different afterwards (not because of any story events, they were just written entirely differently as if the first books never happened and their personalities had been totally flipped). Those couple of books almost read like prototypes, nowhere near as good as the rest of the series and they just are kinda funky.

Just great stuff overall though.

The "Is this jolly enough" quote you mentioned sounds the book would appeal to my sense of humour!

For some reason sounds to me a bit little like the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror episode where Ned Flanders takes over the world and forces everyone to smile using machines with hooks to pull their mouths into a smile. So Homer (with the hooks in his mouth) turns and looks at the guy next to him and says "what the hell are you smiling at?" (probably another one that makes sense in context)

I think you make a good case for reading the Discworld books. They are certainly looking like a candidate for the next time I read some fiction.

I guess I wouldn't mind the retconning aspects really. I like Star Trek and there's been quite a bit of it there so I can overlook it. I guess this is what happens when someone dreams up a whole universe, they don't always get everything just right first time around and things change because it's best for the story

 

[Outdated]

I totally agree with @Misery , the discworld books are fantastic and Terry Pratchet was one of my favourite authors. So many little things in the books just tickled me the right way.

Misery mentioned Lord Vetinari, he was the Patrician of the city. He believed in one man one vote and he was the man.

And like you @MildredHubble , I always end up feeling a little flat when I get to the end of a series of books. I love a good story and it's disappointing when it ends.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I have never read Discworld novels, since as a young teen I discovered Arthur C. Clark, especially Childhood's End, among others, then The Lord of the Rings. But I still have a fondness for Twain and his social commentary which started me out in ethics before getting into the high octane stuff like Russell's Why I am Not a Christian.

 

[Metal316]

I remember the worst witch on tv here, our daughter watching it.

Late 1990's, children's teatime tv if I remember correctly.
I was a Catweazle fan, going back to the stone age !

 

[Tom]

Perhaps there are some film versions that you could watch, or special memorbilia to collect in the series. Good series never really die, but live on in various ways.

 

[MildredHubble]

I remember the worst witch on tv here, our daughter watching it.

Late 1990's, children's teatime tv if I remember correctly.
I was a Catweazle fan, going back to the stone age !

I remember watching the first Worst Witch TV movie in the late 80s. It's actually quite entertaining even if it's a bit cringey here and there!

But I haven't seen the 90s version. I think I feel quite connected to the books now. I actually found a book listed online that I thought I had maybe overlooked but sadly it was just an activity book, though I may pick it up as @Tom suggested as a piece of memorabilia.