Today I spent most of the day at home with a sick kid. She called me
shortly after I got to work and way before I had consumed enough coffee
to face the spreadsheets I had planned on tackling this morning. Anyway,
when I got her home, medicated with Tylenol and tucked in, the couch
called me. Loudly. But, of course, any really fine nap is preceded by a
short read in a good book so I picked up my son’s copy of Witches
Abroad and started in. And two hours later I finished it. So much for
napping.

This is another Pratchett book about Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and
Magrat Garlick. After Desiderata, the good fairy godmother, placidly dies
leaving her magic wand to Magrat, they must travel to the city of Genua
to prevent the marriage of the girl to the handsome prince. Along the way
they take the magic out of just about every fairy tale told to children.
It reminded me of the spot on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show called
“Fractured Fairy Tales” that I loved as a child. And Pratchett has this
way of writing that includes little comments that are hysterically funny.
There’s one about panty girdles that I had to put the book down til my
eyes quit tearing up from laughing so hard. His nod to Tolkein is a
hoot, too.

As always with Pratchett books, buy them, read them, enjoy!