 Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book that takes place in a single day
Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett's Discworld books are always funny and original, with memorable characters and a bit of sly commentary on our own world. The humor is a bit darker in this one, largely because of the assassin Mr. Teatime (pronounced teh-ah-tee-meh), who commits a lot of mayhem along the way to a supernatural heist. It's the night before Hogswatch, the annual winter solstice holiday, and the Hogfather is missing, presumably killed by Mr. Teatime. Somebody needs to fill his role, riding around in a sleigh drawn by four hogs, delivering gifts with a jolly laugh. Death, usually one of my favorite Discworld characters, puts a fake beard over his skull-face and sets out, with some help from his eminently sensible granddaughter Susan. Usually Death is a pretty intimidating character, the only one who always talks in ALL CAPS, but in this book he's less scary than silly. Various other whimsical characters keeps showing up: a cute beast that devours socks from the laundry (you KNOW that one's real), the Cheerfulness Fairy (in "shoes so sensible they did their own taxes"), and Bilious, the God of Hangovers (properly referred to as the "Oh God!" of Hangovers). Death's real mission is to restore the Hogfather to life through people's belief in him. As he explains to his granddaughter, if people can't believe in the Hogfather, how will they believe in the truly irrational things, like duty, justice, and mercy?
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