Mort

"Mort is the first book that Terry Pratchett wrote that is entirely about Death, who is by far my favourite character – and many other people’s favourite character – in the Discworld series. It’s about Death taking a holiday and bringing on an apprentice named Mort, which is short for Mortimer, to take over for him. It’s split into two parts: one where Mort is bumbling around and learning to become Death, messing things up apocalyptically; and one where Death is spending some time thinking about life and death in a way that’s sort of philosophical. And like all of Pratchett’s stuff, it’s very, very funny, but it also feels like one of his deeper books. I also put it on the list as a marker for Death as a whole in Pratchett. There are five main Death books, and I love all of them for totally different reasons. The only reason that I didn’t select Reaper Man is because it just felt a little out of order – but Reaper Man introduces the Death of Rats, another of Pratchett’s non-human characters and one of my favorites. Death is fabulous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen death humanized in the way that Pratchett’s able to pull off. He’s got a sense of humour. I love the line, “I could just murder a good curry.” And Death is ultimately kind in a lot of ways. I think because of that, and because he’s so persistent – he can be involved in any story Pratchett tells – he’s just hugely endearing."