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Re-reading of "Hogfather", one of my all time favorite books, or so I thought. It's almost 20 years since I read it the first time and I estimate that I've read about 3000 books in the interlude. Nope, all of them are not on goodreads, my memory isn't that good and I've only been keeping track the past nine years. Despite the number of new books under my belt, this held up incredibly well.

Susan, the non-biological grand daughter of Death, is employed as a nanny and trying to be normal. This is made difficult as she regularly needs to literally bash in the heads of the children's monsters with a poker. Her fragile attempts at normality end when she feels the need to investigate why her father has decided to dress up as the Hogfather (the Discworld's variation of Santa Claus). Where has the real Hogfather gone? And why are all sorts of magical creatures popping into existence?

The first third of the book is incredibly funny. I had forgotten the finesse of Pratchett at his finest. Okay, not always finesse, but hilarious none the less. The end of the book has one of the best quotes ever.

"'All right.' said Susan. 'I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need .. fantasies to make life bearable.'
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMAN NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
'Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little ---'
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU AHVE TO START OUT BE LEARNING OT BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
'So we can believe the big ones?'
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
'They're not the same at all!'
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET--- Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME .. SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
'Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point---'
MY POINT EXACTLY."

****
This was the first Pratchett book I ever read. I was quite sceptical. Within six months after finishing this book, I had read every other Discworld novel to that date. "Hogfather" is an amazing fairy tale for every grown-up that still nourishes the child in them. This is a book that can be read at several levels, if nothing else, then simply for the humour. This book is hilarious!