In a case highlighting the challenges facing China as it tries to establish a "credit society", police officers were reported to be "astonished" after apprehending the woman, who fled to the southeastern Chinese city of Shenzhen after a court in Wuhan ordered her to pay off her debt..Shanghai: A 59-year old woman from the central Chinese city of Wuhan transformed her appearance through plastic surgery in order to avoid 25 million yuan ($3. She financed her plastic surgery using borrowed bank cards, Xinhua said late on Friday.Representatives from more than 300 Chinese cities released a declaration earlier in July promising to make more credit available for consumer spending, part of the countrys efforts to find new sources of economic growth and reduce its dependence on heavy industry and state-driven infrastructure investment." The woman, identified as Zhu Najuan, also confessed to using other peoples identity cards to travel across the country by train.According to state media, one court in Jiangsu province has drawn up a blacklist of defaulters.But as the country strives to make more credit available to individuals, it is also facing a surge in household debt, which is estimated to have reached around 50 percent of gross domestic product last year, more than doubling in less than a decade. Xinhua said the city of Wuhan has also launched a series of crackdowns on debt defaulters, and detained a gutter guards for sale total of 186 people in the first half of the year."We were very surprised at the scene," the official Xinhua news agency quoted a policeman as saying. Anyone who telephones an individual on the blacklist will first be forced to listen to a pre-recorded message saying "please urge this person to fulfil their legal obligations". As regulators try to establish a reliable nationwide credit rating system, authorities across the country are also exploring new ways to crack down on those who do not pay debts. "She looked in her thirties and was different from the photos we had.71 million) of personal debts, state news agency Xinhua said

"Yeah, well. Look at it this way: if you say to people, what's it to be, either your house burned down around you or some girl you've probably never met being eaten, well, they might get a bit thoughtful. Human nature, see."

Oddly enough, just last night I was having a discussion online about priorities with a person who felt quite sincerely that the potential economic impact of social distancing, including the shutting down of professional and collegiate sporting events, was not worth suffering for the sake of preventing the deaths of some old people. Of course he would be sad, he said, for people's deaths, even if it was his own parents, but life would go on whether he cared or not, and after all, people could lose their jobs. They could lose their houses. 

I've been slow and distracted in my reading, with all the news and concerns for the health of my friends and neighbors and loved ones, but this book has been a bright spot and welcome escape for me. Although I have to resist temptation to dwell on the unwelcome parallels between the story and RL right now. 

Still, here are a few more moments that made me smile so far:

     There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be. 

     Someone had stolen a book.

~*~*~

     The Patrician disliked the word "dictator." It affronted him. He never told anyone what to do. He didn't have to, that was the wonderful part.

~*~*~

     People in Scoone Avenue had old money, which was supposed to be better than new money, although Captain Vimes had never had enough of either to spot the difference.

Me neither, Captain Vimes. Me neither. 

I know this book is really our introduction to Ank-Morpork's Guard, but has there ever been more truth written about any place where books are gathered and loved? 

In the silence of the night the books talked to one another. 

 and

 A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read.

This book has been a re-read for me and I remembered, for some unfathomable reason, that the Night Watch had to go down into the sewers of Anhk Morpork to fight the dragon. Which they clearly did not do. Oh well, I don´t know what I was thinking.

Guards! Guards! is Pratchett´s take on dragon lore and dragon myths and what a fun book this is. The Night Watch subseries is my favorite series and I have such a soft spot for Captain Vimes and his group of boys (and later girls ... go, Angua!), I cannot help but to love it. The librarian, Errol, the romance, the Patrician ... there is so much goodness in here.

The only complaint I have about the audiobook is that it could have been better edited. There were quite a few faulty passages throughout the audiobook. But Nigel Planer´s narration was once again brilliant. He really brings those characters and the story to life and it´s so much fun to listen to these books.