If there ever was a perfect stress-reief, the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett have to be just that. Hilarious, witty things, all of them, if not... very happy. (Which is a strange thing, none of my favourite comedies are, when you really think about it, happy. The life of Brian, Discworld, Good Omens, Cabin Pressure... you name it.)
But. Back to the point. Night watch. This book stars, unsurprisingly, the Ankh-Morpork city watch, but - slightly more surprisingly - the one 30 years before the other Watch books' timeline. Our protagonist, Commander Sam Vimes is kicked back in time by a magical storm, along with the serial killer he was just about to arrest. And the Ankh-Morpork of 30-years-ago is just about to explode with a revolution. Now, after Vimes has got his bearings and adapted to his old/new enviroment, what follows is Pure Awsomeness. Basically, the Disc meets Les Misérables. And, just so you know, in my headcanon Reg Shoe is, from now on, officially blond. Read the book, you'll know why.
I'm not being very coherent, am I? Anyway. Sam Vimes is a rare breed of hero. That kind of extremely competent protagonist who is more-or less a legend in-universe, everyone knows/fears/respects them, and surprisingly enough the reader does too. They are just so damn charismatic, well writen and well-rounded characters that you buy into their awsomeness and they don't turn into their own caricatures, like less well-thought-out characters would. As I said, I can think of only four from the top of my head, and three of those happen to come from the Disc. Vimes, Granny Weatherwax and Vetinari. As for the fourth? Sherlock Holmes.

P.S.: On the subject of Les Misérables. I know it's been some time since the latest film came out and I'm still yet to see it. Is it any good? Some say it's horribly confusing, long and boring, but then, the same is said about the musical, whith which I had no problem at all. Though I admit I knew the story going in, which probably didn't hurt. It definitely didn't hurt, in fact, I have more or less conclusive evidence that that's the only way you should even attemt to watch it. Two of my friends have seen it, one with me giving a quick storyline and some description of the characters before, the other without. The first friend way sobbing by the end, the other was bored and confused, and fairly lost.
So, I think I've decided the question for myself, I'm going to see the film, bad ratings or no.