03-23-2015, 02:31 PM | #46 |
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Discworld Reading Order
There are several guides to the Discworld books. Given the size and complexity of the universe, there are certainly multiple opinions on what order to read them in. I equate it to the Liaden Universe where almost no one reads the first two chronological books first, but loops back later to them. One list that made some sense to me was posted by John Chew at: http://www.poslarchive.com/math/misc/discworld.html. His take (and I've seen it repeated from a wide variety of sources) is to avoid the first two books until after you've gotten well into Discworld. For this reason, I proposed Watch!Watch! as the first.
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Another, graphical, take on order: http://io9.com/how-to-read-terry-pra...e-h-1567312812 |
03-23-2015, 02:36 PM | #47 |
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Enough with that chart. It's garbage. It always was and always will be. The way to read Discworld for the first time is in published order
Sure, the books don't always have the same main characters. But they do have a lot of the same locations and same background characters. They are as much a part of Discworld as the main characters. So by reading out of order you spoil the locations and background characters. That makes the series not as enjoyable. So please stop trying to spoil Discworld for others. The problem with that reading order you've recommended is that reading out of order because you don't care for the Rincewind books, you then have people reading them basically all in one go instead of spreading them out. Last edited by JSWolf; 03-23-2015 at 03:25 PM. |
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03-23-2015, 02:43 PM | #48 | ||
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Audible-Unabridged, read by Nigel Planer NOTE, this is Canada only, not available in the US. Probably because of the following disclaimer: Quote:
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03-23-2015, 04:15 PM | #49 |
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Just to insert a counter point to the Discworld reading order, here is Sir Pratchett's guidance for where (not) to start the series (bold and color added):
"...I find it now rather embarrassing that people beginning the Discworld series start with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, which I don't think are some of the best books to start with. This is the author saying this, folk. Do not start at the beginning with Discworld." -- Terry Pratchett. From this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...47#post3036947 |
03-23-2015, 04:30 PM | #50 | |
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03-23-2015, 04:44 PM | #51 | ||
Bah, humbug!
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Last edited by WT Sharpe; 03-23-2015 at 04:47 PM. |
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03-23-2015, 04:56 PM | #52 |
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The other version audiobook of The Colour of Magic is better quality, but it's abridged.
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03-23-2015, 04:58 PM | #53 | |
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03-23-2015, 05:01 PM | #54 | |
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03-23-2015, 05:15 PM | #55 | |||
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That isn't really the reason I posted the Pratchett quote though, it is just that given how inflammatory your statements can be I thought a statement by the author and a link to additional discussion so that anyone new to the series could decide for themselves would be warranted. I think reading by published order is safe, but in the case of Discworld, there can be better ways to read it, especially for those who are not that into Fantasy as a whole. |
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03-23-2015, 05:27 PM | #56 |
Bah, humbug!
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April 2015 Book Club Nominations
Let's just drop the proper order to read Discworld argument and concentrate on the nominations. I strongly suspect the various opinions were known before the discussion began, as it's been discussed to death in other threads at MobileRead for the better part of forever, and serves no useful purpose here. The vote will be multiple-choice so Pratchett won't necessarily be getting short changed because of the disagreement.
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03-23-2015, 07:10 PM | #57 |
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No, I'm fine with not including it. It's only for non-US anyway. I offered it for completeness.
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03-23-2015, 07:12 PM | #58 |
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03-24-2015, 12:45 AM | #59 | ||
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Quote:
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The reason you posted the quote is so you can get the 8th book in a series read ineast of the 1st. |
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03-24-2015, 12:47 AM | #60 |
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It has occurred to me that I don't see a definition of the term "Classic" in the OP. I don't see offhand where we first discussed this issue. Can someone please provide me with a link to the original discussion?
As I recall, there was some debate about whether a book needed to have a certain age on it before it would be considered a classic. I'll let others consider that. But I would like to add another element. It seems to me that for a book to be considered a classic, a great many readers must be aware of both 1) its existence, and 2) its good reputation. Looking at the list of nominations (thus far) in post #2, I see four books I've never heard of before. I am not passing judgment on their merits, but I'm doubtful that English language books I've never heard of can fairly be considered Classics with a capital C. |
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