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.



Another, graphical, take on order: http://io9.com/how-to-read-terry-pra...e-h-1567312812

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.

Here's another one.
Audible-Unabridged, read by Nigel Planer
NOTE, this is Canada only, not available in the US. Probably because of the following disclaimer:

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

He's incorrect even though he's the author. He's written Discworld in such a way that even if the story isn't wonderful, there is progression with secndary characters and places. He doesn't recap. Reading out of order is like reading and Agatha Christie book from the back to the front finding out who done it before you find out what was done. There are some characters where you find out about them. About their back story and such. You lean about the paces and cultures. It's not just about whoever is/are the leading character(s) for that book. it's about everything as a whole.

Given some of the very first user reviews listed on Audible I don't think it worthwhile to add that audiobook version to the nomination post, but I will if you insist.

The other version audiobook of The Colour of Magic is better quality, but it's abridged.

You obviously have very strong feelings about where to start. I am just pointing out that even the author disagrees with that. As CRussell posted and as mentioned in the other thread I linked to, there are a lot of others who disagree with your take and agree with the author. Just providing a counter point to yours so people can be informed about both sides of the issue and decide for themselves where they might be comfortable.

I feel you are both trying to derail my nomination so if it does get three nods, you can get the other book voted for instead.

Isn't your nomination of TCOM an attempt to derail the nomination of Guards! Guards!?
So, it is not fair to do that to you, but you can do that to the other one?

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.

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.

No, I'm fine with not including it. It's only for non-US anyway. I offered it for completeness.

:2thumbsup

Nope. It's an attempt to get people to read Discworld in the proper order and not one that someone arbitrarily decided is correct (8th book in is not correct in any long running series)



It's not fair to do this to everyone who has yet to read Discworld.

The reason you posted the quote is so you can get the 8th book in a series read ineast of the 1st.

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.