Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarana
I start another story at the next opportunity, although I generally go to a different genre for the next book. I love short stories and novellas. I've read a fair number of series (with more than 10 books) in their entirety and none in fantasy, although I'm currently catching up with Terry Brooks and Terry Pratchett. Ok, caught up with Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, so I guess that counts.
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Certainly for me, as I have said, changing genre regularly, keeps me on task more easily, and sometimes I go straight from a Fantasy story to a Mystery one for example, with barely any pause to reflect for long.
Talking about reading order. I well remember my start with Terry Pratchett, an author that had been recommended to me by a friend. With the exception of Piers Anthony and Hugh Cook (New Zealand), I much preferred straight Fantasy and nothing that sends it up or is too silly. So I wasn't enthusiastic about Terry Pratchett at first, because his work did not seem serious enough. However, his novel Mort grabbed my attention a bit, and seemed like it might be worth reading.
Being the stickler I am, and not wanting to risk anything by reading out-of-order, I had to read the three novels that came first, before reading Mort.
The first novel, The Color Of Magic, did not impress me much. It had something attractive, but I could not relate to the main character Rincewind, who was somewhat a silly anti-hero. I don't mind anti-heroes, but usually ones cut from a better cloth, than some irritating cowardly wizard.
Anyway, I don't like to leave things unfinished, so read the second novel, The Light Fantastic. I did like that slightly more, and was also more relaxed with the world Terry had created, so I went on straight to book three, Equal Rites. Now I really liked Equal Rites, and it put me in a better place to read book four, Mort, which I absolutely loved ... and the rest is history, with Terry Pratchett being close to my favorite author ... has been a good while now.
Most of Terry Pratchett's fans seem to have very fond memories of his first two Discworld books, and consider many of the later ones inferior in comparison. Not so me. I think he improved with nearly each book in the series. A few felt like a miss rather than a hit, but I enjoyed them never-the-less, if less so in comparison.
To me, Terry is a very very clever wise man, a genius in fact. Sometimes he is laugh out loud, but mostly he is very deep and very funny in very clever ways, that I suspect go over the head of many people ... perhaps even over mine sometimes. A rare man I have had the privilege to read and laugh with and ponder the wiles of humanity.
EDIT
Yes, I heartily recommend you read the Discworld series in order, even if only to get the good background in the first two or three novels, and wonderfully set the scene for later novels.