Terry Pratchett, Diskworld - worth reading?

[DavidRM]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I'm almost finished with Interesting Times, and have Maskerade quesed and ready to go. LOVE THEM!!!!

Interesting Times was the first Discworld book I read. I came away from the book with the following bit of comedy writing wisdom: Why have 1 pun when you can have 3, all at once, but in layers that don't always reveal themselves right away.

-David

[speakingtohe]

I think I must have got myself confused with someone else
For some reason I thought I was younger at the time.
Hope I haven't upset you too much

[ficbot]

I have been looking into reading these from the start; I have the whole of the Death arc already (according to the little reading order chart) and it looks like all of them are legally obtainable in Canada except for Guards, Guards; Moving Pictures; and Small Gods. There is literally nobody who will sell them to me. It baffles me that all of them would be available except for a random three of them. I guess I will have to either get my American sister to buy them for me and de-drm them, or hit the torrents if I decide I like these and want the whole set...

[fantasyISbetter]

I second all recommendations for Pratchett's books, especially like Soul Music, Making Money, Thud or any of the books with Sam Vimes, and I liked the lst book, the Color of Magic if for no other reason than the "luggage"- which cracked me up.

I also recommend Christopher Moore (Practical Demonkeeping, Lamb, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, etc.)- for hilarious fun.

For insane slapstick, Selina Rosen's The Queen of Denial.

[plumboz]

For some insane reason, "Good Omens" Pratchett's collaboration with Neil Gaiman and which I think is his funniest, wackiest and, in ways, most profound effort, is not available in ebook form. Too bad, because I'm on the verge of wearing out my second copy.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by plumboz

For some insane reason, "Good Omens" Pratchett's collaboration with Neil Gaiman and which I think is his funniest, wackiest and, in ways, most profound effort, is not available in ebook form. Too bad, because I'm on the verge of wearing out my second copy.

It had been released - at least on Amazon - but I see it is not offered now - probably a victim of the ongoing geographical restriction wars.

[FatDog]

Sir Terry Pratchett (he was knighted recently for his contribution to literature) is one of our family's favorite author. I am going through "I will wear Midnight" for my fall-asleep book.

They have actually made some of his books into movies. "Hogfather" is one of my favorites (hit Netflix if you want to check it out). There are also some cheap animations of some others which I strongly suggest you skip.

If you hit the quote sites, you will find many quotes from the diskworld books and they have even been quoted at the beginning of "Criminal Minds".

One of my favorites:

"Give a man fire and he is warm for a day. Set him on fire and he is warm for the rest of his life."

[frostschutz]

I just started out with Discworld (never touched any of Pratchett books although I see others frequently reading one of them).

I started with Colour of Magic and right now I'm in the middle of Light Fantastic (i.e. the first two Discworld). I'm not quite sure what to think of it; it's funny for 25-50 pages or so and then I'm bored because it's all talking trees and flying rocks; it's great if you're looking for a short story conglomeration of silly randomness but the plot fell into a hole somewhere I guess.

My question at the moment is, are the Discworld novels all like this or will there be more of a story in the later ones? Story as in something not quite as random?

[ATDrake]

The early Discworld books are very different in both style and tone from the later ones. I always advise people to start with something around mid-continuity, unless they really love spoofy humour to start with and don't mind it getting serious later.

If TCoM & TLF aren't doing it for you, I'd skip ahead several books and start on one of the series-within-a-series. If you like Witches, then Wyrd Sisters is where they start getting good; Guards! Guards! if you like cops and are interested in Ankh-Morpork city politics, Reaper Man a very good starting point for the Death books (though after that, you should backtrack to Mort before reading Soul Music so you can best appreciate the backstory and character developments; but you can skip that until then as RM reads perfectly well standalone and doesn't spoiler the earlier book); Moving Pictures for the start of the modern-day Wizards setup, or maybe Lords and Ladies, which is also a crossover with the Witches and a bit better-written.

If you prefer standalone, then Pyramids is a good jumping-on point for Ankh-Morpork-based books and the mid-continuity primarily-funny-but-starting-to-get-serious style, Small Gods if you're interested in fictional theology from either a theist or non-theist side, and The Monstrous Regiment for an example of the latest "modern" character/plot/human-nature-even-if-they-sometimes-aren't-actually-human based Discworld books that you can read without knowing/spoilering yourself for the most of the previous developments.

Do give them another shot before giving up. Pratchett isn't for everyone, but generally the Discworld series overall are well worth the read, especially the later, better ones.

[speakingtohe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by speakingtohe
I hadn't read much Terry Pratchett in 40+ years. I accidentally borrowed a couple of his childrens/YA series from the library and while a bit perplexed at the start found them worth reading.
The man is/was a genious. Any of his books can be read and enjoyed by any age group. How often can you say that.

I think you must have Terry Pratchett confused with someone else-- Pratchett's first novel was published only 39 years ago, and his first Discworld novel only 27 years ago. (The most recent was last month.)

Nitpicking at its finest Like a mistake in years equates to a confusion of authors. Forgive my typos please. I will strive to do better.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Nitpicking at its finest Like a mistake in years equates to a confusion of authors. Forgive my typos please. I will strive to do better.

Is it also nitpicking to point out that you have already responded to that post slightly over a month ago?

[Phoul]

I have only recently started reading the disc world series. However I started with his first book (The Color of Magic) And absolutely loved it even though most of the posts have said the first few arnt very good.

So i'd say just pick it up, Wikipedia has a useful chart that puts the books into their proper story arks. (Rincewood, Death, Witches, Etc)

[el.astrologo]

Yes... YES... Y E S

[Rhynedahll]

I have read all of the Discworld books and am old enough to honestly say that I read them for the most part in the order in which they appeared.

The earlier books were excellent in their own moment. They pale only in comparison to the latter books.

Like many others in this thread, my favorites are the Guards and Death books. Monsterous Regiment is the only one of the series that I found less than palatable but that is only because it did not strike my fancy.

Of Pratchett's recent books, I like Going Postal perhaps the best.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Phoul

I have only recently started reading the disc world series. However I started with his first book (The Color of Magic) And absolutely loved it even though most of the posts have said the first few arnt very good.

So i'd say just pick it up, Wikipedia has a useful chart that puts the books into their proper story arks. (Rincewood, Death, Witches, Etc)

No. That chart is less then useful. The correct reading order for Discworld is the published order. Terry does not recap things. And he does reference things that happened before. So you will end up spoiling things if you follow that rather useless chart.

Read in published order for the best reading enjoyment of Discworld.