Color of Magic, (Kindle/B&N 99 cent Spotlight ebook/Kobo US)

[Eskarina]

Originally Posted by khalleron

The earliest book I would recommend would be 'Equal Rites'.

I wondered if anyone would notice...My pseudonym comes from the heroine of Equal Rites: Eskarina Smith, a female wizard trying to fit into the male dominated field. I guess I related to her back then. It's the third book in the series and definitely the earliest I'd recommend that anyone start with.

This blog post about never starting from the first book gives some good suggestions about where to start depending on your taste:

Do you like vampires? Try Carpe Jugulum (although I'll warn you - they end up losing).
Working class fun and a bit of romance? Unseen Academicals might be more your style.
Clever crooks, and a failing institution that needs to be saved? Going Postal.
Headology-Psychology? Pick any of the Witches books. (Actually, they start getting good at Witches Abroad)
A twist on an old favourite like Phantom of the Opera? Maskerade!
Or maybe you prefer the classic detective story? In that case, I must say Guards! Guards! (Just ignore the dragon).
Science-fiction set in the 'real' modern world? Try the Young adult Bromeliad Trilogy or the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy (starting with Only You Can Save Mankind) (Also upcoming is The Long Earth project).
Alternate history, similar to Joan Aiken, but with a Pratchett twist? Nation.

See? There's a book for everyone!

ETA:

Added to TBR: Guards! Guards! Thankyou for the guidance, everyone. Great picture, Eskarina. :-)

Welcome to the Discworld Kevin8or and thanks for the K!

[Kevin8or]

Hmm, perhaps I'll start with Equal Rites. It's only #3 in the series and seems well-liked.

[Eskarina]

lol!

Honestly, I think you should stick with Guards! Guards! since the Watch books are the best and Guards! Guards! is the first of them. I don't know how much you trust Amazon reviews but, it gets 4.7/5 stars from over 100 ratings.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by Eskarina

lol!

Honestly, I think you should stick with Guards! Guards! since the Watch books are the best and Guards! Guards! is the first of them. I don't know how much you trust Amazon reviews but, it gets 4.7/5 stars from over 100 ratings.

It's debatable that the Watch books are The Best.

Let's not confuse the poor person unduly.

[Kevin8or]

Let me just wait for my head to stop spinnng here. Okay, well, probably guards then.

[HarryT]

I really wish publishers wouldn't mess with the spelling in books. Sir Terry is a British author, and the book is called "The Colour of Magic", not "The Color of Magic".

[greencat]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I really wish publishers wouldn't mess with the spelling in books. Sir Terry is a British author, and the book is called "The Colour of Magic", not "The Color of Magic".

Still at least it didn't get the title changed completely, unlike the first Harry Potter book.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by greencat

Still at least it didn't get the title changed completely, unlike the first Harry Potter book.

Hey, Brits do it, too.

Can't forget my dismay to find that Anne of Windy Poplars had become Anne of Windy Willows. What, they don't have Poplars in Britain?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Hey, Brits do it, too.

Can't forget my dismay to find that Anne of Windy Poplars had become Anne of Windy Willows. What, they don't have Poplars in Britain?

It's not uncommon for a book to have a different title in the UK and the US, but that's a somewhat different thing from changing from British to US spelling. Sometimes titles have to change for copyright reasons, although I don't know if that's the reason in the case you describe. Often it is the publisher, and not the author, who's responsible for the title of a book.

[Kevin8or]

I wish American English would adopt the British use of programme & program, a useful distinction. It's all "program" here in the states.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not uncommon for a book to have a different title in the UK and the US, ... Sometimes titles have to change for copyright reasons, ...

Neither the US nor the UK allow titles to be copyrighted.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Neither the US nor the UK allow titles to be copyrighted.

Thanks - that's interesting; I didn't know that. Obviously there are circumstances where titles need to be changed, eg Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Niggers" could never have been published in the US with that title, hence the US title was (and still is) "And Then There Were None". Many books seem to be retitled, though, for no reason other than that the new publisher doesn't like the title.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Many books seem to be retitled, though, for no reason other than that the new publisher doesn't like the title.

Sometimes it's done for marketing reasons. The story goes that Anne McCaffrey's Red Star Rising (the title she originally chose and really wanted to have for the book) was published as that in the UK, but changed to Dragonseye for the US market, apparently on the grounds that the US publisher thought that the intended audience would be too dumb to pick up on the fact that it was a new Pern book if it didn't have the words "Dragon" or "of Pern" in the title.

That would certainly explain why all the newer Todd McCaffrey Pern books co/written with her son all have (occasionally clunky) variants of "Dragon('s) [Noun]" for their titles, like some randomized Mad Lib.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Sometimes it's done for marketing reasons. The story goes that Anne McCaffrey's Red Star Rising (the title she originally chose and really wanted to have for the book) was published as that in the UK, but changed to Dragonseye for the US market, apparently on the grounds that the US publisher thought that the intended audience would be too dumb to pick up on the fact that it was a new Pern book if it didn't have the words "Dragon" or "of Pern" in the title.

That would certainly explain why all the newer Todd McCaffrey Pern books co/written with her son all have (occasionally clunky) variants of "Dragon('s) [Noun]" for their titles, like some randomized Mad Lib.

Dragon's Toenail
Dragon's Cockroach
Dragon's Double Latte

Feel free to play along.