How did you discover Discworld/Terry Pratchett?
- Thread starter Fizz
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I discovered Discworld through my best friend from primary school. Sometimes at lunchtimes we would go to the library and she would make a beeline for the 'P' bookshelf... and then she was lost until the bell rang. One day I decided to see what all the fuss was about 
If you ever read this, Julia, I just want to say THANK YOU for doing me that great service.
If you ever read this, Julia, I just want to say THANK YOU for doing me that great service.I also found Tom Sharpe's books very funny, having had a fairly unedifying experience of apartheid-era Seth Efreka and lived in Cambridge. I never went to the Tech but know people who did; if you know Cambridge around that period the locations are obvious, along with some of the people.
The "Dornford Yates Society" is a wonderful joke and the final joke about the Kommandant's supposed heart transplant is one of best one-liners around.
The "Dornford Yates Society" is a wonderful joke and the final joke about the Kommandant's supposed heart transplant is one of best one-liners around.
An English friend in my Trollope book group said she would be late because someone she went to school with had become a famous writer and was speaking at the UW and she wanted to share a childhood photo with him. She told me the line about no train allowed to leave a station in England without a TP book on board and said she felt bad because she had never read one of his books. We knew our "proper literary" ladies in the book group would not be interested so I said I would read them with her. She got to the third chapter of the first book, then quit. I, on the other hand, was well and truly hooked and have now read everything I can get my hands on and even visited the Cunning Artificer on my 2007 trip to England.
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I actually RE-discovered Discworld (have yet to get my hands on his other books) quite recently.
When I read some of the books years ago I didn't care that much as I was...well, pretty dull.
I left them for the sake of overrated anime and....
To be precise you can the recet Harry Potter movie 'blame' for me coming back.
It got me reinteressted in that fandom and from there....well...It's a bit complicated:
Normally I don't read other stuff while writing on my own stories (as my brain usually goes and clings to the 'fandom' instead of working on the original stuff). Though the HP books helped me back into a slight writing mood, even if it was ot full speed ahead yet. Then, maybe out of the fact that I don't like books 5 and up I picked up 'Interesting Times'
And oh boy was I in for a ride.
And yes: Discworld managed two things HP didn't:
1. I never had that many ideas for my own works
2. It took over my brain. Right now I AM writing a few fanfictions, just to get them out of my friggin' head.
*peeks up* Meh what a long explanation X(
When I read some of the books years ago I didn't care that much as I was...well, pretty dull.
I left them for the sake of overrated anime and....
To be precise you can the recet Harry Potter movie 'blame' for me coming back.
It got me reinteressted in that fandom and from there....well...It's a bit complicated:
Normally I don't read other stuff while writing on my own stories (as my brain usually goes and clings to the 'fandom' instead of working on the original stuff). Though the HP books helped me back into a slight writing mood, even if it was ot full speed ahead yet. Then, maybe out of the fact that I don't like books 5 and up I picked up 'Interesting Times'
And oh boy was I in for a ride.
And yes: Discworld managed two things HP didn't:
1. I never had that many ideas for my own works
2. It took over my brain. Right now I AM writing a few fanfictions, just to get them out of my friggin' head.
*peeks up* Meh what a long explanation X(
I read Feet of Clay by accident... About 10 years ago when I was 13 I was steadily devouring the SF and fantasy section of the local library. I'd heard of Terry Pratchett and seen a few of the books but Josh Kirby's cover art had put me off. Then one day I picked up the black cover edition of feet of clay not realising it was a discworld book (and the middle of the series) but I was instantly hooked.
I quickly read all the other discworld books the library had but they didn't have that many and it took me a while to buy the others, but since then I've been passing them on to friends and family. My biggest achievement was turning my sister into a Pratchett fan. Although I knew it was exactly the kind of thing she'd like, the more I suggested she read them the more she didn't want to. I read her part of Wee Free Men complete with Nac Mac Feegle voices and she finally agreed that she did like it but she still didn't want to read it herself. I think she found such a large collection of books daunting as she has dyslexia. She was staying at my house a couple of years ago and couldn't sleep so I started reading Moving Pictures to her (this makes her sound like my younger sister but she's actually my twin, I'm aware that a grown man reading bedtime stories to his twin sister is weird but she was sleeping on my bedroom floor and keeping me awake). The next day she asked to borrow the book. Success! And it only took 8 years. Only problem is that now she never gives me my books back.
One of my housemates is also a huge discworld fan and between us we've introduced a number of friend to the books. Our aim is to to make everyone we know a fan of discworld, one person at a time....
I quickly read all the other discworld books the library had but they didn't have that many and it took me a while to buy the others, but since then I've been passing them on to friends and family. My biggest achievement was turning my sister into a Pratchett fan. Although I knew it was exactly the kind of thing she'd like, the more I suggested she read them the more she didn't want to. I read her part of Wee Free Men complete with Nac Mac Feegle voices and she finally agreed that she did like it but she still didn't want to read it herself. I think she found such a large collection of books daunting as she has dyslexia. She was staying at my house a couple of years ago and couldn't sleep so I started reading Moving Pictures to her (this makes her sound like my younger sister but she's actually my twin, I'm aware that a grown man reading bedtime stories to his twin sister is weird but she was sleeping on my bedroom floor and keeping me awake). The next day she asked to borrow the book. Success! And it only took 8 years. Only problem is that now she never gives me my books back.
One of my housemates is also a huge discworld fan and between us we've introduced a number of friend to the books. Our aim is to to make everyone we know a fan of discworld, one person at a time....
My uncle and my grandfather are Discworld freaks so once when I was staying with my uncle (I was 11) I asked him what was so good about those books and instead of saying anything he went over to a bookshelf and took down Making Money ever since that day I have been a fan
But I could never borrow a Discworld from my uncle grandfather or a library because it's just not the same as owning them
I hate to see them go back
But I could never borrow a Discworld from my uncle grandfather or a library because it's just not the same as owning them
I hate to see them go back
