So, you've discovered Discworld...

[Penfold]

Hellooo and welcome.

I've been reading them from more or less the beginning and can assure you that you're in for a real treat as you watch Terry evolve as a writer along with the Disc as a world to showcase his work. A word of warning though; you may well find yourself getting to the end of the series and then start reading them again............and again...........and again........... (Actually, the books are written on so many levels that you nearly always spot something new or something missed on each reread.)

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Welcome to the forum, you're going to make some people jealous that you have the majority of Discworld books to read for the first time.

 

[phalarope]

Hello Mimpsey and welcome. I'm in the US, too, and I started the way you have, but with COM as a gift. Loved it so much I insisted my husband give me more ASAP. I read them in order, glad I did, and pTerry is the only author that I can claim to have binge-read.

 

[DickSimnel]

1. How did you come to read your first Discworld book?

I can't remember but I suspect it was probably random. More than likely I was looking for something to read on holiday, picked one up and liked the look of it.

2. What was your first Discworld book?

I can't remember this, either! (It's old age!!!) I know it was one of the early ones and might well have been Sourcery or Mort. I did not read the books in order until I'd read a couple and decided I ought to go back to the beginning. There's no doubt there's a change in style after Mort and I prefer the post-Mort books. The book that really got me well and truly hooked was Guards! Guards!. You could see characters developing and maturing, unlike the earlier books, by and large. That was more of a coherent story and less of bits strung together.

3. Will you read more?

Sadly, no, as there will be no more. I've read all the Discworld, Bromeliad and Johnny books, Carpet People, Strata and the Science series, though I thought the Science series got up itself in the last couple of books. I haven't read any of the Long series as they simply don't appeal and I thought Slip of the Keyboard was very patchy.

4. Which one do you intend to read next?

I restarted Raising Steam the other day. I'm thinking of reading all the Tiff books again before I go back to Shepherd's Crown.

5. If you didn't start with Colour of Magic, how easily did you find it to get into Discworld? Did you feel that some background knowledge was necessary?

I found it very easy. I am not sure that I would have been so quickly enthused if I had started at the beginning because the style and humour are so different. It isn't that I mind the parodies and satire but the humour is quite blatant. The later books don't try as hard to be flat-out funny and are deeper and broader as a result, which I find more satisfying. Although I have enjoyed all of the books, except Small Gods which I have never got on with, I wouldn't recommend the last half dozen to a newcomer. It became increasingly obvious that his writing was being affected by his Alzheimer's and they lost something - could you call it polish or sparkle? I struggle to define it but I know it when I read it, if you see what I mean. I think they would be less likely to grab someone who was not already a fan.

Background knowledge isn't vital but the further into the series you go the more the book is built on earlier foundations - rather like Ankh-Morpork! - meaning they stand less well alone. You don't have to know anything beforehand but the relationships between various long-standing characters might be hard to understand without prior knowledge, for example, and I'm sure you'd lose something as a result. If I were to recommend the Discworld to a new reader I'd be tempted to point them towards Guards! Guards! and tell them to read a few after that before trying the earlier books.

Keith

 

[Tonyblack]

Nice one, Keith.

 

[Aquamarine]

1. How did you come to read your first Discworld book?

Almost certainly by sheer chance. I was shopping in Waterstones and looking for a fantasy book, and I noticed among the shelves a book with little blue people on it. I think I compared them to Dobby the House Elf from the Harry Potter series, and being of fairly open wallet back then, decided why not? I think I actually took a while to get round to reading it, as I was interested in the Bartimaeus trilogy at the time. The name "Terry Pratchett" didn't mean a thing back then, and it certainly didn't make me break out in fits of knowing grins.

Ho hum.

2. What was your first Discworld book?

If you haven't guessed yet, it was The Wee Free Men. Considering the subsequent impact Terry Pratchett had on my reading, it was a fairly innocuous start: I cheered on the world's dissing of fantasy conventions, and was a little put off by the strangeness near the end. I still remember Miss Tick leading Tiffany on with that "When you wish upon a star..." reality check, and I can still nod in sympathy when Tiffany complains about a story in which nut-gathering occurs in the wrong season.

Sadly, I haven't touched the book much since then, and to this day I have only the haziest idea of what happened at the climax. It's probably symbolic of something.

3. Will you read more?

Wrong tense! I've already eaten my way through every single Discworld book up to Raising Steam, and I've devoured all his Non-Discworld books up to Dodger (give or take whenever World of Poo came out, as I haven't read it). Otherwise, I've occasionally nibbled at his supplementary Discworld works, like the Folklore of Discworld and the Science of Discworld series, and I've stared through the gourmet windows at his menu of most recent books without actually ordering any.

I'm no literary connoisseur, but finding Terry Pratchett's books has been like finding a five-star cake shop and then being told that the cakes can't make you fat. If he'd managed to double his Discworld output to 80 rather than 40, I'd probably have still had it all finished by now: I'm barely exaggerating when I say there was a year of non-stop Pratchett reading in my life. I still pop in for a quick bite of my favourite dishes every now and again.

4. Which one do you intend to read next?

Extended cake-eating metaphor aside, at the moment I'm debating whether to continue the Science of Discworld series and whether to start The Long Earth. I'd read the first Science of Discworld, and though the Discworld bits were worth the price of admission, I found the rest of it surprisingly tough to get through. I think it was mostly the non-Pratchett bits, as I found them a combination of uninformative (it didn't tell me anything I hadn't heard umpteen times already, though the recurring civilizations idea was a nice touch) and dull compared with the sheer fun of watching the faculty muddle through each stage of the Earth's development. The Long Earth series I'm considering merely for completeness' sake, as I'm of the raisindot school of thought that something went wrong with his writing style in the last few books.

5. If you didn't start with Colour of Magic, how easily did you find it to get into Discworld? Did you feel that some background knowledge was necessary?

I found it all too easy, though I'll admit scenes from The Wee Free Men have a lot more meaning after you've immersed yourself in Discworld for a bit. You can't even begin to appreciate Granny's presence until you've read exactly what she's done to earn her reputation.

Interestingly enough, I did end up reading The Colour of Magic as (I think) my third book, and roughly at the same time I read Thud!. They're two books from opposite ends of the Pratchett spectrum, but both were - in their own ways - successful in getting me well and truly hooked. If anything, the sheer range represented in them - one a dark, tense, and brooding police thriller with social satire and political overtones, the other a relatively goofy and anarchic mickey-take of stock fantasy tropes and mythologies - was the big draw. Any author who could pull off both and still make entertaining stories was an author to follow up on.

The only other thing to note is that I read the series almost entirely out of order, which gave the result a far more eclectic feel than it probably would have done otherwise. Of course, since Pratchett specialized in eclecticism to begin with, that merely enhanced the effect, but it did mean that I barely registered, say, Sam Vimes' character development or how Discworld technology changed over time. I think it says a lot for the series that this did nothing to effect my enjoyment whatsoever.

 

[Tonyblack]

Thanks for sharing, Aqua!

I still get bemused by people who have never heard of Terry and/or have never read any of his books. I sometimes wonder if people are put off by the sheer number of books in the series.

 

[Penfold]

Thanks for sharing, Aqua!

I still get bemused by people who have never heard of Terry and/or have never read any of his books. I sometimes wonder if people are put off by the sheer number of books in the series.

I think it's more the supposed genre that puts them off. My friends won't touch 'fantasy' with a bargepole despite my explanations to the contrary. (One of them does read the Bible though but he also believes it is factual. )

 

[Aquamarine]

Thanks for sharing, Aqua!

I still get bemused by people who have never heard of Terry and/or have never read any of his books. I sometimes wonder if people are put off by the sheer number of books in the series.

Oh, in my case it was straightforward ignorance, a common enough affliction. I was already a Douglas Adams, Goon Show, and Monty Python fan at that point, so it wasn't exactly against the grain of my character. I honestly had simply not known who he was prior to that point.

In any case, my reading was patchy back then, with fits, starts, and no rhyme or reason whatsoever. And when I discovered how many books he'd written, my reaction was definitely not "Oh dear, there's how many?" but "You mean there's more!? Heck yes!"

 

[RathDarkblade]

Thanks for sharing, Aqua!

I still get bemused by people who have never heard of Terry and/or have never read any of his books. I sometimes wonder if people are put off by the sheer number of books in the series.

I think it's more the supposed genre that puts them off. My friends won't touch 'fantasy' with a bargepole despite my explanations to the contrary. (One of them does read the Bible though but he also believes it is factual. )

Oh dear, a Biblical literalist... say no more! *sigh* No wonder he won't touch so-called 'fantasy' books. I've had my share of trying to deal with such people. Most of them are very nice people, but won't accept any argument that veers one iota away from the Bible... so we don't go there and simply hang out because we share other interests.

And then I had to deal with literalists who tried to convert me... and wouldn't give up when I said no, thank you. Sigh!

Thanks for sharing, Aqua!

I still get bemused by people who have never heard of Terry and/or have never read any of his books. I sometimes wonder if people are put off by the sheer number of books in the series.

Oh, in my case it was straightforward ignorance, a common enough affliction. I was already a Douglas Adams, Goon Show, and Monty Python fan at that point, so it wasn't exactly against the grain of my character. I honestly had simply not known who he was prior to that point.

Douglas Adams, Goon Show, and Monty Python? Heck yes! *offers Aquamarine a high-five*

Sellers (as William J. MacGoonagle):
Oooooooo!
And thro' the night, the snow-plough train was racing down the line,
A lonely spectator who saw it pass
Looked up and said...

Eccles:
Fine, fine.

It's all in the delivery. The first time I heard that exchange, I nearly died laughing.

 

[eternalmetal]

1. How did you come to read your first Discworld book?

I was browsing the sci-fi fantasy section of Borders looking for a decent fantasy series that wasnt too "high fantasy" oriented. I stumbled across the Pratchett section and found the titles of the books to be rather interesting, and when I flipped open a couple to sample the prose, I enjoyed the light-hearted and humorous take on fantasy.

2. What was your first Discworld book?

I think it was Thief of Time. Being my first foray into the Discworld series, I was immediately hooked. I loved almost everything about Discworld from the start. The adventure, the characters, and the great humor, along with a book that was full of symbolism and deeper meaning. At the time I was commuting to college and had a large gap between a few of my classes and nothing to do, so it eventually became a time to read Pratchett.

3. Will you read more?

After finishing my first book, I immediately picked up 2 more (I think The Truth and Soul Music). At time time I was just trying to find the books from the series I thought I would enjoy most. Then I picked up Small Gods, Guards Guards, and realized that I just wanted more.

4. Which one do you intend to read next?

Im at the point in the series where im just trying to fill in the few that I didnt read. Lords and Ladies and Jingo are the only ones I havent read aside from everything following Monstrous Regiment, so I think ill continue with the order in which they were written. Some of these "reads" were audiobook listens, though I intend to re-read the ones I listened to just to get the full experience.

5. If you didn't start with Colour of Magic, how easily did you find it to get into Discworld? Did you feel that some background knowledge was necessary?

I honestly thought starting with Thief of Time was an excellent reading experience. Trying to figure out the Discworld at first was a magical experience, and never at any point did I feel like I was missing out on the story of previous books. In retrospect, Pratchett does an amazing job at making every book fantastical and informational enough to be a good starting point.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Thanks for sharing, eternalmetal!

4. Which one do you intend to read next?

I'm at the point in the series where I'm just trying to fill in the few that I didn't read. Lords and Ladies and Jingo are the only ones I haven't read aside from everything following Monstrous Regiment, so I think ill continue with the order in which they were written. Some of these "reads" were audiobook listens, though I intend to re-read the ones I listened to just to get the full experience.

Ooh! Jingo is great. If you like the adventures of the Watch, you'll love it. Lords and Ladies is also good, but to get the most out of it, you need to know something about the early tales of the elves in British folklore - not D&D or Tolkien-esque elves, but the real stories - the ones in which elves twist people around, like the f***ing gobshite bastards that they are. :twisted:

Have you tried any of the Tiffany books yet?

 

[eternalmetal]

4. Which one do you intend to read next?

I'm at the point in the series where I'm just trying to fill in the few that I didn't read. Lords and Ladies and Jingo are the only ones I haven't read aside from everything following Monstrous Regiment, so I think ill continue with the order in which they were written. Some of these "reads" were audiobook listens, though I intend to re-read the ones I listened to just to get the full experience.

Ooh! Jingo is great. If you like the adventures of the Watch, you'll love it.

Yes, of course I do. My favorite is probably The Fifth Elephant, though it's been almost a decade since ive read GG, and I remember that one being really good as well. Ive never been too big a fan of police/detective stories, but ive recently been tying up loose ends with the Watch series, and they were much more enjoyable than I expected them to be.

Lords and Ladies is also good, but to get the most out of it, you need to know something about the early tales of the elves in British folklore - not D&D or Tolkien-esque elves, but the real stories - the ones in which elves twist people around, like the f***ing gobshite bastards that they are. :twisted:

Im not familiar with them at all, thanks for the heads up!

Oh yea, I havent read Carpe Jugulum either.

Have you tried any of the Tiffany books yet?

Not yet. Tbh, ive been a little put off by them since they are labeled as YA. Please tell me im mistaken in skipping over them

 

[Penfold]

Have you tried any of the Tiffany books yet?

Not yet. Tbh, ive been a little put off by them since they are labeled as YA. Please tell me im mistaken in skipping over them

You're definitely making a big mistake (i.m.o.) in skipping over them as some of the themes, especially a little later in the mini series, are very adult and amongst some of his darker material in places. His attitude to YA material is that if it is good enough to be seen in everyday life (on the telly, for instance, or in the news) then it was a good enough subject for these books.

I would also check out 'Maurice and his amazing educated rodents' for the same reason.

I would also add that I'm 52 and thought his YA books were better than some of those aimed at his 'adult' audience.

 

[Tonyblack]

Definitely try the Tiffany books. Terry doesn't write "down" to children or young adults. The books can be every bit as dark (sometimes even darker) than the regular Discworld books.

 

[eternalmetal]

Have you tried any of the Tiffany books yet?

Not yet. Tbh, ive been a little put off by them since they are labeled as YA. Please tell me im mistaken in skipping over them

You're definitely making a big mistake (i.m.o.) in skipping over them as some of the themes, especially a little later in the mini series, are very adult and amongst some of his darker material in places. His attitude to YA material is that if it is good enough to be seen in everyday life (on the telly, for instance, or in the news) then it was a good enough subject for these books.

I would also check out 'Maurice and his amazing educated rodents' for the same reason.

Sounds great, glad to hear that there is still some good new material out there for me to tackle.

I would also add that I'm 52 and thought his YA books were better than some of those aimed at his 'adult' audience.

Im just 28 and naive then I should have known that Pratchett could make an all ages book that was just as good as the rest.

Considering the light hearted presentation of most of Pratchett's books, I almost had a feeling that was the case. Equal Rites was a fantastic book, and its MC was a 9 year old girl, so I am aware that Pratchett is able to write a compelling novel surrounding younger characters.

Definitely try the Tiffany books. Terry doesn't write "down" to children or young adults. The books can be every bit as dark (sometimes even darker) than the regular Discworld books.

At the moment im just tying up loose ends reading the books in between that I never got to before, but once im done ill be sure to read the Tiffany books. Im convinced now that they will be good, just like every other DW book ive read. I dont know why I ever had doubts :doh:

 

[Mary Skater]

Ooh! Jingo is great. If you like the adventures of the Watch, you'll love it.

That's not my experience. I like the Watch books, and am currently re-reading them. But having just finished Feet of Clay, I'm strongly tempted to skip Jingo altogether this time. The attitude repeatedly expressed, by Colon and many others, that "My kind of people are the best, and everyone else is inferior," is so close to what many people in the "real" world believe, that I end up depressed, and despairing of the human race.

Mary

 

[eternalmetal]

Ooh! Jingo is great. If you like the adventures of the Watch, you'll love it.

That's not my experience. I like the Watch books, and am currently re-reading them. But having just finished Feet of Clay, I'm strongly tempted to skip Jingo altogether this time. The attitude repeatedly expressed, by Colon and many others, that "My kind of people are the best, and everyone else is inferior," is so close to what many people in the "real" world believe, that I end up depressed, and despairing of the human race.

Mary

I havent read Jingo yet, but a lot of the times when Pratchett tackles controversial subjects, they are done in an ironic sort of way that doesnt disgust me or anything. I know that Pratchett has stated in his books that there is no racism in the DW, but it, along with sexism, runs rampant across the books. It's just an inevitable happening in worlds of people/living things that are different; people judge, have prejudices, etc. As long as there is no overlying theme that supports racial and sexual superiority, im ok with reading about it. I imagine that you also have a problem with Equal Rites, where

Spoiler

Esk's identity as a Wizard is mocked and laughed at just because she is female.

I guess I will have to determine for myself if Jingo has offensive themes of racial superiority, but after reading the majority of the DW books, I doubt I will view it in the same way as you.

 

[Tonyblack]

Mary, that's exactly the point of Jingo. But I know what you mean. It's depressing to see the way bigotry and racism play such a part in our world. But it's something that has, sadly been around since one group of humans first met another. Terry's books can be very hard hitting. Which is why some of the best ones will always be relevant.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Ooh! Jingo is great. If you like the adventures of the Watch, you'll love it.

That's not my experience. I like the Watch books, and am currently re-reading them. But having just finished Feet of Clay, I'm strongly tempted to skip Jingo altogether this time. The attitude repeatedly expressed, by Colon and many others, that "My kind of people are the best, and everyone else is inferior," is so close to what many people in the "real" world believe, that I end up depressed, and despairing of the human race.

Mary

Mary, please don't give up on Jingo. Sure, Sgt Colon's (and other people's) attitude towards people who are different - women, dwarves, trolls, whatever - is little short of disdain; but it makes him a better, more rounded character. If he had no flaws at all, he would simply be cartoonish.

Besides, we all know that some characters - Sgt Colon or Lord Rust - are biased, and can be boorish. But they always get their richly-deserved comeuppance in the end, which is very satisfying. In real life, racist and sexist people are not always punished, so it is good to see - in fiction at least - that such people don't get away with their bad behaviour. Also, by the end of Jingo, Sgt Colon grows as a character, when

Spoiler

he admits that at least one group of people aren't all that bad.

To be honest, I think that Sgt Colon only has a biased attitude because he is ignorant. He never grew up with dwarves and trolls etc., so he never learned about them. Lord Rust and his cronies, on the other hand, are biased because... well, to borrow an internet expression - "for the lolz". We see this when he is a guest at one of Lady Ramkin's drinks parties in Men at Arms, and again in Jingo. It helps a little that we see why he is so stupid - because his family is one of the most aristocratic in Ankh-Morpork, and he has been used to status and privilege for so long that he can't think why anyone else's opinion should matter. As unpleasant as Lord Rust is, though, he is nowhere near as vile as

Spoiler

his son

, who we meet in Snuff.

I do not, however, believe that we should shut our eyes to Terry's books because characters like Colon and Rust exist in them. If we cannot confront unpleasantness in fiction, how can we hope to do so in real life?