Discworld

[Chimera]

Was absolutely shocked, shocked I say! to find that a gamer, scifi/fantasy reading co-worker had never read any of the Discworld books, nor apparently even knew about them.

The two I loaned him to read were Mort and Moving Pictures.

 

[drothgery]

Was absolutely shocked, shocked I say! to find that a gamer, scifi/fantasy reading co-worker had never read any of the Discworld books, nor apparently even knew about them.

I think it'd only be shocking if you were British. There are lots of authors with big sections on the fantasy shelves of local bookstores that I barely recognize the names of.

 

[sniffles]

I highly recommend the three Tiffany Aching books: Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith. They contain all of Pratchett's charm and humor but also have very moving moments. He has an amazing grasp of the mind of an adolescent girl. And the Nac Mac Feegles are hilarious.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Was absolutely shocked, shocked I say! to find that a gamer, scifi/fantasy reading co-worker had never read any of the Discworld books, nor apparently even knew about them.

I remember that in one of the earliest Terry Pratchett related threads on these boards, the almighty Eric Noah (a librarian!) had never heard of him.

 

[Meloncov]

Small Gods is fantastic. A great little meditation on the Middle East and religion.

Seconded. It is a satire about religion, so it may offend some, but is consistently hilarious, insightful, and touching.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I remember that in one of the earliest Terry Pratchett related threads on these boards, the almighty Eric Noah (a librarian!) had never heard of him.

And as a curious turn-around, in the UK Terry Pratchett is the hero of many librarians, and there are 'librarian orangutan' monkeys to be seen in library offices up and down the country

 

[Kunimatyu]

I consider Small Gods to be the best of the Discworld books. I also recommend avoiding the very first two books -- they turned me off to the rest of Discworld for a long time, which was a huge mistake.

The Watch books are also very good, and ignore all the Witches hate -- Granny Weatherwax and her coterie are a fantastic group of characters.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I too would suggest reading in general order of publication, but not worrying too much about it as many should stand alone well. They read blazingly fast as well.

I recalled having enjoyed Rincewind and Twoflower so much in the first two books, but in making appearances later was unenthused. Went back and reread Color of Magic, and Light Fantastic again and they didn't hold the same impact for me that got me hooked. Odd.

The witches worked well for me for several books but wore thin. Death is also best used sparingly. He held his own as central character for a couple of books quite satisfyingly, but I think his appearances need to be kept minimal to maintain his appeal and interest. He's starting to feel overused to me as the witches did.

The Watch as core characters seem to have held up best and longest but the setting as a whole seems to want to fleshing out more. A little too much concentration on Ank-Morpork is not well-advised IMO. But, that won't ever keep me away from ANYTHING Discworld.

 

[Mark CMG]

I, too, started with Guards! Guards! and have enjoyed the books about the watch more than the rest. The books with Death are also very good, IMO. The rest are hit and miss for me.

 

[MonsterMash]

Small Gods and Going Postal are two that work better as stand alone reads. The witches books are better read in order and the quality improves after the first few, though not everyone enjoys ever single one as much as the others.