(no subject)

[the_rck]

I know many of you read Terry Pratchett. I'm wondering where to start with his Discworld books. I've read and quite liked the Tiffany Aching books, and I love Good Omens. I tried a couple of Pratchett's other books when I was in high school in the 80s and didn't enjoy them at all. I can't recall titles at this distance, though.

Anyway, I'm thinking of giving more Pratchett a try. I'm just intimidated by the sheer number of books I have to choose from. If I stick with what the library has my choices are limited but still very broad. I have no way of narrowing things down.

A search for Terry Pratchett in the library catalog brings up the following: Nation; Guards, Guards; Unseen Academicals; The Colour of Magic; Snuff; The Light Fantastic; Mort; Equal Rites; Sourcery; Hogfather; Making Money; Small Gods; Going Postal; Carpe Jugulum; Feet of Clay; Pyramids; Interesting Times; Jingo; Reaper Man; Night Watch; Monstrous Regiment; Soul Music; Moving Pictures; Maskerade; Thief of Time; Lords and Ladies; Men at Arms; The Dark Side of the Sun; The Truth; The Last Hero; Only You Can Save Mankind; Thud; The Last Continent; Johnny and the Dead; The Long Earth; Diggers; Wings; Johnny and the Bomb

I'd appreciate any suggestions as to which of these books are worth my time. If somebody has a strong recommendation for a different specific book, I might consider buying one to try (especially if I can get it as an e-book), but the library seems like the place to start.

Comments

[branchandroot]

If you liked the Tiffany books, you'll likely enjoy Small Gods, and that's a stand-alone. It's also fairly late, which is good. Early Pratchett has a lot of cream pies and slapstick. It took a while for him to really hit his stride and get into the socio-political critique and subtler humor. Most of the first books in the following lines are mediocre by the standards of later Pratchett.

There are three main character-lines: Guards books, Death books, and Witches books. Anything involving Rincewind, you can give a miss. Those are sometimes interesting but mostly early books and not nearly as well executed as the others.

Guards books focus a lot on the politics of the city and read like noir or police procedural mysteries. Start with Guards, Guards, slog through it because it's kind of an early one, and move on briskly to Men At Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, Night Watch, The Fifth Elephant, Thud, and Snuff. I'm very fond of Sam Vimes, who is the most common viewpoint character, and the way he develops over time. The way he matures and changes and even has a kid is really lovely to watch.

The Death books have more in the way of philosophical reflections about humans and myths and the nature of stories. Start with Mort, slog through it, and move on to Reaper Man, Soul Music (where the viewpoint shifts to Susan, who is /wonderful/), Hogfather, and Thief of Time.

The Witches books deal more with gender politics and psychology, and usually some reference to Shakespeare or some fairytale. You may or may not want to hit Equal Rites, which is kind of tangential but does set the stage. I'd say start with Wyrd Sisters, and then Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, and Carpe Jugulum. Granny Weatherwax rocks hard.

Some of the later stand-alones that fit in between the Guards books are Moving Pictures, The Truth, Monstrous Regiment (quite good), Going Postal and Making Money, and Unseen Academicals. Moving Pictures and Unseen Academicals are also largely Wizard books, which are always kind of entertaining for those who like critiques of the university. I recommend Moving Pictures, as another good standalone to dip your toes with.

[the_rck]

Thanks for all the information on the story lines. I hadn't been sure which books belonged to which thread or in what order they went.

[lemon_badgeress]

I loved Going Postal and Making Money. Those two feature the same character, and you'd want them in that order. Soul Music and Small Gods were also good. I adore Vimes, so I'm also fond of the Watch books -- which I don't remember the order of. Guards, Guards! is one, and good.

I do NOT recommend The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, or Sourcery to start with. Those are the first five Discworld novels, and he hadn't really hit his stride.

Everything I've recommended are Discworld books. Several of the books you listed are not Discworld books. Other than Good Omens, I have no experience with any of his non-Discworld books, so I cannot say anything about them other than "The Dark Side of the Sun, Nation, Johnny and the Diggers, Johnny and the Bomb, Diggers, Wings, Only You Can Save Mankind, and The Long Earth are not Discworld books, and if you pick them up to find out if you like Discworld, boy are you gonna be confused."

[the_rck]

I've got Going Postal coming from the library. Of the more or less stand-alones (a duology totally counts!), it was the one currently in at the library.

Thanks for sorting out the non-Discworld stuff. I'm clueless there.

[heavenscalyx]

I started with the Witches books, beginning with Witches Abroad and then reading them in sequence from there (Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, and Carpe Juglum), then went back and read Wyrd Sisters. I have never been able to get through Equal Rites -- I think Pratchett is a writer who has definitely improved as he's gone on. It took me forever to warm up to the Guards books, but I loved some of the standalones, particularly Small Gods and Hogfather. I have also really never bothered to read any Rincewind, except by accident.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll definitely get to the Witches books if only because I liked the witches in the Tiffany Aching books.

Rincewind seems to be generally not recommended.

[untonuggan]

People have already covered a lot of the basic material here (really thoroughly), but I'll throw in my two cents. If you start with "Going Postal" and its sequel, "Making Money", it will let you explore the world of "Later Pratchett" (read: much better written) without having to be too knowledgeable about what else is going on in everything else. Other characters (such as Vimes, the Guard Captain) make stand-in appearances, but for the most part it's just Moist Von Lipwig. They're hilarious, and if you like them then I'd recommend transitioning into the City Watch books.

I know it feels like you have to read Discworld in a particular order, but I've read most of them based on what I could get out of the library and did okay picking up what was going on. He does a fairly good job of explaining everything. Just don't read the Rincewind books.

[the_rck]

It's good to know that simply dipping in works. I'll probably go with the few most highly recommended and then (assuming I like those) go on with whatever happens to be in at the library when I go to place a hold.

I don't think anybody likes the Rincewind books. At least, that's the impression I'm getting from what people have said.

I've put a hold on Going Postal. Of the short list I made based on people's comments, it was the one that was immediately available. I'll pick it up on Sunday.

[annewashere.livejournal.com]

Nation is not a discworld book, but it is worth your time. Very good.

I read _Small Gods_ first on a good recommendation, and it worked for me. It is a stand alone book and not part of a major storyline.

Another thing you might do is read the wikipedia entry on Discworld, and decide which of the major storylines appeals to you the most - The Witches, The Night Watch, Death, Rincewind, the Wizards, or Moist Von Lipwig - and start at the beginning of that storyline and read a couple. I would recommend the Night Watch or Death, and anti-recommend starting with Rincewind.

[the_rck]

Everyone seems to anti-recommend starting with Rincewind.

Small Gods is on my short list, with Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal. My decision will be made based on what's currently in at the library.

[marith.livejournal.com]

If you enjoyed the Tiffany Aching books, then you're likely to enjoy most of the recent Discworld books - Pratchett has definitely been getting better as he ages.

Small Gods and the more recent Monstrous Regiment both stand on their own and are good entry points. MR is really Pratchett near the top of his form - fair warning, it's as angry as it is funny.

Seconding the suggestion to follow particular characters who appeal to you.

Vimes and the Night Watch: starts with Guards, Guards and keeps going, there's got to be a good chronological list out there. Night Watch is very good indeed but has a bunch of spoilers for Vimes' personal storyline, you probably don't want to read it first.

Granny Weatherwax and the witches: there are a bunch, I remember Carpe Jugulum as being particularly good.

Moist the con man: starts with Going Postal. These are fun. Recommended.

Death and his grandaughter Susan: starts with Reaper Man, I think? Not the strongest writing, but they have their charm. And I quite liked Thief of Time, which can be read standalone and has a lot of Susan in it. And monks. Time-preserving monks.

Equal Rites is an early book, I don't remember much about it, but it's the one that ties back into I Shall Wear Midnight. I must go back and reread it.

Unseen Academicals is IMO the best of the Unseen University-centered books, most of which are rather weak. But that one sizzles.

Nation is not a Discworld book at all, but yeah, it was good.

Hope that helps!

[scribblemoose]

Equal Rites. ♥

[the_rck]

Thanks for all the information!

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

A lot really has to do with how comfortable you are reading books out of order. As others have said, later Pratchett is much, much better than early Pratchett; also, I've found that he is extremely good at giving a reader enough information in each of his books so that they make all the sense in the world, and can be fully enjoyed, no matter which one you happen to pick up first. He has a trick of drawing his continuing characters quickly and accurately, so that I at least appreciated them as solid, well-drawn personalities wherever I first found them, without any awareness that they appeared in other books.

So I'd start again with late work, which means avoiding The Colour of Magic, Equal Rites, and maybe some others -- I'm not sure about everything on your list -- and maybe coming back later if you're in love and want to read even the early flawed stuff. On the other side of things, Going Postal is wonderful (and better than Making Money, which is a charming but slighter direct sequel); both Monstrous Regiment and Lords and Ladies are very strong; and Night Watch pretty much blew me away.

Oh, and the witches books on the list will be of particular interest to you because of the Tiffany Aching connection. Which is to say, both Lords and Ladies and Carpe Jugulum. Both of them are much better than Equal Rites, which is also part of the witches story line but which I generally do my best to pretend doesn't actually exist.

[the_rck]

I'm comfortable reading out of order. Sometimes, I prefer it because it can be fun to see what I can piece together of earlier canon.

Right now, my short list for where to start is Small Gods, Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal. Which I read will depend on which has a copy in at the library when I go to place the hold.

Thanks for all the information!

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for asking this question! I'd heard from people who usually share my tastes that I would like Pratchett, but every time I try reading his work I've always really disliked it. But usually when I try a new author I read their oldest work first -- and it sounds like in Pratchett's case that is the wrong thing to do. I'll give some of these recommended books a try.

Thanks!! :)

[the_rck]

I've been staying away from Pratchett for years based on those two books I tried in the early 80s. It finally occurred to me that maybe I'd read the wrong books from the series.

Of course, I may still find that his books for adults aren't to my taste. Who knows?

I can recommend the Tiffany Aching books. They're YA or middle years (the distinction is blurry for me), and I quite liked them. The books are The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight. The library's got all four of them.

[scribblemoose]

I absolutely love Pratchett. If you like Tiffany Aching then perhaps the witches would be a good place to start. Unlike your other commenters I rather like Equal Rites, but it doesn't really matter what order you read them in so just dive in wherever you fancy. In order, they are:

Equal Rites
Wyrd Sisters
Witches Abroad
Lords and Ladies
Maskerade
Carpe Jugulum

My other recommendation would be City Watch books:

Guards! Guards!
Men at Arms
Feet of Clay
Jingo
The Fifth Elephant
Night Watch
Thud!
Snuff

I find them patchier than some of the ohters, but the first three I really enjoyed, and it's not like I'd kick the others out of a sofa on a cosy reading afternoon.

'Moving Pictures' is another favourite of mine.

Finally, the following from your list aren't Discworld books: Dark Side of the Sun (adult science fiction); the contemporary sci-fi/fantasy: Jonny and the Bomb, Jonny and the Dead and Only You Can Save Mankind (a trilogy), plus Nation (all modern books for young adults); Diggers and Wings (childrens' books about 'Nomes') and I think the Long Earth is a sci-fi book but I'm not sure. Not discworld, though.

Pratchett's writing is very distinctive and often allegorical, with a plethora of subtle references and hidden jokes. I find new ones every time I read him. But at the same time his characters are rounded and engaging, and written with such sympathy I always fall into their worlds.

I hope you grow to love him as much as I do. :)

[the_rck]

Thanks for all the information! I'm going to try a few different books, one after another. I'm probably going to skew to more recent books, based on remembering the two I tried and didn't care for back in the 80s.

I'll post about the results after I've read a book or two.