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okay, I'm succumbing

Damien Evans said:
I need to do that too. I can has title please?:)
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The first book is The Color of Magic. The book I would recommend you actually starting with is Guards! Guards! As though those hadn't been mentioned several zillion times upthread already.
 
bjornart said:
That would be my recommendation as well. People have various favourites, but if you don't like Guards! Guards! I have a hard time believing you'll like any Pratchett.

Personally I've read nearly everything. (I think there's a book about cats I haven't read, and I haven't read the original illustrated FaustEric.)
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I always found Pratchett to read like a caricature of British spoken foppishness (this isn't the right word, but I can't think of a better one). I do not mean this negatively. Only that has the feeling that an amusing, fussy Britishman is speaking to you, including all the asides and tangents that are involved (wink, wink. Say no more, say no more...). There's nothing wrong with it,--in fact some would say there's something quite right about it--but it has a rhythym that you must fall into--or out of-- otherwise it becomes a disjointed and rambling mess.
 
zooterkin said:
Well, that sounds like a description of some books I've read, but none of the ones written by Terry Pratchett. Did you have some examples in mind?
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I admit I've only read one, 'Interesting Times' it certainly didn't incline me to read another.

Darat said:
Give your chosen user-name I take it this is tongue in cheek?
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Or I could just be the unfortunate teenage progeny of a LucasArts game fan using his real name.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
I admit I've only read one, 'Interesting Times' it certainly didn't incline me to read another.
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I will admit my least favourite books are the Rincewind ones; it also took me a while to get past the cover artwork that I find off-putting, though most comments I've seen about it seem to be favourable (yes, I know what they say about judging a book). It took me a while to get into the books, partly because I'd heard how good they were, and partly because from the covers I was expecting something different from what they actually were. I don't think I need to pigeon-hole things, exactly, but if I'm expecting a book to be one thing when it's another, it doesn't work for me. Once I know what it's supposed to be, I can then decide if I like it for what it is. It's not a frequent problem, but the covers, and people telling me how uproariously funny the books were, led me to expect something more like Tom Sharpe. I think the illustrations of Rincewind himself put me off a bit, too. As it happens, I actually prefer the Pratchett books to Sharpe, but if you're expecting farce and get a somewhat more gentle humour instead, you may be disappointed. (A similar thing happened to me with Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (which I really must finish one day); for some reason, I thought it was fantasy; when I realised it was science fiction, everything clicked into place.)

Let me also add another recommendation for Good Omens; enjoyment of that may depend on how familiar you are with the Just William books by Richmal Crompton. Growing up reading them (and I still enjoy hearing them read by Martin Jarvis although I've not actually read one for a few years) is a big factor in Good Omens being one of my favourite books.

ETA:
Or I could just be the unfortunate teenage progeny of a LucasArts game fan using his real name.
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Or, Fancy Pants, you could be a descendant of the 9th Earl of Emsworth, in which case you should have a greater respect for the works of a writer in the tradition of P.G. Wodehouse.
 
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With this thread title, I have to say that finding out it is about reading was very, very disappointing.
 
zooterkin said:
I will admit my least favourite books are the Rincewind ones; it also took me a while to get past the cover artwork that I find off-putting, though most comments I've seen about it seem to be favourable (yes, I know what they say about judging a book). It took me a while to get into the books, partly because I'd heard how good they were, and partly because from the covers I was expecting something different from what they actually were. I don't think I need to pigeon-hole things, exactly, but if I'm expecting a book to be one thing when it's another, it doesn't work for me. Once I know what it's supposed to be, I can then decide if I like it for what it is. It's not a frequent problem, but the covers, and people telling me how uproariously funny the books were, led me to expect something more like Tom Sharpe. I think the illustrations of Rincewind himself put me off a bit, too. As it happens, I actually prefer the Pratchett books to Sharpe, but if you're expecting farce and get a somewhat more gentle humour instead, you may be disappointed. (A similar thing happened to me with Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (which I really must finish one day); for some reason, I thought it was fantasy; when I realised it was science fiction, everything clicked into place.)

Let me also add another recommendation for Good Omens; enjoyment of that may depend on how familiar you are with the Just William books by Richmal Crompton. Growing up reading them (and I still enjoy hearing them read by Martin Jarvis although I've not actually read one for a few years) is a big factor in Good Omens being one of my favourite books.

ETA:

Or, Fancy Pants, you could be a descendant of the 9th Earl of Emsworth, in which case you should have a greater respect for the works of a writer in the tradition of P.G. Wodehouse.
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My dislike of it isn't that it wasn't what I was expecting, it's that it is not very well done. The Chinese stereotypes in Interesting Times were clunking and obvious and those and the funny names seemed to be pretty much all there was to it. Oh yes, there was a suitcase with legs for some reason.

I'm not convinced either, that the fact Terry Pratchett apparently likes P.G. Wodehouse really qualifies him to be 'in the tradition of'
 
I would not start with the first two, they are certainly his weakest books as Pterry acknowledges himself. Key characters evolve very differently as the books progress, most notably DEATH and the wizards. The first two books are also a little fragmented.

If it was me I'd start with other ones and come back to the first two after reading and enjoying others (take your pick from other suggestions).

Meanwhile, I totally insist that you become hooked as I need a mod to keep my bibliography up to date in this thread:

The Terry Pratchett Thread

The OP is out of date and needs a wonderful, charming, intelligent and highly skilled librarian with mod privs to do so. :D

BTW, should you know of someone with those skills they have my 100% permission to correct and update the OP any time they wish. ;)


Nation and Folklore of Discworld are a bit light on comments (from me too *smack self*).

Other fans may want to add a little too.
 
NoZed Avenger said:
With this thread title, I have to say that finding out it is about reading was very, very disappointing.
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Darat said:
Can I just say I keep reading this thread's title as "Okay, I'm [a] scumbag"!
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Alareth said:
You're not alone ...
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May I say that the three of you have disappointed me? Now go to your rooms, and no dessert for you!

I'm about 80 pages into the Color of Magic. Its interesting, but I'm not really hooked. I'll keep on with this and other books and see what happens after reading three.
 
Darat said:
Can I just say I keep reading this thread's title as "Okay, I'm [a] scumbag"!
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I did not. However, after you pointed this out the first thing that comes to my mind when I visit the forum. Its like a text version of pareidolia.
 
I'm still a beginner in the Pratchett universe. Though i do recall the person who got me to start reading them said that each main character series (witches, rincewind, etc) each took after a different genre. The Watch series reads like a mystery novel and so forth. Any truth to this? If it is true, then that could help point someone curious in the ways of discworld towards a more enjoyable starting point.

I went the way of pyramids, small gods(probably my favorite), and nations. So i won't be any help.
 
Patsy said:
I'd skip straight to Guards, Guards or Mort.
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Agreed. If you're trying to test the hypothesis that Terry Pratchett is a wonderful writer and fun to read, you should at least be reviewing the evidence cited by proponents of said hypothesis as most convincing.
 
A passage from "Sourcery"..

"He lit a match, the darkness blossomed into a ball of sulphurous white light, and the Librarian dropped on him like the descent of Man.

They all knew the Librarian, in the same definite but diffused way that people know walls and floors and all the other minor but necessary scenery on the stage of life.
If they recall him at all, it was as a sort of gentle mobile sigh, sitting under his desk repairing books, or knuckling his way among the shelves in search of secret smokers. Any wizard unwise enough to hazard a clandestine rollup wouldn't know anything about it until a soft leathery hand reached up and removed the offending homemade, but the Librarian never made a fuss, he just looked extremely hurt and sorrowful about the whole business and then ate it.

Whereas what was now attempting with considerable effort to unscrew Sconner's head by the ears was a screaming nightmare with its lips curled back to reveal long yellow fangs."

I often think of this passage when I see LibraryLady on the warpath.
 
ejk said:
Agreed. If you're trying to test the hypothesis that Terry Pratchett is a wonderful writer and fun to read, you should at least be reviewing the evidence cited by proponents of said hypothesis as most convincing.
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I think any writer, no matter how good, is going to drop some duds. I think it is even more forgivable if your earliest efforts are not as good as your later efforts. I'd really hate to see the entire series judged upon the weakest installments.
 
Inspired by this thread, I went to my library today and got out all the prachetts I hadn't before.
New one. "Night Watch", I always liked the Vimes ones.
And Library Lady, "Ook."
 
drkitten said:
The first book is The Color of Magic. The book I would recommend you actually starting with is Guards! Guards! As though those hadn't been mentioned several zillion times upthread already.
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I should really read the whole thing before replying...
 
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