I have to confess that i never read any Pratchett book so far *shame on me* but i will efface this dark point. I'm asking you what book is best for a Pratchett newbie?

The first one, plain and simple.

The first one isn't always the first you should read, but there are ones that should be read sequentially. um I can't remember all of them so you'd probably be better reading the lot in sequence. The ones in series are Rincewind, the watch, the witches and death.

On this subject, I'll be opening a brand new Terry Pratchett book section at Sorcerer's Place this weekend. Wait till then and you'll have a ton of his stuff to browse through.

Anyway, I'd recommend Pyramids as the first book to read. No special reason, just because it was the first one I read and I loved it. It's also cool to read the 5th or so and then go back and read the first 4 books and see how much his writing has improved since then.

At the risk of tempting fireballs from our great sorcerer, Pyramids!!!!! Nooooo, it's one of the worst (apart from the start at the Assassins Guild). Anyway, what that demonstrates though is, like most things, it's each to their own. Everyone seems to have a different 'favourite Pratchett book' and equally different least favourite. I enjoy the Witches and the Guards books the most, but many others prefer the Wizards or Death. A good idea might be to read one that relates to a subject you like or know a lot about. In that way you'll appreciate some of the more subtle jokes and ironies. Most of the books carry a theme but some are more focused. For example:

D&D- all of them but especially the first two
Equal Opportunities- Equal Rites
McBeth- Wyrd Sisters
Movies- Moving Pictures
Religion- Small Gods
Music- Soul Music
Revolution- Interesting Times
Opera- Maskerade
Racism- Feet of Clay
Christmas- Hogfather
Politics- Jingo
Journalism - The Truth

Going back to what was said earlier about the themes that can be read in order (although they are all self contained books) you have:

Death - Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music & Hogfather.
Witches - Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords & Ladies, Maskerade & Carpe Jugulum.
Guards - Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo & the fifth Elephant.
Rincewind the Wizzard (sic) - Colour of Magic, Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Eric, Interesting Times and the Last Continent.

As to my favourites - probably Guards Guards and Wyrd Sisters.

PS has anyone seen the professional theatre version of Guards Gurads? It's fantastic.

discworld is all well and good, but why not try 'good omens', the lighter side of armageddon...not an orc in sight but great non the less...if you are reading discworld, i recommend 'men at arms', the first one i bought, i still my favourite.

(wishes she could remember where she left her capitals letters)

mmhhh? let's wait for the book section...

-->Lord Bane
I think it's not that simple. Imagine somebody hasn't read Tolkien so far and he starts with the Little Hobbit. Maybe he never will read LOTR because he doesn't like children books....


ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
*returning the lost treasure of capital to duskai*

Agreed Bogi, but in this case I think you'd better read the first novel before the others, since that one's the best introduction to the Discworld (if you want to read that series of course. If not you can always follow Lady Duskai's suggestion and try Good Omens for example).

To each his own I guess. I've started to tire from all the witches books...

I think that if you start at the first book and end at the last one you'll be much better off than taking any advice here. ;)

:confused: And what exactly was my advice then, Tal ? :confused:

;)

And so... It all comes full circle... :D

Yep, everything starts and ends with me :D

I noticed that no one actually said this yet so I'l say it now. The first book in the series is The Colour of Magic.

It's a good starter and once you've read that one and The Light Fantastic you should pretty much understand the Discworld so you can go almost anywhere from there, although I'd recommend trying to read the mini-series in order.
ie Rincewind, The City Watch (Vimes), The Witches. Otherwise you could probably just pick and choose.

Yes, yes, geez, I'm on it! Hopefully, I'll have the Pratchett section up in the next 24 hours or sooner.
Here, you'll be able to find it at http://www.sorcerers.net/Books/index.htm when I put it online.

Damn. It seems I won't be able to post the whole update today (the BG2 gallery is taking ages to make) so I upped only the Pratchett section in case anyone's too desperate to wait till the official update. Jordan section won't work till tomorrow, so don't bother. But the whole Pratchett section is here : http://www.sorcerers.net/Books/index_pratchett.htm

Comments welcome. ;)

THE BEST pratchett book is Interesting Times, once you read that you'll be hooked and you'll want to read more.

I prefer the guards series myself. It's really funny how Vimes deals with all the assassin's trying to kill him, and I love the conversations between Vimes and Lord Vetinari. They crack me up every time.

Yesterday i started reading The Colour of Magic and finished it within 5 hours. It's totally my kind of humor and crude fantasies. Now i'm just back from the bookshop with the next 3 books. :)


[This message has been edited by BogiTheWaverer (edited March 27, 2001).]

Good Lord, I could NEVER justify buying new, a book that I could finish so quickly. Especially, since if I enjoy it, I'll simply *have* to read them all! Ah well, if I ever find another used book store around... *sniffle* They've all gone.. *sob*

Buy the omnibi then! Barely $12 for 500 pages of pure reading-delight :)