Your First Terry Pratchett Experiance

Describe how you discovered Terry Pratchett's works, what the first book you read was and any other relevant info. Since he's the second most popular author on LT, I figure nearly everyone will have something to say.

I borrowed Mort from a colleague around the time Lords and Ladies was coming out in hardback. I read through her copies of the first five, then went and bought myself all the paperbacks then out. I nearly bought L&L in hardback but opted for Felidae instead, and have kicked myself ever since - not that Felidae is a bad book (and in fact I've never seen it in paperback either so it was a good choice) but because it went into paperback shortly after, I couldn't find another hardback copy, and a signed first edition L&L hardback would be worth a bit more than the signed first edition paperback I now have. :-) I've been buying them in hardback ever since, and played the Dis-Organiser in the world premiere of Jingo so that's my favourite character of the series for sentimental reasons.

My favourite of the whole series is probably a tie between Moving Pictures and Soul Music, with Pyramids not far behind. I also really like the Science of Discworld series, and must put in a plug for Stephen Briggs's playscripts and the mapps.

As I said on the original board, I've never read any Pratchett. Where should I start?

I guess it's different for everybody. As I said I started reading the Discworld series after I read Good omens which is a collaboration of Pratchett and Gaiman. It took me a while to get into it and I just finished Mort (I'm reading them in order so that was only the fourth part). But I have already bought the next three parts and can't wait to get to them. But so far, in my opinion, it doesn't matter where in the series you start.

Personally I think Mort is a very good place to start, particularly if you haven't read much 'classic fantasy' before. The first two in the series are essentially just straight parodies of other fiction, but by Mort (number 4) he'd hit his stride. It introduces you to some of the major characters and beliefs of the Discworld, without relying on (much) prior knowledge to get the jokes.

But so far, in my opinion, it doesn't matter where in the series you start.
That does change as you get further in to the series. Without spoilers it's hard to elaborate, but past Reaper Man or so the ongoing plot arcs mean reading them out of order is a very bad idea indeed for some books.

:-) Ok, so for once it's a good thing I'm so anal and chronologically obsessed.

Friends had often mentioned him as very funny, and I'd often seen these paperbacks with lurid covers in the bookshop, but there seemed to be so many of them. Eventually I took the plunge, and started with The Colour of Magic --another chronologically-obsessed type :-)

I'm definitely very chronologically inclined, if not so much obsessed.. So I just got three beautiful remainder 2005 trade paperbacks of The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites (for $2.50 each!). I'm about to take the plunge...

Wait, wait! I'm getting conflicting info here! ;)

So is the consensus that the order rikker cites in msg #9 is more or less accurate if one wants to start at the beginning?

Yep, those are parts 1, 2 and 3.

Gracias, Thalia. When next I dare set foot into the local used bookstore I'll know what to look for.

Just to avoid any further confusion, here's a chonological list of Discworld novels, straight from L-Space (i.e. the Terry Pratchett fan site), minus offshoots such as The Last Hero and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, interesting though they are. To help out neophytes, I've also included to which "series within the series" each book belongs. If there is nothing next to it, it means it's a stand alone work. Sometimes this can be a little tricky as reoccuring characters pop up all the time, so I've limited these notes to only the books that are specifically about the reoccuring characters.

The Colour of Magic (Rincewind)
The Light Fantastic (Rincewind)
Equal Rites (Lancre Witches (Weatherwax only))
Mort (Death)
Sourcery (Rincewind)
Wyrd Sisters (Lancer Witches)
Pyramids
Guards! Guards! (Night Watch)
Eric (Rincewind)
Moving Pictures
Reaper Man (Death)
Witches Abroad (Lancre Witches)
Small Gods
Lords and Ladies (Lancre Witches)
Men at Arms (Night Watch)
Soul Music (Death)
Interesting Times (Rincewind)
Maskerade (Lancre Witches)
Feet of Clay (Night Watch)
Hogfather (Death)
Jingo (Night Watch)
The Last Continent (Rincewind)
Carpe Jugulum (Lancre Witches)
The Fifth Elephant (Night Watch)
The Truth
Thief of Time (Death (minor))
Night Watch (Night Watch)
Monstrous Regiment
Going Postal
Thud (Night Watch)

Hope you all find that helpful.

Considering that I'm gonna print it out, touchstones are unnecessary. Thank you very much.

O budget, which rathole would you care to disappear through this month? ;)

I just picked up The colour of magic at the neighborhood used book emporium. It's probably just as well that it was the only one of the first three in the series the store had.

Thanks for the recommendation.

I found this interesting flowchart of the books: http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-gui...

Thanks to everyone for the input on this one... Now I've got enough to start with stashed in my memory.

I finished The colour of magic last night. It was very amusing, but not enough by itself to get me hooked. From what's been said above, it wasn't until book 2 or 3 that he really hit his stride, right?

The touchstones seem to be temperamental; I swear I enclosed the title in brackets and it appeared in the right sidebar. Huh.

Book 2 is very much like book 1, and book 3 I've more than once heard called one of the weakest in the entire series...
I started with book 4 (Mort) and got instantly hooked, and I remember other people recommending it as starting point because then he started hitting his stride.

I have been wondering where to start! Thanks for the great list and that flow chart is amazing. I keep a list in my Treo of books I want so I can check it when I'm at a used bookstore. I've copied the list to that memo.

i started with the bromeliad trilogy ages ago and it really just evolved from there to the point where i have nearly all the books. as for my favourite i'd say maskerade

I went off to the library and got Night Watch, A Thief in Time, The Truth, and Monstrous Regiment. I've now finished the first two and am halfway through the third, and I'm much more satisfied and pleased (and bust-a-gut laughing) than I was with The Colour of Magic. Now I understand the addiction much better!

Linkmeister,

be sure not to overdose on TP, gorging on all his books at once. Because when you hit that wall of reading everything and having to wait for a new book to come out, it is painful. Keep a few unread ones around for rainy nights :-)

Oh dear, islandisee, I fear your advice is too late. ;) I now have 19 books in the queue from the library, awaiting interlibrary loans.

Someone has something against Terry Pratchett. Who put up all those abuse flag thingies?

I can't remember exactly when I first met Pratchett, but I did start with The Colour of Magic first, which happened to be in a bookcase at home. Years later my then-girlfriend (now wife) and I picked up a couple of other ones, and then we were hooked. My favorite characters are the Witches, the members of the Watch, and Death.

Good Omens made me want to read more by Gaiman and Pratchett. I have to agree that colour of magic isn't the one that will get you hooked, though.

Since we can edit these messages now, I was finally able to get all the touchstones working in my Discworld bibliography post.

I think this group has shown how useless abuse flags really are. Thank you, anonymous flagger, for giving us this example.

I read The Colour of Magic about 6 months ago after Terry Pratchett was reccomended to me. I enjoyed it but also need to go in order so haven't read anymore. I bought a dozen of his books at a garage sale but they sit unread until I get The Light Fantastic out of the library. The thing that stays with me is the idea of the need for a fence at the edge of the world to keep objects from falling over.

In message #26 I mentioned I had 19 books in the queue from my library. 16 of them arrived at the local branch today. I just picked them up.

Well, I don't know much about science fiction and fantasy, but one thing led to another: I saw the Hitchhiker's movie and liked it ok, but then I read the books and really loved them. So I wanted something more, and the universal "If you liked that, you'll like this" recommendation was Discworld.

I read the Colour of Magic and, um, er, didn't really like it that much. But it was totally worth it for the absolute last moment, which I won't give away. Truly a cosmic ending, and something I strangely would like to do.

Linkmeister, Well you were warned! Butit will be nice to gorge on 19! books at once. I'm sure many of us are jealous :-)

ironically enough, I met Terry Pratchett through a cartoon. Someone had made Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters into cartoons. I first read Soul Music and then I read Hogfather. to be perfectly honest, I'm not all that fond of Rincewind.

Read Witches Abroad as my first Pratchett experience, then Mort, and then went back and read them more or less in the order they were published. I swear, I would marry the man. He is a satirical genius!

I finished 18 1/2 plus Good Omens by the due date; I had to renew Thud and have since completed it. I can see buying all of these, since the puns and jokes are buried pretty deeply sometimes. Kinda like "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," which I've seen 5 or 6 times; I was still finding jokes I'd missed the first 2 or 3 viewings.

I first discovered Terry Pratchett by reading Equal Rites in Danish - the only Discworld book that my local library had in Danish. It wasn't till I discovered interlibrary loans that I started ordering the original English books. Am now a complete addict! I got a friend started with Monstrous Regiment because there are so few of the 'old' characters in it but it's still got the typical Pratchett feeling. She's now fighting her way through The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic to get to the good stuff ...

My first one was Good Omens as well, recomended to me by a freind. Haven't looked back since.

I switched on Radio 4 one day to find myself listening to the last episode The Colour Of Magic. it was the book of the week on Womans Hour.

Its a real cliffhanger ending but I dont think the sequal was published then and certainly was not broadcast.. Anyhow I got The Colour of Magic Straight away and the sequal soon after.

Although some people say It is not as good as his later ones. It was his breakout book. Being the morning Story on womans hour is a pretty good definition of publishing success.

Its A fine book. The jokes and puns are thick and fast. (Nowadays they are less frenetically paced.) but I thinkthe first couple lose out slightly to general readerss because of the number of insider jokes aimed at fantasy readers.

I have all the Pratchett Discworld books, and still have about 8 to read. I have enjoyed them all so far, but my favorites were Small Gods, Interesting Times and Reaper Man.

My favorite characters are Vetanari, The Luggage, The Librarian, and Death.

I read them out of order, and my plan some day is to re-read them all in order.

I started with Mort, like many others-- I wonder if that coincided with his first US releases? Anyway, my best friend and I got into Pratchett at the same time, and we shared our collection-- one would buy one and we'd read it, then the other would buy the next one. All the way up to Interesting Times, at which point she went to college and swapping the books became too difficult, logistically.

I found the two first Rincewind books in Danish at the childrens library. Years later I got Hogfather on a trip to London - this is still one of my all time favourite Pratchett books along with Witches Abroad.
But in general I like the Witches books the best and the Night Watch books.

Small Gods was the first one recommended to me, and I've been hooked since. (It also helped that I married the person who made the recommendation and that she already owned a bunch of Pratchetts). Small Gods is still my favorite Pratchett... even though it doesn't have The Luggage. I would suggest starting there.

coffeezombie & sfwench thanks so much for the chronology and flow chart!

My then boyfriend, now husband, bought me The Colour of Magic in 1996 or something like that. I thought the cover was ugly, but i took it for reading on a 5-hour flight some months later... and it got me hooked!
Today I can´t really see why, because most of the later Discworld novels are much better, but that's the way it is.

My favourite characters are... the Wizards (I really enjoyed the Science of Discworld-series), Lord Vetinari, the Watch-novels, and the Witches and of course DEATH. It's hard to name a favourite novel, as there are a few of them, but Mort, The Night Watch (more for the theme and the characters than for the story, 'tough), Witches Abroad, Small Gods, Moving Pictures... well, you see what I mean.

The newest work, like Going Postal, Monstrous Regiment and Thud! is not as good, even if I enjoyed them... I feel Pratchett mostly wrote them to tell "the truth" more tnat for the joy of the stories...

what is going on with these abuse flags?

Maybe someone thinks that any link at that position is a "Post a message"-link?
I mean, "Flag abuse" is most often placed in the message header...

As an interface designer and usability consultant I'd say this is not the only violation LT is guilty of, but we humans are wonders of adaptability and learns to accept whatever goes if the advantage is great enough ;-)

Years ago, I was on holiday - walking in the Lake District I think - we were staying in self-catering accomodation, and the owner had provided a supply of paperbacks. I picked up The Light fantastic and was hooked !

Having said that, my addiction waned a few years ago, as I felt more recent titles were showing slippage in the quality control department - wasting his energies on frivolous `cash-in books` that were more like novelty items than books ?

How have others found the last few titles ?

I feel Pratchett is resting on his laurels a bit to much, Not because the joke count has fallen, which it has, but because plotting and invention have. His characterisation which at their best (Say Witches Abroad or Mort) were superb have become merely good or even at times adequate. Time he took a few risks.

I first read truckers I think, but swiftly proceeded onto The colour of magic as my first discworld novel. I enjoyed his books until I turned 14 or so, and then either his writing started to seem lacking or I became more discerning - I am more inclined to think it was his writing standard falling going by the rest of the reviews.

I loved the first few discworld novels though, but now... I tried to read a few pages of wintersmith and his writing just seems so smart alec-y and lacking in whatever magic it was that first got me hooked.

I first read The Fifth Elephant , borrowed it from a friend. I was hooked! A mere 6 months later, I had already bought 90% of the Discworld Series and had also read the rest.
My personal favourites are the City Watch books (Guards, Guards, Men At Arms, and Feet of Clay). Needless to say, my favourite characters are the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, especially Sam Vimes.

I've been reading some of the comments here, about how the quality of the series has been declining of late and I must say that I have to disagree. I haven't read Wintersmith or Thud! yet, but I loved both Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal. MR particularly was an excellent book. Even my dad, who never reads SF/fantasy loved it, and was able to appreciate the story.

Looking over the list that coffeezombie so thoughtfully provided, I can't quite remember which one I read first. I had thought it was Thief of Time because there would have been a review I'd read. No particular person had recommended it. I'm often getting great suggestions from magazines such as Hornbook. But then I remember Interesting Times and I think it might be that one. In any event, I went Hogfatherwild. There is hardly anything I don't like about them. And as I did not read them in order, I have absolutely NO awareness of any loss of edge. I like the witches and the City Watch and the satire and the philosophy ... And I hope Vimes will live happily ever after.

My first was Guards Guards, and my favorite is Small Gods. We were traveling in the Netherlands, and one of my sons had it along, and I started reading it out loud. All three kids loved it, although sometimes I had to let one of them read since I was laughing too much. I have copied the list and am going to print it out so my boys and I can see which we have and which we need to get...

The thing with Prtchett is that you have to have some idea of the "point" for the book to be funny - particularly the later ones which aren't so much about the human condition as the earlier ones.

A case in example - I don't find Small Gods very good, its one of my least favourites, but I am, and always have been athiest. One of my more religious friends was extremely impressed with SG as they got all the in-jokes that I missed.

Don't overlook the "childrens" diskworld - they are as impressive as the other works - maurice wee free hat full and the latest wintersmith are much darker than you might expect. Adults get a lot out of them too.

I've read the series pretty much in order though I'm missing the odd one here and there. Hogfather is perhaps my favourite.

minor typo edits.

I don't agree that you have to be "religious" to enjoy Small Gods!

I am too an atheist, but SG is none the less one of my favourites. I have a broad (as in lightweight) knowledge of a lot of diverse mythologies, including egyptian, greek, sumer, norse, christian varieties... etc. and I don't think that this is typical for believers only - quite the opposite as devout people tend to know a lot about their own belief system but nothing about all the others. At least this is my humble opinion...
I have sought this knowledge because of an personal opinion that mythology is a way to try to describe the world around us and that these descriptions have helped form our world as we look at it today, and understanding them is understanding part of the driving forces of our ancestors, and thus crucial in understanding our history (along with a lot of other factors, of course, but...)

And THAT, folks, was a loooong sentence, but I don't have time to edit right now!

A friend of mine had tried to convert me for quite a bit time, but I was not really interested. Then my mother received Thief of Time as a birthday present, and I had run out of something to read. I started and have been a fan ever since, while she read it and hated it.

I can't remember which one was my first - but then I picked up my first Pratchett almost 20 years ago, if I remember correctly. Needed a book on the run and it was the first one I snatched. Was ok but over the years I became a fan. These days, each Pratchett is on "autobuy", meaning I pre-order them as soon as they can be pre-ordered. In fact, I order two, one for me and one for brother mine, who used to borrow mine when we still lived in the same house. Plus, I buy both hardcover and paperback *ouch*...

And yes, I agree. They get better and better. Especially the last ones from Night Watch on are much darker and "grown-up". The jokes have become much deeper and blacker - quite often, your laughter tends to stick in the throat instead of bursting out. The early ones are fine, don't get me wrong, but I still think the latest books show an author at the peak of his art. I suppose, the early books appeal to a different kind of reader, that's all.

Could be I suppose, but I don't like the later ones less because they're darker, more because they're just not as good. The characters sort of run into each other a bit, if you see what I mean. There's just something about the way he dramatises things that gets my back up, but I'd need to have a book to hand to go through to be able to pick them out.

the joke count is down,but it is not that so much as the lack of incidents. The plots become more simplistic without the constant invention of the early books.

I enjoyed Night Watch, but from then on the books became more... programmatic - he has something to tell, and that's OK, but on top of that he don't disguise it particularly well. As much as I agree with the sentiments of Monstrous Regiment the story felt flat - the connections with Iraq and Afghanistan are too open. Same thing with Thud! - it was OK, I agree with what he's saying, and... well.
In my mind, Jingo!'s practically about the same issues, but is the more enjoyable of these books. Still, any new Discworld book is an autobuy (thanks for the word, Nova_Heart!) so they can't be that bad ;-)

I just finished my first Terry Pratchett novel, Hogfather, it seemed appropriate to the season. I am in love with Death now. I haven't been able to find these books in the used book stores I frequent, so I went to the library instead and picked out two that looked interesting to me. I had never heard of Pratchett until I joined this and another online book site. Though I didn't explode with laughter, there was a smile on my face most of the time. I'll definately be reading more. The next will be Carpe Jugulum. I have a thing for vampires.

I think MORT is the first book starring DEATH - it is one of my frequent rereads :-)
Anyone who enjoys the DEATH-character should check out Good Omens where he is sort of seconded by his sidekicks... say no more! It is about the funniest book I've ever read, and I find new things in it every time I pick it up.

My first was Mort. I found it the school library at age 13/14 after years of seeing a poster in my English Class declaring his books to be 'addictive'. For once, the books were better than the hype. So here I am 6/7 years and 30-something odd books later.

And I only got around to 'Good Omens' 2 years ago. And thus began my affair with Neil.

I'm one of those who likes to begin at the beginning, so I did with Pratchett. His were my "work-reading books" (books I leave in my desk drawer for breaks) for quite a while, but I've kind of petered out on them. I liked the ones with DEATH and the witches, but the protracted plot complications get a little boring after a while. I think the last one I tried was Carpe Jugulum and I don't think I bothered to finish it.

Hmmm, maybe because it was only my second Pratchett book, or maybe it's because I love stories about vampires, but I really liked Carpe Jugulum. I thought the vampires were very true to Dracula in a funny, modern way. I also thought there were some interesting things to say about faith, belief and works.

I found Discworld after reading Good Omens.

I started with Soul Music followed by Moving Pictures and Small Gods. After that I went to the beginning and read them all waiting aniously for each new addition. : )

good Omens is my favorite book ever - it is an excellent book - but also because it lead me to read more Pratchett and Gaiman.

Which did I read first? It's so long ago I had to think long and hard, and finally came up with Moving Pictures, followed by Pyramids, which was a lucky choice because neither one has any of the main characters of the main series -es. (What's the plural of series? serii?)

Anyway, my two favorite are Small Gods and Interesting Times. When I met Pratchett at a book signing, I asked him about the use of chaos theory in those books, and he recommended a work by an English scientist who had educated him on what was at the time (1994) a hot field of study. And I can't remember what or who.

One of the appeals of Pratchett is that he takes popular culture, science, or traditional beliefs and stories (everything from Mother Goose to Shakespeare) and switches them around to look at from a revealing, and funny, angle. I find it amazing that even the new books, after thirty or so, still manage to do that in a fresh and interesting (and funny) way.

That's more than jokes.

Back in the 80s I got hold of a computer game for the ZX Spectrum called 'The colour of magic'. 'Got Hold Of' as in copied a tape from a mate ... which meant I didn't get the paperback that was sold with the game.

Fast forward 20+ years and I finally got hold of the first book. Have read lots since.

I started with Interesting Times then Maskerade. I can't remember if or how many people had recommended the books at that time, but I do remember those two books in particular had stood apart from the rest of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelves at the time. For the most part since I've followed Harper's American publishing schedule which meant that for a while I was reading the classic/early works in the series as nibblets between his more recent books. I have to say that I'm very much a fan of the more recent works, including and almost particularly the "younger reader" novels. I'm currently waiting on my sister to finish reading my copy of Wintersmith so that I can read it...

Looking at my Pratchett shelf always reminds me of a story. I'm sure this isn't as an eventful story to everyone else as it is to me... My copy of Witches Abroad is very dog-eared and expanded from water damage. I was in the bad habit of keeping paperbacks in my jeans pocket at the time and happened to forget about it when I went to a big monsoon-weather football game a few years back (it was a milestone game for our school's program).

"As much as I agree with the sentiments of Monstrous Regiment the story felt flat - the connections with Iraq and Afghanistan are too open."

What connections?
I mean, beyond the obvious, "it's a war".

Anke: I agree with you on that. The primary reference points seem to be the Disney film "Mulan" (or original legend it's based on) and a John Knox essay about the dangers of woman in leadership positions (also war films in general). This book could have been published ten years ago and its basic plot would not have been much different. As for Thud! (which I haven't gotten to yet) the plot outline struck me as more of a Balkans/Da Vinci Code combo.

I've actually found his recent books to be better novels than his earlier works. They work better as a whole, rather than being a laundry line to hang gags onto. They aren't as laugh-out-loud funny, but they work on deeper levels.

My first encounter with TP was when I worked in a mall calendar store--I was intrigued by the Pratchett Calendars, particularly the day-by-day ones with quotes. As anyone who reads him knows, he excels as pithy one-liners. I started with Color of Magic, being a good little reader, but after getting through the first three I pretty much started buying any paperback I could get my hands on, no matter what the order. No regrets so far. I own all but 3 or 4 of his books now...I'm afraid to buy them all because it's always good to know there's at least one out there I haven't read...

For me it all started when my mother bought The Wee Free Men online. I didn't like the cover, and it was stuck on a shelf and forgotten. Eventually it was read (by me, my brother, and mother) and we all went on about how great it was so much that my Dad got Truckers, Diggers, and Wings from a Borders store. We loved them just as much, and have since then bought all his young adult works.

Starting is a problem because I'm always trying to get people to read these. My experience is that anyone I tried to start on Rincewind books didn't make it. I like Rincewind, but those first couple of books are rough. (Switching characters and scenes too often to keep track) I like the witches slightly less, but starting people there has worked every time I've tried. So I guess Equal Rites or Wyrd Sisters. Also Small Gods is one of my favorites and it's a one-off.

75: I guess some of that make sense, because with fellow American readers I've had a fair time starting people with Maskerade... It's familiar enough a starting place (the musical satire, particularly the Phantom of the Opera satire, can play well with the average "cultured" American) and yet has a few tie ins to the Witches and the Watch and Ankh-Morpork as a general setting, and from there leaves a lot of "you liked x about that book? Try book y next, then" possibilities to steer people towards other Discworld books slowly until they start to devour them on their own... Of course, I started with Interesting Times and I prefer the later books, so take my suggestion with a bit of a grain of salt. (On the other hand as a large Sci-Fi reader I have a hard time not loathing Fantasy and several of the earlier Discworld books wouldn't have kept me such a huge Pratchett fan as his later books... I really do think that the inflection point where he switches from interesting yet somewhat bland Fantasy parody to crazy, weird general satire seems to be a sign of the series maturity. (This would be about around Small Gods give or take a few books, depending on who you ask and what factors of satire maturity you are looking for...))

I think it was Nightwatch. I didn't get it. Since I just threw myself in, and was all 'what the heck is with this turtle business!' and there was a lot of assumed knowledge. A year later, I tried again, and loved his stuff. :)

77: Yeah, Night Watch is definitely one of the few that won't work as a good starting point. Night Watch is also one of those controversial books that some people either really love or really hate. I got a kick out of it because it took the ephemeral theoretical hodge-podge from Thief of Time (also one of those controversial books that I loved and others loathe) and gave it some "what are 'practical' outcomes/consequences of this?" play, but in doing so very heavily tied Night Watch to Thief of Time and there were all the other Watch in-jokes to watch out for.

My first book was Small Gods. I ran across it on the new book shelf in the library, loved it, and have been devouring them ever since. I like the witches, the watch, and tend to like the later books rather than earlier.

I've had the pleasure of introducing a couple of people to them at the library, and they've both come running back for more.

markon

I remember borrowing Wyrd sisters from the library in my teens solely based on the cover picture. There was no description, part from a short quote in the back, promising the book to be hilarious. I think I only read a few pages of it until I gave up. When I was about 17, a new pen pal asked had I ever read Pratchett and I took on the book again. This time I was hooked and swiftly read the few other Discworld-books that had been translated into finnish at the time. After that I had no choice but to start reading the rest of the series in english, which was a bit of a challenge but nonetheless enormous fun.

I started with Monstrous Regiment, but then went and restarted with The Colour of Magic. I've had many of my friends bug me about Pratchett and so when I went to the Oakland Museum's White Elephant Sale, I went looking for cheap used copies. MR was the only Pratchett still available when I arrived mid-afternoon. I liked it, then went and looked up the "proper" order, and got the first 4 books.

I'll be reading more when I have free time, but there are a lot of other books on my to-read list.

If you have a chance, listen to the audio book versions of the later books (including the young adult series about Tiffany Aching) as read by Stephen Briggs. We listen to these over and over again marveling at both the writing and the characterizations.

A bit late to respond to Linkmeister and Anke, but I've only just found the thread.

I think the early books were of their time (and I read them when the were new). They reflect the explosion in sword and sourcery fiction that was taking place at the time and pushed all the buttons to make gentle fun of it. They don't have the messages that readers can choose to take from later books, but did get Terry Pratchett established and I assume provided confidence, experience and financial means to write the more involved stuff that followed.

Reaper Man and The Colour Of Magic, bought while I was working at Barnes & Noble. I was laughing so loudly in the back room that the manager lectured on me 'maturity.'

I also bought Night Watch in Paris, France, at the original Shakespeare & Co. bookstore. I just like telling people that.

Several years ago I was stranded at Heathrow airport in London for about 12 hours and so one of my first stops was at the bookstore. I picked up The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites and I have been hooked ever since. As you may know, the covers in Europe and Canada were much more elaborate at least on the first 20+ and that was what originally caught my eye. My local bookstore didn't carry Pratchett at that time so I had to wait for my next trip to Europe to add to my collection. I have since heard him speak twice and many in the audience dressed like their favorite character. I wish him well with his health struggles.

I was much saddened to hear about his Alzheimer's diagnosis. I've had experience w/ that in my family.

My first Terry Pratchett book was a borrowed copy of Soul Music, which I read while on a bus between Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin. My other reading option was one of the later Dune books, in which a large worm ranted for seemingly hundreds of pages at a time about directing history and religion. It was a pretty easy choice, which book to spend more time on. I've been hooked on Pratchett ever since.

I'd heard so many raves about the Discworld series, so I figured best to begin at the beginning. Unfortunately, The Colour of Magic was disappointingly dull, and I had to really work my way through it. As most of the commenters mention that to be the case, I will return to Pratchett at some point, but for now, I'm afraid he's fallen to the back of a crowded 'to-read' list.

As far as I can remember, the first Pratchett book I read was "Lords and Ladies". Perhaps not the best choice, but it was there for taking. I was quite young and I didn't get all the jokes, and the cover pictures had put me off at first, but ever since that first one, I've been hooked. :) Now own ten books and a map.