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I rarely start 'Thank You' threads, because really-- they're usually just name dropping or popularity shows.
But this time-- I really have to thank TomD for recommending Terry Pratchett (at least, I think it was Tom).
I'm listening to 'Thief of Time' on audiobook and enjoying it immensely. I haven't enjoyed a book like this since . . . mmm. . . . probably Gaiman's 'Neverwhere.' Pratchett is delightful-- engaging, witty, and profound all at once, without coming off as insincere or trendy.
The audiobook production is simply wonderful-- there is a full cast of characters, all very talented. Stephen Rudnicki, who also did the audiobook of OSC's 'Lost Boys' plays a marvellous Death.
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Be sure to check out "Good Omens," by Terry Pratchett AND Neil Gaiman. One of my very favorite books, although I haven't listened to the audio version so I can't vouch for it..
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hmm... I just finished Neverwhere by Gaiman and really enjoyed it. I've heard Prachett thrown around here alot and I always look at his books when I'm at the book store but haven't picked one up yet. Maybe he should be my next purchase. Any suggestions for first read?
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If you want to read them in order, start with The Color of Magic and then follow the order printed on one of the front pages of the book. Some of them have the books in reverse order, but start the list from whichever end has The Color of Magic first.
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I started reading Pratchett because of my 'rack association too. (I'm sure Tom had something to do with it.)
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I haven't read any of Pratchett's books yet, but I just wanted to join in with everyone else in saying, "Thanks, Tom." Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Currently rereading the Discworld books, as there's a new one coming out next month and I can't wait. Now on book 2, The Light Fantastic.
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I found that I was rather bogged down when I read Color of Magic first. I loved the style and the wit etc, but I found that I didn't really want to move on. I didn't care if anyone had just been flung off the edge of the world. I've been meaning to get to The Light Fantastic, but it's slow going. Is that normal? It sounds like the other subsets are a little more involved and popular.
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I've enjoyed all of the books I've read by Prachett so far. I started with Good Omens, actually, and then the Color of Magic. Since then, whenever I see a library discount shelf or somesuch with a pratchett book, I'll just buy and read that.
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Mort's definitely my favourite. I also just finished Pyramids the other day and really enjoyed it. Small Gods was fun to read when I was studying philosophy, and the rest, while good, all start to blend together in my head. I'm sure I could come up with details from some, but the aforementioned three are most memorable to me.
As far as Gaiman goes, American Gods is it.
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Tom's other series seems to be the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which I just couldn't get into.
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I started with Mort and read along the solid lines of the death and watch books (lower half) and the other semi-standalones -- my journey ended up culminating with Small Gods, Thief of Time and Night Watch. It was a pretty good way to do it -- those three novels are probably in my top five. Then I read all the witch books, and I now, I'm sad to say, only have two more of the wizards books left to go. But the good news is that another watch book is coming out soon.
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Ehhh now I have to add Pratchett to my never-ending list of authors to read. I started reading SF and Fantasy not too long ago (about a year and a 1/2) and I'm finishing off my Asimov reading spree now (whom I will come back to in the future to finish him off) then I have two huge anthologies of old SF short stories, then Robert Heinlein, and then comes either George Martin or Terry Pratchett. Who should come first?
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I read him but I had the same feeling I have when I listen to Jazz : that it was everywhere and had no structure. I hated it! Should I try again? I think I read a Discworld book. (It was a long time ago)
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It may have been one of the earlier Rincewind novels then. Yes, those were a little unstructured. I'd start with one of the watch books, then. Or perhaps even Mort -- which, like T, is where I began.
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Thanks for the reading order folks. Once I finish up If Chins Could Kill, System of the World, and Adventures of Kavalier and Clay I'll get around to Pratchett.
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Um.... No. I do not recommend The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant to people.
I DO recommend Donaldson's other anti-hero series, The Gap. It's one of his best pieces of work -- but, like Thomas Covenant, sticks its most odious and repulsive stuff in the early parts of the first book, thus daring the squeamish to read on. (It even ups the ante on rape, believe it or not.) Personally, though, I think the payoff is considerably higher for the Gap books.
I've also recommended Tad Williams' Otherland and Memory, Sorrow and Thorn novels, and the incomparable Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susannah Clarke. And if you haven't read George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire by now, you're missing out.
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quote: Currently rereading the Discworld books, as there's a new one coming out next month and I can't wait. Now on book 2, The Light Fantastic.
Crap... that's the one. I was at the book store the other day and saw a book called Ringworld by Larry Niven. I thought to myself... "Self, we keep hearing about these books so lets try it out." Seems I was a little confused. On the bright side, Ringworld wasn't a bad read and so, yea I got that going for me. Guess I'll have to go back and get the right ones.
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I've read Donaldson's The Gap Chronicles and really liked them. I agree with Tom that they're not at all for the squeamish, as you may find yourself rooting for horrible, horrible people who do terribly nasty things to each other. I think it works for me because you can still root for their redemption. I've never read the Thomas Covenant books, and from most of what I've heard from friends don't really want to.
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>>As far as Gaiman goes, American Gods is it.
Have to disagree with you there; AG is good, but nowhere near as delightful as Stardust, or Neverwhere, or Coraline.
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I totally agree with you Scott, at least on Stardust and Coraline. I haven't read Neverwhere yet.
As far as Pratchett goes, I have only read one short story from the first Legends anthology. It was about the Witches and I don't remember particularly liking it. Maybe I should try it again or at least give some of his other stuff a try.
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Men at Arms and Small Gods made good starting places for me. . .I'm particularly fond of Small Gods, plus it has the benefit of not really being a part of any of the series-within-series.
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I've been reading Pratchett recently as well. I can't give Tom credit, though. That goes to Robert Silverberg.
So far (3 books in, but I actually started with Strata, since it was apparently written first) I've enjoyed the books, but they're not particularly special. I suppose they must get better. Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote: It was about the Witches and I don't remember particularly liking it.
As a short story, The Sea and Little Fishes is highly dependent on a familiarity with the novels, like most of the stories in the Legends anthology.
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I'd advise against starting with The Colour of Magic or The Light Fantastic. Even Pratchett has said that they are among his lesser works: mere parodies of previous fantasies; written before he had a visualization of a realized Discworld, written before he had a good feel for storytelling.
Pratchett himself considers Mort to be his first true Discworld novel.
Myself, I read TCoM and thought Discworld had quite a few points of unmet potential, and bought TLF. Decided he wasn't going to go anywhere with the potential, that he was going to merely continue poking fun at fantasy tropes. And quit looking in the P-section of bookstore shelves. Gave away TCoM and TLF to a used-bookseller friend.
Then many years later in a used-book store, I spotted a shelf loaded with Pratchett. One grouping was obviously bought by the owner as a full set from somebody's collection. Remembering the potential for true pleasure of TCoM, and seeing that lots of someone's must like him -- unless a series is fairly popular, publishers won't buy continuances -- I decided to risk buying one. The one with the least embarrassing cover*, which coincidentally happened to be the third in the series.
And so I read Equal Rites. Went in the next day to buy a copy of every Pratchett available -- including non-Discworld; there must have been about a dozen Discworld novels by then -- on the used-bookseller's shelf. (Canadian editions. This was apparently before Pratchett became hot in America, cuz I still didn't see Pratchett on the shelves in new-book stores). And have continued to buy every Pratchett as new paperbacks come out. (I don't buy hardbacks for pleasure reading. Too much bulk to one-hand in a tub or a beach chair or a bed.)
While Equal Rites is obviously on a different leg of the Trousers of Time, it was still arealized Discworld. So I'd recommend starting there for a good feel of how the rest of the series developes.
* Despite Pratchett's liking of that particular illustrator, his covers gave me the feeling that he was interested only in showing his "sophistication" by displaying his disdain for the fantasy genre. I still feel he had never read a single Discworld book.
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BTW: Strata isn't part of the Discworld series. It's earlier-written scifi partially set on a scifi discworld. I believe that Alderson disc or something similar is the physics name for it
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Most of the people I know who discovered Pratchett early have an anecdote about how it happened.
Me, I was in Heathrow in 1991, waiting for a connecting flight to Israel. While there, I browsed through one of those duty-free bookstores, and heard somebody recommend Mort to a friend: "It's like a fantasy version of Douglas Adams," they said. Intrigued and having nothing better to do, I started skimming it -- and liked it so much that I picked up every Pratchett book on the shelf, which I believe included CoM, LF, Sourcery, Mort, and Pyramids (but not Equal Rites, sadly.) I then sat down and began to read Mort more seriously.
I looked up in alarm nearly thirty minutes later -- I read faster now than I did then -- realizing I had almost missed my plane. Panicking, I sprinted from the store at full tilt, and made it to the gate literally at the final boarding call.
It was only once we had taxied onto the runway that I realized I still had all the books -- for which I had not paid -- with me.
The next time I flew into Heathrow, I was rather nervous. *laugh*
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Mort was my first Pratchett book and its still one of my favorites. It got me hooked on Death so now I'm reading all the books that feature him. My least favorite so far was Pyramids though I did enjoy the beginning with the Assassins Guild. I need to see if they're featured in anything.
Small Gods was also a shiny example of smart humor. Turtles and deep philosophy.
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Yeah, I know it's not part of the canon, but it was (according to the cover notes) his earliest experiment with the concept.
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I read Small Gods first - the son of a client recommended it. That was it until after I married Fahim. I've since read a whole bunch, but not all. Most of his books are at his parents place still, and therefore difficult for him to get.
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A friend gave me Sourcery for my birthday when I was in high school (late 80's? Would that be right? Maybe 90 or 91). For some reason I didn't read it right away, but when I got around to it I absolutely loved it. If I had started with Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic, I don't think I would like Rincewind as much as I still do. I reread Sourcery three or four times before I ever got my hands on any of the other books in the series. Today, although the Watch books are my favorites, Sourcery holds a special place in my heart.
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I found The Color of Magic in a used bookstore and picked it up as part of the weekly book haul. The next day I went back and picked up Strata and started hunting down any others with his name on it, but The Light Fantastic was the only other one available in the US at the time and this was pre-Amazon. I started ordering UK editions from, I believe, Future Fantasy Books in CA and paying a hell of a premium for them before Amazon.uk made it easier and then, finally, the US publishers started releasing them at the same time as the UK editions instead of six months later.
Right now at work I have a Death bookstamp looking at me.
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