What TP books have you read?

[Tim]

I "discovered" Terry Pratchett at my local mega-bookstore about 10 years ago, and had to go to the UK in '99 to get the first dozen or so in the series. I've since managed to collect and read all of his books.

SO: Which books have you read? Which one did you read first? Which one was your favorite?

[Trina]

The first Terry Pratchett book I read was Good Omens because I love Neil Gaiman. It is still my favorite.

I didn't want to get into the Discworld series because I thought I "needed" to read them in order and there were so many, but I figured I could just track the characters I liked. But I picked up Equal Rites first, then I read Guards, Guards and the rest of the Night Watch books. I do like Vimes. Now, I read all of the new books when I see them at my library and I have a few of the older ones to look forward to.

Over the summer, I read the Tiffany Aching books, which I've been unsuccessfully trying to coerce some of my students to read. But the British humor escapes them.

[Meirav]

My first Pratchett was Men At Arms which I loved to bits. Then came Good Omens which was basically where I became permanently hooked. Then came Small Gods, Interesting Times, Johnny and the Dead and Hogfather. I still have much to read by Pratchett and, by god, I'll get to it all!!

[Tim]

I think British humor escapes everyone, at first. I remember reading "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and knowing that it was funny, but being unsure where the punchline began and ended (Turns out that the whole thing was a big punch line). What age were the kids? I was fortunate enough to have some brilliant teachers in junior high and high school that were able to help us find the humor in Shakespeare and Chaucer.

[Trina]

I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Generally, it takes a significant amount of work to get them to recognize humor that doesn't involve slapstick -- or bodily functions.

[Tim]

Slapstick and bodily functions... sounds familiar. Have you thought of using "The Simpsons" to teach parody, irony, sarcasm and satire?

[Deborah]

I first read The Light Fantastic between midnight at 7am while stuck in Tahiti airport waiting for my connecting flight.

When I made it back to England I bought 40 TP books off eBay and started reading them in the order they were published. I am missing a few in places, but am up to Guards! Guards!

[Tim]

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), The Discworld books have reached a critial mass where reading the books in chronological order by publishing date isn't necessary, and can be a little more confusing. For instance, the Witches Trilogy, "Equal Rites", "Wyrd Systers" and "Witches Abroad" take place sequentially, but were published third, sixth, and twelfth.

A good resource for new readers is the L-Space Web, a fan-run website that has, among other things, a reading order guide (http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-o...) that lays out a suggested reading order based on different characters in the Discworld universe.

[Marissa]

I picked up The Fifth Elephant almost by accident because it was a free give away pre-publication edition at the book store I worked at. I was slightly confused, not knowing the characters, but fell entirely in love anyway. As of now I've read all of the discworld books, and am close to owning them all as well. It has become somewhat of an obsession. How could I avoid it? Discworld is utterly fabulous! :)

[Morgan]

My first encounter was Soul Music. Since then I have read most of the series. I love the blend of humor and insight!

[Peter]

Like at least one you, i first encountered Terry Pratchett reading GOod Omens. Then I stumbled upon Reaper Man. After that I was thoroughly convinced that I had found a vein of gold that warranted further digging. I wandered into my local biblioria, and discovered that TP is a rather prolific fellow. I tend to read a lot of non fiction, and turn to Terry Pratchett novels, and the like for much needed comic relief. Over the past few years I have read the two mentioned above as well as (not necessarily in this order), Small Gods, Going Postal, Thud... I just read The Truth, and Moving Pictures back-to-back.

[Aaronichi]

I started reading Pratchett last August while at San Diego Comic Con.
My cherry popped with the Fifth Elephant. I fell in love with the Watch and I'm up to Thud! in that group. I've also read Color of Magic, Light Fantastic and Mort.

[Dan]

I kept seeing the Pratchett books in the bookstore and finally gave them a try with the Rincewind omnibus from the Science Fiction Book Club. I've been hooked ever since. I've read all the Discworld books (unless Maurice and his Educated Rodents is a Discworld book), and Good Omens. It's really hard to pick out a favorite but I'd say Thud, Witches Abroad, and Reaper Man are at the top of the list. Oh, and I bought the Thud board game but haven't played it yet.

[Kymrie]

One of my freinds decided to start reading parts Interesting Times before my geography class. She was a good reader and that's what got me hooked

[Elyse]

Any and all that I can get my grubby little hands on! When, a few years back, his older UK releases became available through US publishing; that revived my addiction for anything Pratchett.

[Zohair]

The Colour of Magic. I've actually been reading them in series. Mort is next on the list.

[Briony]

Good Omens, The Truth, Making Money, Going Postal, Maskerade and Witches Abroad. I have a LONG way to go :)

Of them all I think Witches Abroad is my favourite although I do enjoy Moist von Lipwig.

[Mike]

First came upon the books when a friend told me to try them out since i was confused on what to read next. Started out with Color of Magic and then just finished The Light Fantastic. Im on to the next book soon cant wait.

[Nancy]

My friend Susan loaned me "The Colour of Magic" a lot of years ago. I was hooked at the phrase "sapient pear wood."

I'm not even sure I can list all the ones that I've read without going to look at a list, but my favorites have the be the ones with the witches.

[[deleted user]]

My sister bought truckers when it was on blue peter once I read it and lived. Once I moved to secondary school I found the colour of magic in the library and that was that.

The best has to be Night Watch by far, I worry that was the peak though but I keep the faith none the less.

[Chapin]

I started reading Terry Pratchet with "Wee Free Men" actually. I was in Maine (US) for winter, and I'd run out of books to read. The library had a whole rack of just Terry Pratchett books, and I saw that there. I really like that, and I've been reading about Discworld ever since.
The only Discworld book I haven't[/b:] read all the way through is Equal Rites.
Oh, and don't ask me my favorite one. I couldn't answer.

[Perkin]

An old teacher of mine first recommended Terry Pratchett. She said that when she had hours of boring marking to do she cheered herself up with a Discworld book. The first one I read was The Last Continent which I appreciated even more because I'm Australian.

[Lucia]

I first started my adventures into Pratchett's world by starting with Good Omens (at the time, Neil Gaiman's name caught my eye first). Upon doing a search for Terry Pratchett on the internet, I found out about the Discworld novels, then I raided my bookstores for them. I bought the Corgi editions, from The Color Of Magic up to Sourcery. I had such a difficult time tracking down Mort, but when I finally found it after 3 months of searching, I kissed the copy I held in my hands and have enjoyed it so much.

I don't really have a favorite, because each Discworld is unique on its own. Discworld 1 & 2 were the introductions into the fantastic series, 3 was dwelving into gender equality, 4 was a proper book about Death, and it just makes up a beautiful blend that it's very difficult (I don't want to even attempt) to pick favorites.

[Christina Stind]

I've read the first 8 chronologically and then Hogfater and Good Omens by Pratchett & Neil Gaiman.

I love Death!

I own 13 Discworld novels currently and plan on buying and reading more of them. I sort of get a fase where I get hooked and then I go for a while without reading them ... I feel another fase coming up at the moment after recently finishing Hogfather and buying Going Postal.

A question: Is Carrot in all the City Watch books?

[Marissa]

Carrot is in all of the City Watch books. Isn't he fabulous? I'd walk through the city with him anytime. ;)

[Libby]

Think the first watch book is Guards! Guards! and it introduces Carrot, so yes - he's I'm them all

[MB (What she read)]

I've read all of them, I think.

My first was "Good Omens".

Favorite? Every new one until the next comes out.

[Jumana]

All ofcourse.
The first was Light Fantastic, which I did not like. Fortunately, a couple of years later I came across Night Guards, by this time I had forgotten about Light Fantastic, so I read it and then went back for all the Pratchett books I could find. The guard ones are my favorites, and THUD is almost perfect (except for the annoying stuff with the six o'clock book reading)

[MB (What she read)]

Jumana, "Where's My Cow? .

I have to say it is actually a pretty cute children's book. I'm going to buy it one of these days, so that I can read it to an actual child

[Arthur]

MB wrote: "Jumana, "Where's My Cow? .

I have to say it is actually a pretty cute children's book. I'm going to buy it one of these days, so that I can r..."

I got this for my grandson for Christmas :) I keep teasing my daughter that I'm going to teach him to say "Buggrit"...

[Update:] - It has become a favorite book of his, and while it wasn't his first word, he growls "Buggrit!" along with his dad when they read it together. :)

[Lea]

I think the first Terry Pratchett book I read was "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents". I still love this one because of the rats! My top five favorites would have to be "Thief of Time", "Going Postal", "Reaper Man", "Lords and Ladies", and "Wintersmith". It's so hard to choose a favorite!

[Barbm1020]

The first one I read was The Colour of Magic, which I just love, and I've read most of them since but can't really pick a favorite because they're all so good, and not just the ones about the wizards. I like the Watch books, for the characters and the satire of English "police procedurals" but they're not my favorites. Maybe Small Gods, because Brutha is so cool and so is Om. But then I also love Granny & Nanny, and all their hapless trainees. And the Wee Free Men! Oh yeah and the Barbarian Heroes. lol

[Pokątnik Złowieszczek]

I read:

The Colour of Magic
The Light Fantastic
Equal Rites
Sourcery
Wyrd Sisters
Pyramids
Guards! Guards!
Moving Pictures
Reaper Man
Witches Abroad
Small Gods
Lords and Ladies
Men at Arms
Interesting Times
Maskerade
Feet of Clay
Hogfather
Carpe Jugulum
The Fifth Elephant
The Truth
Thud!

I marked my favourites with bold/

[[deleted user]]

I started with The Amazing Maurice and have read pretty much all of them. I didn't like his earliest works as much, but I love the Watch series, any books with Death, the Witches, Moist..... Pratchett is a genius!

[Mai]

Hi, I'm new! I picked up Equal Rites because it was 50c in a jumble sale. A friend of mine loaned me Wintersmith, The Monstrous Regiment and a few others, and then the real obsession began. My favourite books are the Night Watch ones - I love Vimes and Carrot! I am also partial to anything with Moist Von Lipwig, Nanny Ogg and Lu Tze.

[[deleted user]]

Maeve wrote: "Hi, I'm new! I picked up Equal Rites because it was 50c in a jumble sale. A friend of mine loaned me Wintersmith, The Monstrous Regiment and a few others, and then the real obsession began. My favo..."

Hi Maeve!

What did you think of "Making Money"? My daughter and I LOVE "Going Postal" and "Thief of Time", but we felt that "Money" fell flat.

I want more Susan and Lobsang.

[Mai]

Yes, I'd like to see more of them too. "Money" definately wasn't as good as going postal, but I still enjoyed it. I liked some things, like the mad old lady who owned the bank (Topsy Turvy is a great name) but the villain and his teeth just annoyed me.

[Libby]

Maeve wrote: "Yes, I'd like to see more of them too. "Money" definately wasn't as good as going postal, but I still enjoyed it. I liked some things, like the mad old lady who owned the bank (Topsy Turvy is a gre..."

I'd agree - Postal was better but Money was ok. I'm reading Unseen Academicals right now. I'm not a sports fan so I didn't know if I'd like this one but its great. And the first one of focus on the wizards in a long time - Rincewind has cameos ;-)

Unseen Academicals

[Dan]

Libby wrote: "Maeve wrote: "Yes, I'd like to see more of them too. "Money" definately wasn't as good as going postal, but I still enjoyed it. I liked some things, like the mad old lady who owned the bank (Topsy ..."

I finished Unseen Academicals a couple days ago. I'd forgotten how funny the wizards were.

[Libby]

Agreed - it was nice to see them again. Like old friends you forgot how much you liked!

[Dan]

Libby wrote: "Agreed - it was nice to see them again. Like old friends you forgot how much you liked!"

Definitely. I could go for another book starring the witches next.

[[deleted user]]

Dan wrote: "Libby wrote: "Agreed - it was nice to see them again. Like old friends you forgot how much you liked!"

Definitely. I could go for another book starring the witches next.
"

Haven't read Unseen Academicals yet, but I fervently hope that Terry Pratchett will finish Tiffany Aching's story, which should also finish Granny Weatherwax's story.

[Mai]

I don't think I've even heard of Unseen Academicals. How long has that been out?

[Dan]

Maeve wrote: "I don't think I've even heard of Unseen Academicals. How long has that been out?"

About a week.

[Mai]

Ah. Well, that would explain that, wouldn't it? Lol.

[Barbm1020]

Jeanette, I love the witches too but don't want their stories ever to be finished! I know writers don't keep writing for a hundred years, but it's not time to end the stories yet, is it? You know, Conan Doyle tried to "end" Sherlock Holmes and it didn't take, and it was embarrassing. I wouldn't want to go through that with Granny Weatherwax. She has already had so many near misses when she goes Borrowing.

[[deleted user]]

Barbm1020 wrote: "Jeanette, I love the witches too but don't want their stories ever to be finished! I know writers don't keep writing for a hundred years, but it's not time to end the stories yet, is it? You know..."

I certainly don't want the witches to end! But, I would like to see the final installment of Tiffany's story. Tiffany is the only witch who will ever match Granny's headology straight on!

I felt Thud! brought us to a good place with Vimes and the 4th Tiffany book needs to do that for Tiffany, Granny and the MacFeegles.

[Mai]

I agree with you Barbm, I never want any of the series to be finished, or at least not in a way that leaves no opening for further stories. The way Thud ended would be perfect. I would really hate to see a major character like Vimes or Granny Weatherwax killed off.

[[deleted user]]

Maeve wrote: "I agree with you Barbm, I never want any of the series to be finished, or at least not in a way that leaves no opening for further stories. The way Thud ended would be perfect. I would really hate ..."

I certainly DO NOT want Granny to die!! I don't think she ever will. :) I just want to see Tiffany finally "grow up" and take her place among the witches. She is a great character, but still quite young.

[Mai]

Yeah, that's going to be brilliant. Hopefully we'll actually get a book in which that happens.