Quite fancy starting to read Terry Pratchett but not sure which one to start with . . .

[BalloonSlayer]

any ideas?

I've already started Equal Rites but only the first chapter! Vampirey stuff not my particular thing but I'll keep Carpe Jugulum in the pile of books to read.

Let us know how you get on with Equal Rites and then maybe someone can suggest the next book to read, depending on how much you enjoyed it.

At some stage you have to read The Colour of Magic - for the Luggage

Wyrd Sisters or Mort. Very addictive though... and be prepared to dissolve into uncontrollable laughter regardless of your surroundings...

I'd also recommend his non-discworld books, I love both Dark Side Of The Sun and Strata.

Ooh you lucky cow, having the whole of Terry Pratchett ready to explore.

Leave Nation (non-Discworld) until you are somewhere private with a ready supply of tissues...

oops, that sounds really dirty! Tissues for blowing your nose on, it's really sad...

Oh one of the difficult questions .

You could just start with The Unadulterated Cat as an introduction to TP's sense of humour. DH is of the view Good Omens would be best. Wee Free Men caused our eldest to laugh out loud.
Warning read on the train/ in public at your own risk as TP apt to make you laugh out loud.
Thud/Nightwatch and Jingo (if only for the Wilson, Keppel and Betty section).

Enjoy !

Yes, Good Omens is a great place to start. Dh had to practically drag me kicking and screaming to read TP because of the cover design on the early Discworld novels - I think it may have been Good Omens and The Unadulterated Cat that persuaded me it was worth exploring his work some more..

Just to add to the throng, I started with Equal Rites and loved it. I would also leave the first two until later, they are so different theres not much pll

Argh! Posted too soon.

There's not much plot which you will have missed in the later books. I'd try to start near the beginning though as you get the joy of seeing the characters grow and hearing their stories unfold that way, if you started midway through the order of publishing, read a few and went back you'd already know what happens to some of the characters.

If it hasn't already been made clear above though, there's different groups of characters, eg witches, police, wizards, barbarians etc and each novel tends to feature one group. Therefore, if you are careful, you can read all the books about one "group" without fear of spoiling too much of the plot about other groups. We could guide you on the next book of each group, IYSWIM. :)

Can I just thank BalloonSlayer for starting this thread and MN for putting it in the Books email round up. I don't seem to venture into this section very often so would have missed it.

I'm going to start checking charity shops and will be at the library a lot!

DD started with The Hogfather, as we saw the tv adaptation. She must have read it 30 times before she was 12! Then she got onto the Tiffany Aching series (I shall wear midnight, Wintersmith, one other?), then Wee Free Men (that's a TA as well isn't it?!). There are so many, I can't remember which is which, really.

I like the ones with Foul Old Ron because I still puzzle over "Millenium hand and shrimp". What is that?!!!

And I like Sgt Angua.

The Watch series is my favourite, I love Sam Vimes as a character. The witches run a close second. The first of either of those would be a good start.

The Colour of Magic/ The Light Fantastic do a lot of sending up of established fantasy authors, so if you aren't into the genre they're a bit hit and miss.

Death in Reaper Man is beautifully done, and Maskerade is a hilarious send-up of Phantom of the Opera. TP hasn't written any really duff books - a dodgy TP is still miles better than nearly everything else.

I'm reading them to the DDs right now - we've done Mort and Reaper Man, the entire Witches series, all of Tiffany Aching and are now on the Watch series about to start Fifth Elephant (which is a bit dark, but very good).

I envy you.

I am very proud to report that ds has discussing the brilliance of Pratchett with his teacher and she is a fan too - ds reports she described TP as 'a king' (which sounds a little odd but hey, it's a 9yo's recall of a conversation that happened several hours previously).

So do you think The Hogfather would be a good place for DS1 to start? He's 11. He used to be an avid reader but now not so much and I'm trying to find something to whet his appetite you will enjoy reading again child, you will

He's got the latest Rick Riordan from the library but he doesn't seem to be getting into it. I'm not sure if the size of the book is something to do with it - it's quite hefty - and he might actually have to make an effort

The TP books seem to be on the smaller side don't they? I could fool him into thinking he'll have it read quickly but there'll be the bonus of him hopefully enjoying it IYSWIM

Also, I am enjoying Equal Rites very much

good omens, love that book!

The Hogfather is one of the slightly longer ones, I think. What sort of stuff is ds interested in, LetUsPrey?

I think the most 'masculine' oriented ones are probably the ones featuring Sam Grimes and the watch, but he might enjoy Going Postal (post office and telecommunications - not computer/tech stuff though, they don't have that yet!) or Making Money (banking). Then there's the one about setting up a newspaper which I can't remember the name of, there's the witchy ones, there's the Unseen University ones (wizards). Oh they cover everything really! There'll definitely be one which covers things your ds is interested in.

Thanks for the suggestions. DS1 likes sciencey stuff, his DS and his Kindle. Sadly the Kindle is not being used for its intended purpose. In a moment of madness, I said that if he tried his best and did well in his SATs, he could have Minecraft. If I can forge any sort of connection between Minecraft and a TP book, I'm sorted!

He was editor of his class newspaper though so the newspaper one might be good too. Thanks for all your help

I started with Guards Guards, got hooked and decided to start at the beginning.

Is this the newspaper one? The Truth.

Library visit on Saturday I think.

The truth, yes! That's the one. It's the start of the printing and the start of newspapers.

It's one of the things which lifts Pratchett out of 'comic fiction' or whatever, and into a rather more lofty category. He thinks about how things might begin and how they could develop, things whch are shrouded in the mists of time, and then incorporates them into Ankh Morpork.....

The Truth is not one of his great ones, but it does make some serious points. I just think that many of his Vimes novels make those same serious points and do it better. I've just finished reading Jingo to the DDs, they had a lot of questions. TP is a great talking point in addressing some of the big questions children ask about life, the universe and everything.

"I started with Guards Guards, got hooked and decided to start at the beginning."

Me too, in the very early 90s at the point when there was only Eric and possibly Moving Pictures already published after it (I definitely remember waiting impatiently for Reaper Man to come out). If I'd started with CoM / LF I doubt I'd have perservered, because I don't read conventional fantasy (if that's not an oxymoron) and they are very much a parody of that genre so no doubt most of the satire went straight over my head, plus as others have said he was still finding his 'voice' - compare the Granny Weatherwax of ER with the later incarnation, for instance - but knowing that they evolved into the delights of Guards, Guards kept me at it. And I do love The Luggage.

Wyrd Sisters was the one that then rubber-stamped my love for TP, having studied Macbeth at A level, and ever since the Witches and the Watch have been my favourites.