RIP Terry Pratchett

[RueDeWakening]

Just heard on the BBC that Terry Pratchett has died. I met him a couple of times, he was a lovely bloke and I shall miss him.

[Calfon]

I am very sad today. He will be greatly missed but to quote the great man himself '. ....no one is fully dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away....'

[RueDeWakening]

My favourites are Soul Music, Night Watch, Small Gods, and I love the Going Postal and Making Money ones with Moist von Lipwig (and indeed, Adora Belle Dearheart :o)

And all the Nac Mac Feegle ones with Tiffany Aching.

It's no good, I can't come up with a favourite, they're all fab for different reasons.

[RatOnnaStick]

Monstrous Regiment, Witches Abroad, Reaper Man, Jingo, Maurice.

And The Bromeliad.

Tomorrow I would probably say a whole different group of favourites.

[ClashCityRocker]

Soul music was my 'first' TP book - Susan is my role model!

Such an imagination, and great books that could switch from the absurd to the hilarious to the utterly moving in moments.

I think my favourite is Night Watch. Love young Nobby.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

I love the witches, I want to be Nanny Ogg when I grow up but I want to get to know Sam Vimes a bit better too.

[ClashCityRocker]

My nanny is nanny ogg!

[Provencalroseparadox]

Never read any of his books. Feel like I should but I know he wrote loads so can anyone tell me where to start?

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

Try //this, it's a guide to which order you should read them all in. Enjoy!

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

I knew as I pressed post that I hadn't pasted the link in.

Try again.

[Provencalroseparadox]

Thanks for that MsAdorabelle but I'm not actually finding it helps much.

[Provencalroseparadox]

Should I start with The Colour of Magic?

[RatOnnaStick]

No don't, it'll put you off. Its like watching a pilot episode of a long running show - completely different and experimental in tone.

I recommend everyone starts with Guards Guards, then Men at Arms, Feet of Clay etc along the City Watch row on the linked chart. Its the most accessible to a newbie and funniest.

or

Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad etc along the Witches row

or

Mort, Reaper Man etc along the Death row

[Cedar03]

That's a great way of describing Colour of Magic. To me it has lots of 'proper' fantasy fiction elements in it whereas once he gets into his stride that disappears.
I particularly like Guards Guards and also Reaper Man. They're good ones.

[ClashCityRocker]

I'd also recommend starting with the guards books - they also feature a lot of minor parts of characters in major books and will give you a good idea of the idiosyncrasies of the discworld.

My least favourite are the rincewind novels, but that's just personal taste. Wasn't too keen on the industrial revolution ones either.

Definitely think the guards, witches and death ones are the most accessible.

I always thought that I'd never manage to read all the discworld books, now it looks like I might get the chance

[PurplePoppySeed]

I personally love pyramids too! It's not really part of any other series so possibly not a good one to start with, but brilliant even so!

I agree about starting with guards guards!

So sad

[ChillieJeanie]

I re-read Jingo yesterday. It's a brilliant satire on politics, war, and the Kennedy assassination with plenty of Pratchett's incredible insight into human nature. Night Watch is my absolute favourite of his novels, but Jingo is the one that has had most re-readings.

There's an interview with his daughter, Rhianna, who has made her own name for herself in the world of video gaming and is now also the guardian of the Discworld, in The Telegraph. It sounds like an amazing childhood, growing up with someone she describes as like a "full-sized hobbit" for a dad. I can only hope that knowing how much Pterry was loved and admired by so many people around the world is a small comfort to the family at such a devastating time.