NationStates Jolt Archive

Come on fellow Terry Pratchett fans (I know you're out there), Lets get together to discuss our favourite books! Talk about what makes them so enjoyable!

Personally its his sheer, irreverent sense of humour, and his fantastic characters. Death has to be one of the most entertaining characters in any book i've read. A seven foot tall walking skeleton in a black robe who likes cats? Pure class!

Come on fellow Terry Pratchett fans (I know you're out there), Lets get together to discuss our favourite books! Talk about what makes them so enjoyable!

Personally its his sheer, irreverent sense of humour, and his fantastic characters. Death has to be one of the most entertaining characters in any book i've read. A seven foot tall walking skeleton in a black robe who likes cats? Pure class!
It's the little things like death riding through a rose bed on a motor bike and ending up with a black rose in his teeth (Ala Alchemy). Loads of little touches like that. Wish I could add more but clocking off now and going home!

I bought the first two books of Discworld recently. I've heard good things about them. I haven't started them yet, as I decided to tackle Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell first.

I bought the first two books of Discworld recently. I've heard good things about them. I haven't started them yet, as I decided to tackle Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell first.
You'll enjoy them...or at least you should. I remember I read The Light Fantastic before The Colour Of Magic...not necessarily the most sensible idea...
Reading the third Science of Discworld book at the moment; it's just as good as the other two. And Rincewind's in it, which is always a bonus. And the Luggage...

Oh yes, the luggage, in Interesting Time it has a few offspring... most enjoyable. Pratchett manages to incorperate people and beliefs even places from our history into the Discworld.

And I agree, Death is a rather amusing person, although I quite like the idea of a human being rlated to said skelton (Susan).

Yes, I like his incorporation of real places into discworld.

And Rincewind... aah, a character who is actually more cowardly than his suitcase!

The scene in Pyramids with Teppic and the Sphinx, gets funnier every time you read it :cool:

ah yes ... "What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at midday, and three legs in the evening?"

Why not to apply logic to riddles!

The books improve throughout the series, as one might expect. The stand-alones are some of the best, in my opinion. Pyramids and Moving Pictures, most notably, though the Guards series is my favourite collection of books, with the Witches a close second.

Hmm I think it is actually better to read some of the later ones before you read the earlier ones. A lot of the earlier ones conflict with the later books. For example take Two-Flower in the Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic - he is clearly described as literally having four eyes (and the cover artist shows him with them as well) but later in Interesting Times, this is swapped for Two-Flower simply wearing glasses in order to fit Pratchett's established universe. This is but one example, there are others which tend to be more subtle and related to character.

My favourites are Small Gods, Witches Abroad, and Night Watch.

Monstrous Regiment is brilliant.

The Wee Free Men!

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell is good.

Hmm I think it is actually better to read some of the later ones before you read the earlier ones. A lot of the earlier ones conflict with the later books. For example take Two-Flower in the Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic - he is clearly described as literally having four eyes (and the cover artist shows him with them as well) but later in Interesting Times, this is swapped for Two-Flower simply wearing glasses in order to fit Pratchett's established universe. This is but one example, there are others which tend to be more subtle and related to character.
I think you're forgetting alternative histories...
And anyway, that's not the earlier books conflicting with the later books, that's the later books conflicting with the earlier books [/pedantry].

Personally, I think the best Discworld book is Small Gods; certainly one of the funniest, and there's so many parallels with the 'Roundworld universe' (as in all the books).

I've been meaning to read a Pratchet book, but whenever I consider it I invariably end up reading The Hitchhikers Guide again.

Monstrous Regiment is a truly brilliant book. But I love anything with the guards, especially Detreitus (spelling?). And the WeeFree men is a great book even though its meant for kids.

Personally the "roundworld parallels" are part of what makes discworld awesome for me.

Commie Catholics, I would encourage you to give Pratchett a try, its in the same mould as Douglas Adams... (i.e. awesome)

I love discworld, i have almost every book and read every one pretty much every one over the past decade or so, but the ones i can't get into are the witch ones...

I thought Going Postal was pretty decent :) Not one of his best but still very very funny :D

Crackers :D

I like his almost Adams-esque, irreverent sense of humour and his extremely witty comments on life and society. I've read all but two of his books (Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and Equal Rites) and my favourites are still the Ankh Morpork city Watch books. But a couple of weeks ago, at university, a member of the theatre department was wheeling a cart down the hall with a giant "wizzard" hat on it, and the first thing I thought was "well, you can't really have a wizard without the hat, can you?" It even had big gold and blue stars on it! Terry pratchett is easily my second favourite author, after Douglas Adams, of course and Death remains one of my favourite characters, along with Detritus. Also, I was thinking on who would I cast for any discworld movies (Pratchett is dead set against their being made) and I realised that a woman I work with could be a perfect fit for Nobby.

I dont know what it is about him but Vimes always reminds me of Blackadder, so in a movie id like to see Rowan Atkinson (I cant spell can I) play Vimes.

He held a reading at Elf Fantasy Fair this year and I was lucky to be there. The guy isn't only fun in his books, he's a very nice storyteller as well. He told me about his new book which features the Guard (hurrah!). He told usthat commander Vines has a son now and every night around 6 when the wee one goes to sleep, he reads his favorite book which is a sumup of what noises does a barnyard animal make. One night he contemplates further that the only sound that a cow for example makes according to city lads is sizzle instead of "mooo".

I tell you the guy is a great storyteller and probably has created one of the best fantasy worlds ever.

The Watch are the best, with witches being a very close second. (i know someone already said this).

As for specific books....I think Masquerade and Night watch jointly take the cake.

I've been meaning to read monstrous regiment.

anybody else here read "Carpet people" ? It's a great book, wonderfuly fun.

oh, and as for WHY i love his books, it's the many many random details and tangent explanations. Not to mention the sheer absurdity.

Like in (i think) colours of magic, when the barkeeper is going to burn down his tavern to collect on the insurance (in-sewer-ants :p ) and death gives him the match :-p

The witches, the witches, the witches. Absolute favourite of mine.
Followed closely by the Night Watch, I enjoy the conversations between Vimes and Vetinary.
Followed by the wizards. All of them, the entire Unseen University. Being a librarian myself, I always LOVED that Orang-Utan...

I read the Carpet People ages ago, and the Digger Trilogy as well

"I thought i should inform you," said the voice "that you have just broken the sound barrier"
He turned around to the others "All right, own up. Who broke it?"

The Watch are the best, with witches being a very close second. (i know someone already said this).

As for specific books....I think Masquerade and Night watch jointly take the cake.

I've been meaning to read monstrous regiment.

anybody else here read "Carpet people" ? It's a great book, wonderfuly fun.

Which version of CP? The one he wrote at 17 or the one he edited at 47? ;)

I just got him to sign a few of my books at the Hay-on-Wye festival a few weeks ago.

I read the Carpet People ages ago, and the Digger Trilogy as well
The Bromeliad...first Pratchett books I read.
Actually, I tell a lie...that was Only You Can Save Mankind. It's halfway decent, but nowhere near the Discworld books. And the Johnny and the ... books ain't fantastic either. Well, Johnny and the Dead's ok. The Unadulterated Cat is sheer brilliance though.

Pratchett is, or was, probably the best fantasy/humour author going. I say was because his later books seem to have lost their way. He's stopped writing for humour and started preaching. All his more recent books have to have a moral to them, a moral which is driven home with the literary equivalent of a *very* large club with nails in it. This is quite in contrast to the earlier books. He's lost his sense of subtley and from The Truth onwards he's been on a downward slope, in my opinion anyway.

In any event Rincewind remains one of my all time favorite characters in both the Fantasy and Humour genres and TLF and COM are still two of my favorite books, closely followed by anything involving The Watch - Apart from Nightwatch which suffers from the problems I spouted about earlier.

If you like Terry's work you should probably take a look at the Discworld Mud, which you can find here : http://discworld.atuin.net

Personally, I prefer the later books. I've never found them preachy. What I feel is that he's spreading his wings, writibng something a little more than a gag-fest.

But each to his own. :)

I think he did go a bit off course with Monstrous Regiment. It seemed forced, but it was still good.

Personally, I don't like the first two as much as the rest.

I'm a full fledged Pratchettian. I have every single book, and I bought a few copies of Reaper Man beacuse I loan 'em out.

Why? Its one of my favorite books, and has my all time favorite quote...

"But if people knew when they were going to die, wouldn't they live their life better?"
IF THEY KNEW WHEN THEY WERE GOING TO DIE, THEY WOULDN'T LIVE AT ALL, I THINK.

I'm paraphrasing, but stll.

After Reaper Man, my two favorite are The Truth (Which was a -ing good book!) and Going Postal. Both have a background in things I believe in, and are a good example of the Pratchettian theme of Perception vs Reality, especially Going Postal.

"The Truth's got it's boots on now!"

*sighs* Ah, memories.

But.... my all time favorite book, hands down, isn't Discworld.

It's Good Omens, which sums up my religious beliefs quite handily.

"He grew up human!"

And the final scene with Crowly and ...er, I forget the angel's name, but the two of them, discussing, and the Angel says something about, "But, what if this was all part of God's Ineffable plan?" and then an old man nearby does something, and the two forget that line of thought, and the old man smiles.

But.... my all time favorite book, hands down, isn't Discworld.

It's Good Omens, which sums up my religious beliefs quite handily.

"He grew up human!"

And the final scene with Crowly and ...er, I forget the angel's name, but the two of them, discussing, and the Angel says something about, "But, what if this was all part of God's Ineffable plan?" and then an old man nearby does something, and the two forget that line of thought, and the old man smiles.
Aziraphale
'Tis indeed a good book...especially the line "I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAYS, I NEVER LAID A FINGER ON HIM". Yes, that's Death speaking, about Elvis Presley...

And the WeeFree men is a great book even though its meant for kids.

indeed. i can't get many Pratchett books. the ones at my library are all the kids ones.

I like the Guards. Carrot and Angra.
but my Favorite is the Patriarch.

I LOVE Weyrd Sisters, Soul Music and Lords and Ladies, mainly because every time I read them, I find yet ANOTHER parody. It's like, the more you read classic lit, the more jokes you get that he has hidden in there. Just like listening to some (drunk) Aussie friends over here sing Waltzing Matilda (sp?) and telling me about the Man from Snowy River, I finally understood the in joke behind The Last Continent.

Still, I think the best set up line was in Good Omens.

"Hells Angles huh? What chapter?"
"REVELATIONS, CHAPTER 6."

Hmm the best Discworld book - that is a tricky one....

I think my favourite recent one (i.e. last 5 years) has to be Night Watch, simply because it was so radically different and darker to any of the previous ones. It had a lot less humour than many of them but it replaced the humour with real substance. Unlike many of the Discworld books, it has a good ending (too often they are convulted). It is a character study of Vimes first and foremost and an excellent one too.

The rest of them - I think all of the Guards! series and the Death series can be recommended. Reaper Man was very good indeed and oddly touching (as many of the Death novels are).

I like the Guards. Carrot and Angra.
but my Favorite is the Patriarch.

I think you mean the Patrician ;)

Lord Havelock Vetinari.

While he is quite as unpopular as his predecessors, unlike them Lord Vetinari is disturbingly sane and still alive. He has achieved this by ensuring that even though all power-wielding groups in the city dislike him, they dislike each other more. He also carefully arranges matters so that a reality which includes him as Patrician is slightly better than one which does not. The Assassins' Guild no longer accepts contracts on the Patrician - he is the only person besides Samuel Vimes to have been taken off the register.

More to be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrician_of_Ankh-Morpork

Oh, and its Angua, not Angra. :)

I got Small Gods signed by Terry when he was out here a few years back...

Ive read about fifteen of them. Mort is currently my favourite. just can't beat it.

I think you mean the Patrician ;)

Lord Havelock Vetinari.

While he is quite as unpopular as his predecessors, unlike them Lord Vetinari is disturbingly sane and still alive. He has achieved this by ensuring that even though all power-wielding groups in the city dislike him, they dislike each other more. He also carefully arranges matters so that a reality which includes him as Patrician is slightly better than one which does not. The Assassins' Guild no longer accepts contracts on the Patrician - he is the only person besides Samuel Vimes to have been taken off the register.

More to be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrician_of_Ankh-Morpork

Oh, and its Angua, not Angra. :)Ah yes, thanks. After I moved, I lost most of my books. :(

I've always loved Detritus. Great guy. Still, I think Vimes is one of my favourite characters in any series. He has enough idealism to be well meaning, but is still incredibly cynical. A wonderfully constructed character.

As well, Death as a detached observer is a work of art. I really liked him in Hogfather, as well as Reaper Man.

I just can't go past Rincewind as my favourite character - he reminds me so much of a few wizards I had in old D&D campaigns...:p