Be Excellent To Each Other

Quickly give me a list of Terry Pratchett books that are good. I'm nearly done with Going Postal you see and I've rather enjoyed it.

I really liked Small Gods and Interesting Times.

All of them except Unseen Academicals, which, unfortunately, was written by a bloke with mental problems pretending to be Pratchett.

I read a couple DiscWorld books and wasn't too bothered but Good Omens was really good.

The Guards ones are my personal favourites. Favour the later ones.

That should do. Let's see what I find in the library.

Night Watch is my favourite, but to really appreciate it, you could do with the background for the city guards and the 'maturation' of the city watch & the Patrician, for which the basic primer would be:

Guards Guards (also rather good)
Men At Arms (the direct sequel, and pretty good)

.. then there are some not as awesome books, tho 'Feet of Clay' will give you an interesting background to Going Postal...

Thief of Time gives more depth to the Monks of Time (also a very very good, but this kind of follows on from Mort->Soul Music->Hogfather to get the backstory for Susan Death)

Monstrous Regiment is a rather good almost standalone one too.
As is Maurice & his Amazing Educated Rodents.

I forgot about Sourcery. That's what a young Wizard should be like: a complete little shit, bent on power but ultimately naive and powerless.

Cock off, Harry Potter, you boring little bastard.

I've a soft spot for the Tiffany Aching ones and the book I bought Gill a few years back, Where's My Cow?*
*I think it was the bedtime story from Thud!.

Man, I almost cried at the bits about Baby Sam in Thud!, but then I'm (a) a dad with a baby called Sam and (b) a big softy.

A second or third or fourth vote for the Watch ones - they're the best by a long way, and Sam Vimes is possibly one of the greatest characters ever.

My life, Monstrous Regiment was quite quite awful. Almost as bad as Moving Pictures.

The Truth is excellent, as is Witches Abroad and Lord and Ladies. I'm a witches fan.

I think I've enjoyed pretty much everyone I've read but my favourites are witches ones or Ankh Morpork ones (which often means the city watch as well.) I really enjoyed Monstrous Regiment though just because it was something completely different. It seemed to start quite differently because it was unfamiliar but by the end it was the usual excellent nonsense with clever and funny conclusions.

Feet of Clay or Interesting Times? They're the easiest for me to get. Which one?

See also this for the easiest to get:

List of books available to me

If its Witches you want then Masquerade is a great story and I think would work as a "First" witches story (rather than going back to Wyrd Sisters which is a bit 'dry'

Sir Terry has often said if you want a starting point then he would point to Morte , and that he has become a better writer as time goes on - if you have enjoyed "Going Postal" then "Making Money" is the next in that series (with the continuation of the Moist storyline)

The full list from Wikipedia - Night Watch is probably my favourite but it helps if you've read the other Guards ones to get the background

Some of the Standalone ones are also very good , I enjoyed "Pyramids" , and "Small Gods" is an interesting story with only 2 'recurring' characters

1 The Colour of Magic 1983 Rincewind Came 93rd in the Big Read.
2 The Light Fantastic 1986 Rincewind
3 Equal Rites 1987 The Witches, The Wizards
4 Mort 1987 Death Came 65th in the Big Read
5 Sourcery 1988 Rincewind, The Wizards
6 Wyrd Sisters 1988 The Witches Came 135th in the Big Read
7 Pyramids 1989 Miscellaneous (Djelibeybi) British Science Fiction Award winner, 1989[5]
8 Guards! Guards! 1989 The City Watch Came 69th in the Big Read
9 Faust Eric 1990 Rincewind
10 Moving Pictures 1990 Miscellaneous (Holy Wood), The Wizards
11 Reaper Man 1991 Death, The Wizards Came 126th in the Big Read
12 Witches Abroad 1991 The Witches Came 197th in the Big Read
13 Small Gods 1992 Miscellaneous (Omnia), The History Monks Came 102nd in the Big Read
14 Lords and Ladies 1992 The Witches, The Wizards
15 Men at Arms 1993 The City Watch Came 148th in the Big Read
16 Soul Music 1994 Death, Susan Sto Helit, The Wizards Came 151st in the Big Read
17 Interesting Times 1994 Rincewind, The Wizards
18 Maskerade 1995 The Witches
19 Feet of Clay 1996 The City Watch
20 Hogfather 1996 Death, Susan Sto Helit, The Wizards Came 137th in the Big Read; British Fantasy Award nominee, 1997[6]
21 Jingo 1997 The City Watch
22 The Last Continent 1998 Rincewind, The Wizards
23 Carpe Jugulum 1998 The Witches
24 The Fifth Elephant 1999 The City Watch Came 153rd in the Big Read; Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 2000[7]
25 The Truth 2000 The Ankh-Morpork Times, The City Watch Came 193rd in the Big Read
26 Thief of Time 2001 Death, Susan Sto Helit, The History Monks, The Witches Came 152nd in the Big Read; Locus Award nominee, 2002[8]
27 The Last Hero 2001 Rincewind, The Wizards, The City Watch Published in a larger format and fully illustrated by Paul Kidby
28 The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents 2001 Miscellaneous (Überwald) A YA (young adult or children's) Discworld book; winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal
29 Night Watch 2002 The City Watch, The History Monks Received the Prometheus Award in 2003; came 73rd in the Big Read; Locus Award nominee, 2003[9]
30 The Wee Free Men 2003 Tiffany Aching The second YA Discworld book
31 Monstrous Regiment 2003 Miscellaneous (Borogravia), The City Watch, The Ankh-Morpork Times The title is a reference to The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women[10]
32 A Hat Full of Sky 2004 Tiffany Aching, The Witches The third YA Discworld book
33 Going Postal 2004 Moist von Lipwig Locus and Nebula Awards nominee, 2005[11]
34 Thud! 2005 The City Watch Locus Award nominee, 2006[12]
35 Wintersmith 2006 Tiffany Aching, The Witches The fourth YA book.
36 Making Money 2007 Moist von Lipwig Locus Award winner, Nebula nominee, 2008[13]
37 Unseen Academicals 2009[14] The Wizards, Miscellaneous (Nutt)
38 I Shall Wear Midnight[15] 2010 Tiffany Aching Fifth YA book

I'd choose Feet of Clay , Interesting times is nice but as you have Rincewind in there it helps to know a bit of his background.

I think you'll also appreciate the "crap 80's movie references" in it :-)

I think I may actually have two books I haven't read yet that I got at Christmas and completely forgot about what with all the meds I was on at the time and everything...I also haven't read 'Making Money' and hadn't realised it was a sequel of sorts, I'll need to look that out!

Making Money I found to be a complete disappointment after the excellent Going Postal

I really enjoyed it , although I agree "Going Postal" is the better book.

Despite it showing loads of TP books in stock it seems there's only 4 (inc graphic novel) that I could see. Maybe have to scout around a bit.

Good Omens is class, but that was a collaboration I think.

In terms of Pratchett only, I particularly enjoyed Small Gods as well, together with Mort. Hogfather, Carpe Jugulum and Wyrd Sisters were pretty shit IMO, though.

Reaper Man was sort of okay.

I'd avoid the graphic novel for a while (either Eric or The Last Hero)

Eric is 'okay' but is quite basic , The Last Hero is not bad but it helps if you know Cohen's backstory

Correct , with Neil Gaimen , its also set in the 'real world' rather than the Discworld - theres often been talk of a movie (with Terry Gilliam down to direct but its never really went anywhere)

From the ones available to you - Death Trilogy, Night Watch and Thief of Time in that order.

Oh and ignore Cavey, if you didn't know that already.

Guards! Guards! is probably the book I have read the most out of the handful of books I have read more than once. My copy of the book is very well worn.

Also anther vote for Small Gods.

Reaper Man
Lords and Ladies
Moving Pictures

...for me. But I stopped reading by the late 90s.

And, as a kid, I fucking loved Truckers/Diggers/Wings.

The first one I read is Mort. Turned out to be an excellent first choice.

Everyone choosing different books is not helpful. Anyway I've gone for Feet of Clay. I did find more of his books, they were on the shelf below. Nightwatch is there. And Thud!, Colour of Magic. A few more too. Maybe I can turn this into a vote.

Feet of Clay is a very good choice.

Harumph! How very dare you sir! I am a literary expert!!111

In my opinion, the single best Discworld book is...

Strata
Lords and Ladies. Even though Granny is the biggest Mary Sue ever.

Please vote again, I accidentally wiped the vote.

I voted for Guards Guards, simply because I think the stories set in Ankh Morpork and particularly with the guards are consistently excellent and you want one as early as possible to set the scene for later books. I think Guards Guards was the first in Ankh Morpork although I'm not 100% confident about that.

You can feel 100% confident about that if you like, for you are correct.

... I hadn't thought of that before. True, that.

I am confused, I chose from the books easily available to you and the Death Trilogy is by far the best option from that list but it isn't in your poll.

All three Death books in one volume can't be beaten by any single book from the series.

It's not there by accident probably. I could only have 30 options and I deleted ones I thought weren't suggested. Sorry.

Small Gods = all sorts of awesome.

I agree , however going for one of the early books in a series opens up more than going for the standalone one :-)

Regardless of which one you choose next (in the list I've voted for Guards Guards as it starts so many things off) you should read Small Gods at some point.

BTW have you played any of the old Discworld games ? , the first one was very roughly based on Guards Guards (with the Dragon!)

The first one was bloody awful. "Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"
"Anyone get the number of that donkey cart?"

Mort is my favourite, followed closely by Wyrd Sisters, Sourcery and the three "core" City Watch books.

I really need to read Good Omens again.

I just had to vote for Small Gods again, bizarre. (Seriously worth a punt; the book is based on a really clever, novel idea).

(Glad you like this one too, Curio. Adds much needed credibility to my recommendation, at least no doubt according to Nemmie? )

I should say so. Imagine Pratchett with the same clever humour and pseudo occult backdrop, but with most of the wittering, meandering crap thrown aside, only to be replaced with a much sharper, darker focus. It's truly one of the best reads I've ever had; a marvelous book. Pity the corraboration ended there, I would have to say. (It's too late now though of course, sadly).

It would make an awesome film, if handled and casted 'right'. I really, really hope they do it, but not in a HGTTG (the movie) kinda way.

For the record there is very little meandering in the Discworld books and some of them are very dark as Cavey would know if he had actually read more of them. But as he is in an intransigent arse he will never actually do this but is guaranteed to pop up in every Pratchett thread to bleat this nonsense anyway.



However, he is right about one thing, Good Omens is great.

Also on a related note I bought Maskerade the other day in a charity shop and then found that I already have a copy so if anyone wants to read it let me know and I will send it on to you.

Hmmm, 'intransigent arse'... blimey, you have the memory of an elephant old chap.

Seriously though, I freely admit to not being best informed about Pratchett; I haven't read many of the books that have been listed, precisely because I got bored with them in the end - I need a more direct, powerful narrative. Of course, it's all a matter of taste and preference anyway.

(I did really like Small Gods though, and nearly everyone likes Mort anyway).

Never say never and all that , Terry is still writing (i didn't mind Unseen academicals) his next book comes out shortly - and Neil Gaimen also still writing (including writing a Dr Who story for next season).

That's a fantastic thought, but seeing poor old Terry at the last Dimbleby Lecture, he is clearly an unwell man. Therefore I doubt it very much.

Interestingly though, Good Omens is Pratchett's most read title according to the Big Read, bar only one Discworld novel only, Mort, which as I've indicated is fantastic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100_2.shtml

Hey, maybe I do know what I'm talking about, then?

All true. It helps that I really, really liked the Just William books as a boy and so really enjoyed Pratchett/Gaiman riffing off of them.

Neil Gaiman's "solo" prose stuff is good, too. I'd thoroughly recommend American Gods.

Yeah, American Gods is great. Anansie Boys, less so.

Having read just over 50 pages of Feet of Clay, I'm not really enjoying it and I'm having trouble figuring out what it's all about really. It so far seems just a bunch of stuff without much overall plot. I dare say it comes together eventually but it's proving a frustrating read.The humour is starting to irk a bit as well. Never mind your silly little jokes, just get on with telling a story.