discworld

Merry Christmanoëlavidad!

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Photos of the two books that I bought Christine for Christmas: A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett, and Designing Terry Pratchett's Discworld by Paul Kidby

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, a Joyeux Noël and a Feliz Navidad, should you be celebrating today.

Once again, we’re staying with my parents in York for Christmas, having arrived last night. Whilst I’ve been lucky enough to work somewhere that closed at 4pm last Friday, for Christine, Christmas Eve was a normal working day. We’re here in York for a few days.

As per usual, we’re not having turkey – it tends to fall to my mum to cook Christmas dinner and she’s not a fan of turkey. Instead, we’re having pork.

Pictured above are the gifts that I bought for Christine:

Yes, there’s a theme. My gift to her last year was Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch (sponsored link), written by Rhianna Pratchett about her father’s characters, and required a bit of a mad goose chase around the various bookshops of West Yorkshire to find a copy. Thankfully, the glorious Waterstones in Bradford came up trumps.

I’ll have probably opened my presents by the time you read this, but I’m writing this ahead of time.

Getting started with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books

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The Discworld Reading Order Guide 3.0 - a chart showing all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and what order to read them in

Last Monday, I posed the following question to my Facebook friends:

Let’s imagine that you have a friend who has read a few Terry Pratchett books, but none of the Discworld books, and would like to start somewhere – which book would you recommend?

This friend has also seen the Sky TV adaptions of Colour of Magic, Light Fantastic and Going Postal.

And this friend may also be me.

27 comments later, and I received a useful list of starter books:

  • Guards, Guards!
  • Wyrd Sisters
  • Pyramids
  • Equal Rites
  • Mort
  • Reaper Man
  • Going Postal
  • Soul Music

Of these, ‘Guards, Guards!’ was the most popular suggestion, and so that’s my next audiobook on Audible. I’m about 30% of the way through it already. It’s okay – it’s narrated by Nigel Planer (aka Neil from The Young Ones), who does a good job. However, the breaks between scenes could be handled better. I think I found Good Omens to be a funnier book.

Discworld is a bit like the Marvel Cinematic Universe; there are lots of books that follow different groups of characters. There are several books with which you can start with, and some of these coalesce into a larger story. There’s even a diagram, which I’ve included above.

You could, of course, read the Discworld books chronologically, starting with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, but I gather that these aren’t Pratchett’s best works. That, and I’ve already seen the TV adaptations so I know the plot.

I will probably read another of the starter books next, before delving into any particular pathway through the Discworld universe. However, I have a couple of other books to listen to first, thanks to some recent Audible daily deals. These include The Long Earth, another Pratchett book which was a collaboration with Steven Baxter, and is more science-fiction than fantasy.