Terry Prachett

[Lintra]

Back in early May as my life began to get really messy, a friend of mine recommended the Disc World books as a light distraction. I'd never read them before, and was desperate for a time filler, so, sure what the heck. If I like them there are 30 or so.

Finished the last one (I know of) last night ... I've been nursing the last 6 ... rationing myself to no more than 3 per month.

I loved almost every one of them. There are only 2 sets of books I know that will cause me laugh out loud ... Hitchhikers Guide and these. For those of you that have read them there are ***so*** many classic lines. One of my favorites "Tax the rat farms" has become a euphimism here at work for "You are missing the obvious".

Looking back I am very impressed how the world, and author, progressed from hapless Rincewind (almost slapstick comedy) to the Guards (still filled with comedy ... still tongue in cheek ... still very clever ... but draped over a story worth reading).

I am going to go back and reread the first few to see if the depth was present then as well ... or if they are just a rolicking good laugh!

[Arma]

I am a huge fan of the series. My favorite - Witches Abroad, Masquarade, Going Postal. And, naturally, Small Gods. It is quite a feat to combine some serious humour with some serious views on quite a number of issues.

[Lintra]

Witches Abroad is one of my favorites! Actually, when I think about it, almost all of them are one of my favorites. I tried to come up with a listing of my fav's but it is almost impossible. I'd wind up listing at least 1/2 of them! I *loved* "The Last Continent". It was Rincewind at his best (worst?), but also featured Ridcully (whom I adore as a character) - and, of course, the whole charactarization of the folk down under was a riot. Come on, the sheep shearing scene? OMGs I was rolling on the floor. Was that my favorite, maybe ... maybe not. It is sooo mood dependent.

Rincewind reminds me a lot of Pinnen and his RP exploits at the SBR. Guess he must've read them ... and if not he should!

[dteowner]

Top notch stuff. Only author in the same league is Robert Asprin, although he lost his mojo for a bit there.

[Jaz]

I can't always put up with his slapstick humor when I'm not in the mood, but generally spoken I like Pratchett. Couldn't tell you which novel I liked best, but my favorite character is Vimes. He's... touching.

[dteowner]

I think I prefer the staff at Unseen U, with Vetinari a close second.

[Jaz]

Vetinari? He's great.

[Arma]

Speaking of favorite characters, I like Nanny Ogg. She's a riot, I just can't get enough of her, Terry really has to do another witches book.

Of another note, I liked the golem Anghammarad (from Going Postal). Not wanting to spoil too much, but a certain scene featuring him was probably the most emotional one I've read in a book. Ever. Really touched something in me.

[Dr. A]

Oh yeah, Terry Prachett is definitely a national treasure. I have read all his books at least 3 times. It's really hard to pick a fave character - i guess it's a tie between Vimes (sensitive, extremely ethical yet tough as nails) and Nobby.

I have lol'ed in public several times while reading his books. Harry Pothead can bugger off, Rincewind is cooler :)

[Lintra]

Vimes, Vetinari, Ridcully, Granny W, Rincewind, Luggage, etc, etc they are all great characters. And I love the way they unfold over the books ... Vetinari, Vimes and Granny W in particular grow over time into very interesting types.

[Arma]

The thing I like is that almost every characters grows throught the series in a very adorable way. Even characters that don't appear for more than just one book.

Speaking of witch, the bad news is that the next novel (Making Money with Moist) got delayed to the spring, as it was needed to wash away the bad impression Thud! left in me. Not that it was such a bad book, but that's two sup-par Watch books in a row. And that was a bit too much for me.

[dteowner]

Aw, don't tell me that. I've got Thud! waiting for me at home.

[Corwin]

As I've never read a TP book (I'm always dubious about humour in novels) what's the first book in the series; I'll check it out at my local library!!

[Dr. A]

I believe the first Discworld novel is "The Light Fantastic"...But you can also try the first novel of the Watch (the city guard of the largest cities on Disworld) which is "Guards! Guards!"

[dteowner]

I thought "Colour of Magic" came before "Light".

*checking, checking, checking*

Yep, "Light" is #2.

[Arma]

It doesn't matter where you start one, all of them are stand-alone titles that can be read in no partucular order, though some can be arranged in a series, as they share particular characters. My first one was The Fifth Elephant, and still one of my favs.

[Dr. A]

Thanks for the correction, dteowner :)

[Danicek]

I love Prachett. Always makes me laugh and feel relaxed...

[Bartacus]

I've started reading those books only recently on behalf of my sister. I have read the first 10 now and I must say that these are among the best books I've ever read. Other great books for me were 'It..' (Stephen King) 'Imagica' (Clive Barker) LotR (Tolkien).
I've taken a break from TP for now and I'm reading Harry Potter books. It's like a less lot insane then TP and unfortunately less fun too. Yet I do think the books are still quite good.
A small, but important remark: I'm reading the books in my native language (Dutch) and therefor can not form a real opinion on the books like you can. I do think however that a lot of jokes in TP books would pass me unnoticed cause of my lack of knowledge of the English language. (I can understand 95% of it, but stm that's not sufficient and it's unpleasant to read with a dictionary next to you)

[Danicek]

A small, but important remark: I'm reading the books in my native language (Dutch) and therefor can not form a real opinion on the books like you can. I do think however that a lot of jokes in TP books would pass me unnoticed cause of my lack of knowledge of the English language. (I can understand 95% of it, but stm that's not sufficient and it's unpleasant to read with a dictionary next to you)

I've read TP books both in my native language (Czech) and in English and I have to say that I enjoy them more in English. I believe they are pretty easy to read and to understand. I don't think you should have problems with them, Bartacus. Did you try?

[Prime Junta]

He's a very uneven writer, though. Some of his books feel rushed and are rather repetitive; others are true gems. IMO he's at his best with his "children's" books -- The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is probably my all-time favorite.

I also liked Dark Side of the Sun, which isn't Discworld at all. And yeah, Nanny Ogg rocks.

[Arma]

I've read books in both my native language and English. And I find them far more enjoyable in English, but that's mostly a personal preference.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I've switched from reading the novels in my own language (German) to reading them in English.

I particularly like the tiny bits of German-sounding words or even German words in the novels, for example in The Amazing Maurice ... :D

Now, last week a friend of mine showed me a calendar with pictures of the Hogfather TV series ... up to then I didn't even know about it. Seems that PTerry himself is in there ! (Wikipedia has a small page about it).

Last novel In read was Thud! I honestly dislike the horrible american & German cover, but the original English one is superb. I'd like to have it as a wallpaper. :D

What few people know is that Rhianna, his daughter (don't know how many children he has), is an editor of a gaming mag, as far as I know, and that she wrote a novella for Beyond Divinity. It shipped with the British versions of the game, I think. Currently unavailable otherwise. She has a nice humour in it, too.

I've got a signed book - from the only time he was in Cologne. He even was in my home town, Leverkusen, near Cologne, when a novel of him was played on stage. Sadly I got this info only few days after the event. :( I'd still like ti kick myself for that (to me it's like hgetting to know that Jeff Smith, author of Bone, was actually here in Bonn, south of Cologne, on his signing tour, and I got to know it only a week later ! I was almost banging my head on the next wall for that.)

In short : I love his books, and the older he gets, the more he writes, the better his books become. :D

[Alrik Fassbauer]

He's a very uneven writer, though. Some of his books feel rushed and are rather repetitive; others are true gems.

I personally believe his "worst" books are the early ones, and the newest ones are actually very good, imho. But that's my personal opinion.

To me, it's a matter of how old his books are.

[Bartacus]

I've read TP books both in my native language (Czech) and in English and I have to say that I enjoy them more in English. I believe they are pretty easy to read and to understand. I don't think you should have problems with them, Bartacus. Did you try?

Nope, I didn't try it out yet. Normally when I do have the chance to read a book in my language, I will take that one above the original version. When I don't have the chance, I will try to read it in the native language. -> I'm reading the Harry Potter books now and the sixth book wasn't there in Dutch. There was an English book at the library, so I simply took that one.

[Arma]

Bartacus, sometimes there are things that cannot be translated very good. Especially things like word plays, which can often be found in Terry's books. At best, this could be remedied as simple as a provided explanation on behalf of the translator, but I've heard that in my language's translation this led to cutting entire paragraphs ...

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Yes, word games are increadibly hard to translate. I tried it with my own, very few short stories.
At least I *kenw* what intention I had in using them - a professional translator often has not, unless he or she contacts the author.

[Bartacus]

I have the feeling they did a decent job, since I still have tons of fun reading a TP book. I know however when you need to form an opinio of a writer you can only do it when you've read the book in the native language of the author