Your Favourite discworld book - and why

Wyverne

What can i say, for me it has to be lords and ladies

simply top notch, my favourite discworld book, i have read it countless times, i have this copy that i got YEARS ago in paperback and i read it now and then...

when Terry Pratchett was in dublin last time signing books, i brought it with me and asked him to sign it, so heres me with a copy of his new book like everyone else (it was carpe jugulum also a great book) and this decrepid old copy of lords and ladies...

he took it off my hands and took one look at it then wiped his hands on the uniform of the easons girl to his left,

hmmm... sarcy bastid :-P

still great book, the ogg´s, trolls, the wizards, the librarian oook!, the village of lancre,

it has more of the main characters of discworld than any other book and it is simply brilliant...

anyway nuff said really

Señor Juárez

cant say ive read it, tehres a few i havent acquired yet...

reaper man and Mort were among my favourites tho

Sarky

Interesting Times is a fabulous book, butmy fave is always going to be Feet Of Clay. The part towards the end where Dorfl goes nuts and "makes use of some sage and an onion" among other things had me suffocating with laughter.

bozzie

my fave discworld novel has to be between mort and lords and ladies
my fav scene in any of the books is at the end of feet of clay where dorfl has a chat with the preists about religion (aint nothin scarier than a ceramic athiest )

Cake Fiend

Very tricky to pick one out of my favourites (GG, MAA, IT, M) but I think I'd have to go with Guards! Guards!

The watch books seem to be consistently good, I'm currenty reading Night Watch after it sitting there for 6 months (first book I've read in over a year that didn't have a computer-related title).

lordsippa

It's a toss up between Feet Of Clay and Small Gods.

Feet of Clay is undoubtably the best written and paced Discworld story, and a damned funny one at that.

But Small Gods is just incredibly hilarious!

Small Gods wins, but part of me wants to rethink it...

Funky

im a bit of a fifth elephant fan for some reason , guess i just like Vimes ass whooping

Señor Juárez

its so hard to choose, isnt it? theyre all so good

colour of magic i didnt find as good as the others tho for some reason...

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

it used to be "interesting times", but i haven't read that one in ages so I don't know how it will hold up any more..

i used to have to put the book down for a few minutes at some points to catch my breath, laughing too damn much

Señor Juárez

lol, i know what you mean. the sarcasm is so blatent. its annoying not to have anyone to laugh with

therannu

Thrilled to see that Feet of Clay has been so well-represented on this list! It's a mystery that gets better every time you read it, because you can see where it's going. Vimes is just getting to the stage where you're falling in love with him. There's the whole "dwarf in a dress" thing, the "will Angua leave Carrot" thing, how much does Vetinari know what's going on, and, of course, a good old-fashioned dose of rat poisoning.

savemejebus

Most of the Discworld books are great but I'd have to say that my favourites would be Guards Guards (first Discworld book i read and i couldn't put it down after the opening secret society bit) and the last continent

AL][EN

I think the funniest DW book i ever read was Interesting times that bit when the horde fighting the ninja's i actually hurt with laughter the whole book it like that,

but the best book story wise is Guards Guards. any scene with carrott in the book was great

Sarky

"Come on then, give us your best ninj."

-Cohen, to the ninjas.

lamda

I think i'll have to say Soul Music. So funny, love all the references to music and such. ANd Death on his motorbike!!

MrGump

Im reading ur copy of soul music at the moment lamda, as i forgot to take it to Germany with me. Tis very funny indeed, music with rocks in it!!! Oh terry, u are hilarity personified.

As for my favourite i think i favour Small Gods, great stand-alone and Brutha was a loveable guy. Also, he has been mentioned in so many other books, i cant remember which ones, someone will know.


Also like Thief of time and witches aboard.

Pugsley

Of what Ive read (not much) Id go for Theif of Time, Lu Tze has to be the coolest sweeper ever

Tree

i reckon men at arms is the best, just finished rereading it last night. i think the city watch novels are the best, followed closely by the death novels.

Ravaan

Small Gods. Poor ickle Om.

"Let there be lettuce!"

An amazing character. Unrepeatable, but for that one book Om was one of Terry's finest creations.

Honourable mention goes to The Truth, Lords and Ladies and Guards! Guards! as well.

BKtje

Small Gods was brilliant , have only read three of the Discworld books but thus far thats my fav

TheSonOfBattles

I'd have to go for one of the Watch series of books myself aswell, one of the main reason's being that they were the first one's i'd read with Gaspode the wonder dog in them.
One of the best character's ever, and almost forgotten a lot of the time.
Couldn't pick one of them in particular though.
I'd say it'd be Nightwatch tbh.
That scene where Carrot is exclaiming that the wizards have lost in space and time, and all the wizards are only just figuring it out had me in stitches. Pity he didn't feature more though.

The Beer Baron

Moving Pictures was the 1st Pratchett I ever read.
I thank echo for that.

Always good to have a thousande elephants- I can't think of any movie that wouldn't be improoved by the addition of a thousande elephants.

Soul Music- yeah, I really laughed at that one two. I think that was my second Pratchett book. I like when he does spoofs.
Whenever HEX takes centre stage, for example, I just know I'm in for a painful, eye-watering, breathless fit of the giggles.

And finally Guards Guards!
Vimes is the man. If all cops were like him the world would be a much better place. I think Vimes is one of the best written and real characters in any book- odd then that he happens to be from a world that's balanced on a turtle.

/me takes a swig of coffee from his Samuel Vimes Fanclub mug.

Plasticman

Small Gods is the best. What with Om and the smiting. And Vorbis was the most evil character ever.

Ravaan

Yeah. Pratchett took the character Dios from Pyramids (who was also of the close-minded, sinister persuasion) and in Vorbis made him doubly sinister, triply close-minded and quadruply bloodthirsty. I don't think there's been a villain quite like him.

(But then I've not read Hogfather yet and I hear Mr Teatime's a particularly unpleasant fellow)

But the star of the book is still Om.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

teh-ah-time

and yeah he's a pretty messed up character..

carcer is pretty buggered in the head too (from nightwatch), although we don't really get to see much of him.. he's the most erm.. human (real) of the villains I thought, he was just a criminal.. not some uber priest, not crazy or insane.. just.. wrong.

TheSonOfBattles

Carcer was definately a good bad guy. You were wondering up until the end whether Vimes would kill him, which is always cool, and he just seemed so mental in the head, the way he wasn't even fazed when he did something wrong, after all can't blame a man for trying, can't put him away for that eh?

Sarky

Originally posted by Mordeth
teh-ah-time

Tsk tsk. Teh-ah-tim-eh.

AL][EN

im half way through reading night watch and i can honestly say its the best bit of writing ive ever seen, from a storyline point of view in my opinion its the best bit of narrative work that prachet has EVER done.

i haven't been kept memorized by a book like this in years i find myself wanting to sneak off to the canteen in work and read a couple of more pages if you've read the guards books and most of prachetts other work you'll find this brill

Auburn

Just read Colour Of Magic recently. Are the books meant to be read in order, as in, are they all continuations, with the same characters n' stuff? Or can they be read in any random order?

savemejebus

there is kindof an order to some of the books, those involving Rincewind, Vimes, and witches but having said that they can all be enjoyed separately.

Ravaan

There's a suggested order:

http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~gidnsuzi/readord.html

You *will* get more out of them if you read them in some sort of order.

Auburn

Ok, thanks savemejebus and Ravaan. :cool:

That link is really handy. Didn't want to read them in the order they were written, so at least now I know which ones are related!!

Macseamusa

The watch books are good. But i think soul music is a beaut. And also the book where Rincewinde gets to controll the clay warriors is great. Cohen becoming ruler of an empire lol. The last hero, (i think its called) is also a great book.

sweep_101

Night Watch is the best one that i have read. It a little darker then some of the others and has some good Vimes moments

Ravaan

I just finished Night Watch 2 nights ago. I can see what every one means when they say it's dark and an instant classic. However I found the elvish invasion of Lancre in Lords and Ladies to be far darker.

Anyone wonder what Rincewind'd be doing during Night Watch? - He'd have been a student at UU at the time. If you reckon Night Watch starts in AM1990 and Vimes goes back to AM1960* Rincewind'd have only have been at UU for a few years, the Librarian would still have been human and the stuff from Colour of Magic still wouldn't have happened yet. I guess Terry didn't want to ruin the book by trying to fit too much in.

* http://www.co.uk.lspace.org/books/timeline/dw-timeline.html

passive

i have to put my vote in for night watch too.
i only had a loan of it and i don't usually bother to buy books i've read but i'm making an exception for this. it was excellent
definately his best work and i'd be surprised (although pleasantly) if the books can get better from here..it felt kinda perfect, amusing and gripping
(and i felt monstrous regiment to be, while good, a big step down after night watch)

Q_Elexra

I've just finished Pyrimids and not only has it become my fave Pratchett book but also leaped 'The King Beyond The Gate' by Gemmell to become my fave book ever.

It's probably just my obsession with classical cultures that put it up there????

NotWormBoy

Night Watch. Its not as funny as the rest, but there is something that keeps you coming back to it. And once you take it up, you can't put it down.

The fascination lies in wondering how the lilac is going to come into the story and also how Vimes interacts with the people from his future, especially himself.

And the one character that remains cool throughout the entire thing - the Patrician.

Slutmonkey57b

Reaper Man for sheer hilarity - Men at Arms for Carrot.

JIZZLORD

it's hard to say, Pratchett goes into so much detail that they are all brilliant, though i love the books on the watch.

jongore

This is an impossible question!
Night Wath was brilliant, The Truth was extremly funny,Soul Music made me laugh til I cried, I don't think Terry wrote a bad book and I love them all.

daisyhead

I love them all, but for the big fat exception of Equal Rites, which just doesn't do it for me! Worryingly, I quite ancy Vlad from Carpe Jugulum, should I fear for my sanity?:dunno:

OfflerCrocGod

Originally posted by daisyhead
I love them all, but for the big fat exception of Equal Rites, which just doesn't do it for me! Worryingly, I quite ancy Vlad from Carpe Jugulum, should I fear for my sanity?:dunno:

Yes. As far as not liking one book from the series it would afto be Monstrous Regiment - the only book, from the entire series, I will probably never re-read.

savemejebus

have to agree with those two sentiments, equal rites and monstrous regiment, were to me so disappointing. Monstrous regiment especially because it started off so well and had so many little things like the vampire flashbacks, but the last 100 or so pages just made me want to burn the book (something that i haven't wanted to do since i read wes cravens novel, fountainsociety of something)

jongore

Ouch, hard critisism, Although both books where not Terrys best I liked both, MR started very well but got a little predictable, ER was a little disjointed but O.K.

Sarky

Equal Rites was experimenting with Granny Weatherwax and the whole idea of Discworld witchcraft, I think. She's very different the next time she appears, in Wyrd Sisters.

Pratchett is in danger of digging himself into a comfortable little rut. He's got well developed characters in a whole world, and he has to do very little to write a book about them. I sincerely hope he puts in as much effort on his next books as he did with his earlier ones, and doesn't just take the easy "how can I work Vimes into THIS story" way...

Sooner or Later

My favourite would have to be Guards!Guards!

Probably the funniest thing he has ever written. Loved the passwords at the wrong door, the million to one chances, and the dragons. Plus it's the first Sam Vimes book.

3-D Preacher

All of them! Really, they're all funny and absorbing and cinematic (mental images anyone?) and... Arrgg... must... not... rave...
But the one's I read the most frequently (a couple times a year) are Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music and Hogfather.
And the 'Rinser Of Winds' saga.
And...

Fysh

It's a funny thing, but I've stopped re-reading my Pratchett books since I started working, probably because of the lack of free time.

In terms of books I most enjoy....I have to admit, the first books from each of the groups tend to get ignored, because I don't much like re-reading the character-establishing bits. Guards Guards is the honourable exception here.

All time favourite? Can't pick one. Different books for different things....Interesting Times, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Moving Pictures, Witches Abroad...argh.

funny thing about Monstruous Regiment - I thought it was pretty good, although Vimes's appearance did feel a bit forced. But I can't see myself re-reading it, because I've tried once and just couldn't keeo interested; went for about twenty pages and then...*plop* just couldn't be arsed carrying on.

On a totally separate note, am I the only person who'd quite like to see another Johnny book?

JohnK

I don't think I have a favourite, or at least I can't think of it right now. My most disliked would have to be Monstrous Regiment. One of the worst books I've ever read.

angeldelight

Hi, I recently read Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett and loved it so I was wondering if somebody could tell me the name of hte firs 3 discworld books in order so i can start reading them? thanx!