Discworld author Terry Pratchett has died aged 66

It was such a sucker punch when I heard the news. The amount of my childhood and teenage years I spent in Discworld, I genuinely had to hold back a tear.

If you've not read any Pratchett, or you've only read one or two books, I'd heartily recommend leaping in. Here's the list I posted on Facebook, to the indifference of many:

The Unadulterated Cat:
Non-fiction. If you’ve ever owned a cat (or more accurately been owned by a cat), you should already have read this.

The Wee Free Men:
90% of the characters are Braveheart stereotypes. One is called No-As-Big-As-Medium-Jock-But-Bigger-Than-Wee-Jock Jock.

The Dark Side of the Sun:
A pre-Discworld sci-fi ripping Asmiov. In my head, the film adaptation opens with This Is Tomorrow by Bryan Ferry.

Oh, and a few Discworlds too. In no particular order: Going Postal, Making Money, spiritual predecessor The Truth, Guards Guards, Feet of Clay, Soul Music, Hogfather, Eric, The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Monstrous Regiment. Personally I started with Interesting Times, which despite being a semi-sequel to The Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic was distinct enough to serve as a superb introduction to a bloody funny writer.

He doesn't do chapters no. But he definitely does use paragraphs.

I'd add the Witches books to the list of recommendation. So...

Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade and Carpe Jugulum. If there's more after that I've not read them. But the ones in bold I'd especially recommend. There's a definite progression of time in the Discworld books, so some of them make more sense, or at least you get the references and jokes better, if you read them in order.

Lucien wrote:
Call and Answer wrote:Recommendations

Thanks for those!

I don't think I ever got through a book, only because the one I had was a wall of paragraph-less, chapter-less text. I think. Did I make that up or was that his style?

Chapterless yes, but properly paragraphed and such. There are natural lulls in the storytelling that effectively serve as chapter ends.

I put The Unadulterated Cat first because I think it's probably the best way into his writing. It's a short standalone non-fiction about owning cats, extremely easy to dip into, and a good showcase of the general tone of Pratchett. It's also bloody funny.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:I'd add the Witches books to the list of recommendation.

I didn't include them because I remember them the least. I liked the Witches as characters, but I remember finding the actual stories they were in less enjoyable than the Watch or Rincewind ones. Although Maskerade and Carpe Juggulum are firing some neurons in the back of my brain.

Witches Abroad has some of the best lines, i think.

Which I'm not going to ruin here.

Except for "this one".

Also, recommend Reaper Man. Small Gods.

Call and Answer wrote:
Lucien wrote:
Call and Answer wrote:Recommendations

Thanks for those!

I don't think I ever got through a book, only because the one I had was a wall of paragraph-less, chapter-less text. I think. Did I make that up or was that his style?

Chapterless yes, but properly paragraphed and such. There are natural lulls in the storytelling that effectively serve as chapter ends.

I put The Unadulterated Cat first because I think it's probably the best way into his writing. It's a short standalone non-fiction about owning cats, extremely easy to dip into, and a good showcase of the general tone of Pratchett. It's also bloody funny.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:I'd add the Witches books to the list of recommendation.

I didn't include them because I remember them the least. I liked the Witches as characters, but I remember finding the actual stories they were in less enjoyable than the Watch or Rincewind ones. Although Maskerade and Carpe Juggulum are firing some neurons in the back of my brain.

Fair enough. One of the great things about Discworld is that there's so many characters that there's something for everyone.

But for me the Witches are my favourites. Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, Magrat. :wub:

Oh and Greebo. :twisted:

Cheeky Devlin wrote:Oh and Greebo.

Oh God, how had I forgotten Greebo. :fp:

I seriously need to reread the Witches books.

Lords and Ladies is brilliant. I loved the Witches stories. The Wee Free Men books are really good too, Wintersmith being a highlight.

It only hit me last night just how much time I've spent reading his books over the years. Picked the Colour of Magic up when I was about 13 and haven't stopped since. I'm 37 now and it's pretty safe to say his work has had a huge impact on my life. Christ, he even made me enjoy a book about football of all things.

Really going to miss him :cry:

Still heartbroken.

Started Colour of Magic last night. Gonna read them all in order.

NBK wrote:Lords and Ladies is brilliant. I loved the Witches stories. The Wee Free Men books are really good too, Wintersmith being a highlight.

It only hit me last night just how much time I've spent reading his books over the years. Picked the Colour of Magic up when I was about 13 and haven't stopped since. I'm 37 now and it's pretty safe to say his work has had a huge impact on my life. Christ, he even made me enjoy a book about football of all things.

Really going to miss him

That was probably my favourite Witches book. I still always remember the bit whereMagrat shoots the Elf through the keyhole with a crossbow and sets Greebo on another.

I love the footnote for Bestiality Carter. :lol:

He mentions him and then makes you wait a couple of pages before the footnote.

:lol:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/11474455/Terry-Pratchett-will-live-on-in-the-clacks-thanks-to-fans-programming-code.html

Lovely idea. Not sure how it works, though.

I saw that earlier today and put it on our server at once:

...
Location: http://bast.cowg.co.uk/
Server: nginx
X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett

I have never loved you more than i do right now. Awesome gesture KP.

:wub:

I just read about this and came on to post it. Of course it had been picked up already

Thank you

Discworld author Terry Pratchett has died aged 66

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