When Lobsang recently started a thread about Science of Discworld III, it quickly evolved into a perennial discussion about what Discworld was, and what order one should read the books. There wasn’t a lot of talk about the book in question, but it got me thinking about starting a reading club. Most DW books are fairly quick reads and if you guys are like me, you’ve re-read many of them many times and possibly skipped re-reading some that you didn’t like very much. I know a lot of people here avoid the Wizard series, because they don’t like Rincewind, whereas I love the bantering among the faculty and how beautifully Pterry delivers the lines. I’m currently re-reading Hogfather and skipping some parts, but savoring the scenes at UU.
Anyway, a reading club could serve a lot of purposes. First, it’s another excuse to go back and re-read the books. Second, maybe I, or someone else, who is a fan of the Wizards can help someone else overcome their aversion and in turn, I might learn to appreciate Carpe Jugulum. I also think we could pick up on a lot of stuff that L-spaceweb hasn’t found. Their annotations are sorely lacking and not very up to date.
I can take it upon me to administrate it, but I want to make sure that enough people are on board, so the effort won’t be wasted. I realize that maybe all of us can’t read all books, but if someone doesn’t have the time or urge to read a certain book, I hope there are enough of us to keep the reading club going.
My proposal is as follows:
Read in publishing order. The canon (for us) should include all ‘adult’ novels, Including ‘The Last Hero’. Books for younger readers, cook books, maps ASF are not included. Science of Discworld does bring the Wizard arc forward, but since, IMO, only the first shows an effort on Pterry’s part, I think we should skip them.
It would be fun if DW newbies would join in, so I propose that we have open spoilers for the book we’re currently discussing, but spoiler boxes for anything relating to later works. I don’t think we should use spoiler boxes for books that have been discussed in previous threads.
A new thread every two weeks. They are quick reads, but let’s not overdo it.
Anyone care to join?