It’s eventually revealed that Magrat got her name because her parents weren’t very good spellers: She was supposed to be Margaret. And other Lancrians include names like Jason, Shawn, and Agnes.
And Small Gods is probably the best place to start, if you don’t plan on starting at the beginning. First of all, it’s very good (many consider it his best), and second, it’s fairly disconnected from most of the other books (it takes place hundreds of years previously), so there won’t be too much that you’re expected to recognize from the other books.
Oh, and Carrot and Nobby aren’t those characters’ actual names, either. Carrot is Dwarfish, and has a Dwarfish name meaning “Head banger” (he’s six feet tall). He presumably goes by “Carrot” among humans because of his red hair. And Nobby’s full name is Cecil Wormsborough St. John Nobbs, and if you had that name, you’d go by a nickname, too.
I read like five or six Discworld books before I finally gave up. I found them to be mildly amusing, but not nearly as funny as they were touted, and it took me like a week to get through each one, which was absolutely ridiculous, considering how short and light they were. I was sure I was wrong and that since everyone else liked them, I would eventually figure out what was so great about them.
After awhile though, I just said “forget it. Not everyone is going to like the same things.” I made a good faith effort.
Now, if only I can get people to stop insisting that I read the wrong five or six books and that if only I would read X or Y book I would totally understand that Pratchett is a genius OMG!!!, that would be super awesome.
I understand being annoyed by that, but the reason is that everyone has their favorites and ones they don’t much like, so if you tell them you’ve only read the ones they don’t much like, and didn’t much like them, they naturally feel you might have similar taste as them and therefore might like the ones they like.
Personally, I couldn’t even finish Small Gods or Mort, which a lot of people like.
But I liked Guards! Guards! a lot.
The one I would recommend first though is The Amazing Maurice. Probably the best starting point.
I’m glad you like Colour of Magic, if just because you’re in for a treat when the books start getting stronger. I’m afraid I wasn’t too thrilled with CoM, but then I wasn’t too thrilled with the Wizards storyline as a whole. The Witches are better, but my favorite storyline is the Night Watch (which starts with the aforementioned Guards! Guards!).
But even the weaker books had their moments–I really liked The Luggage, for instance.
Hmm, this is making me want to go dig up my Discworld books again.
That’s a really good call - Maurice is a really astonishing book. Another good starting point is the Tiffany Aching books - they’re Discworld, but (at least for the first couple) only just barely related to the rest of the series. A lot of bookstores stock them in the YA section, instead of with the rest of his books, though.
Really? I found the Tiffany books to be the most boring, honestly. Tiffany as a lead character is simply not compelling, IMO. I much prefer Vimes.
I’m rather sad that we’re not likely to have any more books on Death or Susan, though. And his last few books (to me, at least) appear to be more formulaic than anything. I suspect it might be due to his… condition.
Given the formatting of some of them, let’s just say that he may have had some, er, back-alley dealings in e-books.
But yeah, he specifically hunted down books he believed I would like to have on my reader; he also loaded a bunch of them for mudgirl; all the Series of Unfortunate Events, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, etc. I’m assuming he couldn’t find Diary of a Wimpy Kid, as those are her faves and aren’t on there. Still, when she has to be still/patient for some length of time (not her specialty!), having my Nook sure is handy for her!
I own every book Pterry has ever written, most in signed First Editions, and many in multiple copies. The only ones I’ve bothered to load onto my Kindle are the Vimes books. Sam is who I want to be when I finally grow up.
Welcome to the flat side. Avoid the Luggage, it doesn’t know the difference between human beings and cookies.
IIRC and quoting from memory, in Guards! Guards! (Carrot’s first appearance), it is explained that he is not called Carrot because of the color of his hair, which his father keeps cut short for reasons of Hygiene, but because of his shape. IOW, he already went by Carrot among his homeland dwarves and the hair is specifically not the reason for it.
Now I’m getting excited to read more just so I can discover more about these characters!
Yes, I’m already discovering that. However, it would be handy when trying to get into a hotel (the cheaper kind without bell hops is the kind I frequent), to have luggage I don’t have to carry.
People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, “Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
– Carrot travels to Ankh-Morpork (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)
GG and WS are natural places to start, since they are each the beginning of a sub-series and are decently along in Pterry’s career, so he has a handle on the Disc and what he wants to do with it.
It also helps that both books have extremely strong central characters (GG - Vimes, Carrot, The Patrician. WS - Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick )
I’d disagree - strongly. Thud!, Unseen Academicals and I Shall Wear Midnight, especially, are the exact opposite of formulaic. What formula are you seeing?
