I read Going Postal as my first last spring and enjoyed very much. I’ve recently decided to plow through the entire series chronologically. I’m currently about a third of the way into Wyrd Sisters. So I’m not going to vote, but it’s interesting to see I have some good material to look forward to.
May you be cursed to never be able to read another Pratchett book for making me choose only one!
Not even Unseen Accademicals, which I have already paid for (and am waiting for the damn postal workers to finish their strike so it can be delivered)?
Well, since you’ve already ordered it…
it turns out that it’s Twilight, but just with the UA cover.
I hate you.
Night Watch is Literature.
MY UK copy of UA has been despatched, according to Amazon UK. Woot!
So was mine. I was supposed to get it on Thursday!
Never have I been in the horrible sitiuation of seeing it there in the shelf in Waterstones, mocking me, saying “Look at me. You can’t buy me. You haven’t got me yet”
Going Postal was my first Discworld book, and I liked it so much I went back to start from the beginning with The Colour of Magic. I’m only up to Interesting Times, which I’m reading now, so that limited my choices.
That said, I voted for Reaper Man. Death is probably my favorite character so far, and Reaper Man, while just as funny as any of the other books, also turned out to be an incredibly touching story by the end.
Small Gods was a close second.
ETA: I’m starting to get really pissed off with Amazon.com. I don’t know if they suffered some sort of ordering snafu with the publisher or what, but the “mass market paperback” versions of Discworld books seem to have completely vanished and all I can find are Kindle editions. And I don’t have a Kindle.
I voted for Last Hero because a) I love it, b) almost no one else will vote for it, c) it’s FANTASTIC and d) it was tied in my mind with 6-8 others and what the heck, I had to pick something.
I did a +/- poll (rather than just-pick-one) and the results are in the thread–which I can’t find right now. They won’t be surprising. The useful bit there is we also got to find out which books most people like the least. I can post the data here if anyone is interested.
I just searched amazon.com for “pratchett discworld” and got a bunch of the Mass Market Paperback listings.
Let me know what you’re looking for and I’ll order them and have 'em shipped to you. 
I had to vote for Small Gods, simply because as a stand-alone I believe it captures the essential feel of Discworld.
My other favourites are favoured because they are excellent examples of their story lines, but I really don’t think Lords and Ladies can be appreciated without having read Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad, and I cannot imagine enjoying Night Watch anywhere near as much without knowing Vimes already.
Small God’s for me. It was my first Disc world book. The only one I couldn’t get thru was Night Watch. Don’t know why, I’ve tried it twice now and still can’t finish it.
Oh, I can do that if I just search for “Discworld”. The problem I’ve been having is in looking for specific titles. I have a page on my personal site listing everything I’ve read in the last few years, including a link to each book’s Amazon page. Lately, as I’ve finished individual DW books and added them to the list (including titles that I purchased from Amazon in the first place), I’ve gone to Amazon to look up the title to get the correct link and been presented with a list that has the Kindle edition, the audio version, the stage play version, versions translated into other languages, and a whole bunch of “out of stock” links.
Nightwatch
Hoggfather
Soul music and Going Postal for the tie in 3rd.
Def. my top 3 right there.
Though I’m amused to see that Small Gods- the one book I couldn’t get through is in 2nd place. Maybe I should give it yet another try… The 5th time’s a charm perhaps?
My copy of Unseen Academicals was just delivered!
About 20 seconds ago.
And I’m pleased, and relieved, to reveal that it isn’t Twilight wrapped in the UA cover!
It was difficult for me to choose as well. I went with Going Postal, but all the Tiffany Aching books together are very special to me. She is one of the most real fictional characters I know, and I’ve really grown to care about her emotionally as if she were real, as if she were a relative or a friend of mine. Reading the Aching series is a different type of experience for me than reading the other books.
Interestingly enough Mosit Von Lipwig is a role model of mine even though IRL I am much more alike Commander Vimes. It may be that Lipwig has the talents I don’t have but have always wanted. In the words of The Patrician, I am seriously “style-lacking”.
I went with A Hat Full of Sky because I think the Aching books are the best work he’s ever done. Brilliant, eloquent, and touching. And, I think, a very important counterpoint to the “rely on authority and/or luck” ethic that I think the Harry Potter books had a bit too much of.
Of the “normal” Discworld books, I’d say Night Watch is the best-written and most engaging, and Wyrd Sisters and The Last Continent are probably the funniest. The witches and the Unseen faculty make for the best comedy, and I think those books show them at their funniest, respectively.
Wait a sec! I voted for Thief of Time, not Interesting Times! I mean, I love IT too, but my vote was supposed to got to ToT.
No wait, don’t tell me, sloppy patchwork by the History Monks?
I’ll fix that.
Drat - you made me choose just one!! I love Witches Abroad, but it’s closely followed by* Night Watch*. This has to be my favorite series of books, ever. 