:D:D … and so am I, or rather “upper-lower middle aged”
But seriously- some of the punnage, Brit humour, literary references and in-jokes can sometimes take a bit to get used to. All of which are less (but still there, mind you) in the YA Discworld books. I known readers to open the 1st Discworld book (one of the weakest) and get turned off to Pratchett.
No worries there - I’m familiar enough with (and love) British humour that it shouldn’t be a problem! The Moist von Lipwig hanging scene was reminiscent of the Blackadder firing squad scene …
If you’ve started with Going Postal, why not work around it before jumping headlong into a new arc?
Start with The Truth which gives background on the newspapermen and then Making Money which is the next chapter in the MvL story. Then you could go to Feet of Clay for some golems. If you’re hooked at that point, just pick some books you like the sound of from the blurbs and get reading.
I’m still filling in the gaps in my Pterry collection and I started reading them 15 years ago. They’re all good, but I prefer the later novels, especially Vimes books.
You pretty much can’t go wrong with any of the books. Even the early Rincewind books are funny even though they are considered much weaker than the rest of the books. You will probably find yourself liking some of the character sets more than others, but they all have some enjoyable qualities to their story chains.
SQUEAK!
I haven’t read a Discworld book I haven’t enjoyed, though I’ll state that *Hogfather *and *Jingo *are probably two of my least favorite. Oooh, and Monstrous Regiment was great!
You are going on the list.
Put me down for the exact opposite. MR was a total waste of paper, IMO. Whereas Jingo and Hogfather are among the best the Disc has to offer. Oh, well. We have all sorts here. 
Pretentious is a good word. I dislike Vimes when he gets all self righteous. He clams up about it most times through the other books, and can be a good foil for other characters, but when he starts to spout out to the other characters how right he believes himself to be, protecting “his” city, it just annoys me. And there’s no humour in it when he does it, unlike Granny Weatherwax, who is a stuck up busybody when she gets self righteous.
I don’t laugh when I read the Vimes books (despite liking all the other Watchmen characters), but I do laugh when I read all the other books. If I come away after reading a Discworld novel feeling grumpy, that’s a bad thing indeed, and that’s what Night Watch does to me.
:eek::dubious:
Maybe my being female influenced my enjoyment of MR. I don’t dislike the other two, they’re just not anywhere near my favorites.
I’m personally of the opinion that the discworld books improve over time. The earlier books tend to feel kindof weak to me - I read Small Gods as my first Discworld book and it didn’t really work for me. I slogged all the way through it and don’t really remember being entertained. It wasn’t until I blundered into the series a second time with Men at Arms (Which remains one of my favorites) that I got properly hooked in.
Overall, I think my preferences is for the Watch books (Though Night Watch wasn’t my favorite because it was really justa -Vimes- book.) closely followed by Witches books (unless you count Tiffany books as Witches books, in which case they might edge over the top), followed by, hm, I liked the term ‘industry’ books someone used earlier (The Truth, Going Postal, Making Money being the three I’ve read.) And the Death books are further down (Mort didn’t really interest me, nor did Hogfather, really.) as are Rincewind books. I liked Monstrous Regiment too.
So yeah. Everyone likes “the Discworld books”, but the books they are thinking of may not be the same as the ones someone else is thinking of.
I am reading my fourth Pratchett book right now…
First I read Good Omens, which led me to read Small Gods. I loved loved loved Small Gods. It was both adorable and thought-provoking.
Now I am starting at the beginning. I did The Color of Magic last week and am in the middle of The Light Fantastic.
I really like this guy. He’s a very clever writer. I relate a lot to the wizard Rincewind (who isn’t mentioned in Small Gods IIRC) in the way that he naturally gravitates toward drama despite being really rather humble and cowardly. All of the fantastical creatures are strange and wonderful, but they really do reflect real people and situations in so many ways. Pratchett isn’t just funny, he’s smart. It’s a refreshing combination.
Just read Nation. Very good, but not a Discworld book.
Oh my, this bit had me howling, thanks to how often this kind of thing is brought up in grammar threads around here:
… and then Mr. Parker even speaks with inappropriate apostrophes
The English language is Pratchett’s favorite toy.