This will be my first time having read a Terry Pratchett book. A friend just gave to me hardcover first edition copys of Strata and The Colour of Magic. I know Strata was written first, but I don’t think they’re related story wise, so which should I read first?
Strata is not a discworld book. It’s an earlier novel where he explored the idea of a flat world.
Read Color of Magic first. But keep in mind that (IMHO) The Discworld really hits its stride about book 4 or 5.
I’ll agree with the honorable Qadgop – the first few Discworld novels are not the best. They are basically parodies of specific fantasy novels/series/conventions, and if you took out all the funny you’d be left with some kind of disjointed plots. The later books, on the other hand, are much more driven by well-rounded characters and don’t revolve as much around direct and specific parodies (although some are more general satires – Moving Pictures of Hollywood, Soul Music of the rise of rock and the modern music industry, Maskerade of the theatre business, etc). If you took all the funny out of, say, Jingo, you’d still have a pretty interesting plot.
Of Strata and The Colour of Magic, it doesn’t matter much which you read first because they’re not related. I liked Strata better, personally. But to really get into Pratchett’s writing, you’ll probably want to get ahold of the later Discworld books. It doesn’t really matter which one, as they’re all written in such a way that they can stand on their own two feet. Er, pages. Whatever.
Well, because I’m a stubborn and ornery Monstre, I chose to read them in the order they were written (or at least published), rather than in any of the alternate orders suggested by many Pratchett fans.
“Color of Magic” is the first, then. An interesting first outing, but more like a set of short stories (4, to be specific). But immediately after this is:
“The Light Fantastic”, which I greatly enjoyed. That one was fun.
“Equal Rites”
“Mort”
“Sourcery”
were the next few (and what I’ve reached so far). I’ve decided I like reading them in this order, since they are now alternating between different major characters.
So if you decide you need to read all the stories centered on the same character at once, then you probably want to find the sites that have charts on which ones are the “Witch” books, and the “Wizard” books, and the “City Guard” books, etc – to organize. If you like alternating, then join me in Chronological Order Stubbornness. 
I just finished “Sourcery” recently, and I enjoyed that one a lot.
You’re right, they’re unrelated. Strata isn’t in the Discworld series. I haven’t read it, but my sister has and she says it’s better than The Colour of Magic. So maybe you should start with that one.
The Colour of Magic works quite well as a burlesque of the fantasy genre (or rather several sub-genres, with each chapter taking on a different one), but as others have warned it does pale in comparison to the later Discworld books. People always mention this in case you read it and wonder why everyone raves about the Discworld series. Don’t let these warnings turn you off, though – The Colour of Magic is still better than anything, say, Piers Anthony has ever written. However, it does end on a (literal) cliff-hanger, so you’ll probably want to read the second Discworld book, The Light Fantastic, soon afterward.
I first read most of the Discworld series out of order, based on library availability. They don’t suffer much when read this way; aside from the cliff-hanger mentioned above each book is a self-contained story. Several are true “stand-alones” whose major characters don’t appear in any of the other books, but most are part of several sub-series dealing with different sets of reoccurring characters. It probably is best to at least read the sub-series in order. This spares a little confusion (Who are Susan’s parents? How does Rincewind know this guy on a faraway continent? Why is Magrat marrying the king?), although you should be able to work the important things out as you go. The real reason to read in order is so you can see how the characters develop across several books. Pratchett is very, very good at this. The characters actually learn and grow from their experiences.
Something like thisthis ? Personally, I like reading them in publishing order as well (which is how Mister Pratchett suggests (with the exception of Colo(u)r of Magic and Light Fantastic, which I couldn’t find until a few years ago).
Pterry is pretty good about restating any parts of the world construction that are necessary to understand a particular story. However, this gets more difficult to do in the later books. My personal suggestion is that you start somewhere in the middle:
Guards! Guards! or Men at Arms
Small Gods
Soul Music or Hogfather
Interesting Times
Carpe Jugulum
But that’s just me. I think you’d get a good feel for his style and humor without being completely lost in in-jokes or the previous history of certain characters.
Personally, I thought Color of Magic was pretty boring. I don’t think I finished it, as a matter of fact. (I really need to find my copy and finish it…)
I’d start with Guards! Guards!, Witches Abroad or Small Gods.
I read them well out of order - I think I started with Pyramids, and then went to near the beginning. It doesn’t hurt to read them out of order, but the later ones are much much better than the earlier ones. That said, there are three or four seperate “threads” in the series, and obviously, its much better if you start at one end of the thread. Here is a suggested reading guide, which shows how all the books interlink.
Thanks for the advice everyone. Colour of Magic it is then.
Sorry for not responding earlier, computer had a virus.