“If you have enough book space, I don't want to talk to you.”
Terry Pratchett
It seems that if I ever had the chance to meet Sir Terry Pratchett, we would have much to talk about – and a decent portion of it would be his fault. There are currently 39 books set in imaginary Discworld with several stand alone novels as well. I only started reading Sir Pratchett’s books this year largely because every time I went to the library shelf and considering trying to sort through the several shelves of books without any real idea of where to start and where to go from there, it seemed too daunting. Everyone kept talking about them, and I really wanted to give them a shot, so I finally picked out what seemed to be the first Discworld book and one other novel just because I liked the cover.
“Inside every sane person there's a madman struggling to get out," said the shopkeeper. "That's what I've always thought. No one goes mad quicker than a totally sane person.”
Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic
The first book, The Color of Magic was an entertaining read somewhat in the vein of P.G. Wodehouse. All perfectly timed dry wit, superbly crafted writing, and complete randomness. I enjoyed it, laughed at places, and decided to give the other books a try…some time. As a reader, I tend to need some meat to my books, even when I’m looking for a light-hearted read, and there wasn’t much beyond humor in The Color of Magic. I figured I would read the other book I’d checked out and then leave the rest of the series for some other time.
“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.”
Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
About twenty pages into The Wee Free Men, I realized why everyone is so keen on Pratchett. Within the dry wit and cynicism, glimmers of ideas and truths began to appear. The story wasn’t so much about a young girl defeating evil and becoming a witch, but about a young girl discovering how to become a young woman. The inclusion of tiny, blue Scottish pixies with a penchant for violence, swearing, and stealing might mask the book as a fairy tale, but the heart of the story was very down to earth…literally. In many ways, it was a story that is playing out in backyards all over our world. It just happened to take place on the Discworld.
“Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.”
Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
So I did what everyone had been telling me and raced to the library to check out everything on the shelves. Unlike what everyone had been telling me to do, I didn’t consult the internet as to the correct reading order and just started reading randomly. Naturally, I eventually discovered what Wikipedia would have told me: there are two ways to go about reading Pratchett. Well, three ways, if you count my haphazard approach. You can read the books in the order published, or you can read them by character arc.
“Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.”
Terry Pratchett, Jingo
After finishing reading all the published Discworld books, I’d personally recommend something of an amalgamation of the two. Start with The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic. In many ways these are really two parts of the same book, and they lay the firmest foundation for the Discworld. However, of the character arcs, Rincewind and his colleges are my least favorite. So after the first two books, I would move on to either the Death books or the Witches books (I’ve also seen them called the Granny Weatherwax books) and then to the Night Watch books. The Night Watch arc took a while to grow on me, and I have a suspicion that, over all, I enjoy the most recent books in all the arcs the best. It’s quite possible it just took the Discworld a while to grow into its skin.
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.”
Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
Of all the books, my favorite will always be the Death books. On the one hand, Death’s granddaughter Susan is probably my favorite character, but on the other hand, what really makes these books special is Death’s commentary on humanity. Hogfather is my absolute favorite Discworld book and probably the closest Pratchett wanders to a Christian view of the world and humanity. The idea that belief is where “the rising ape meets the falling angel” is beautifully demonstrated as Susan races to save the foundations of childhood. Which includes teaching children frightened of monsters under the bed to walk softly and carry a fire iron.
“You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?”
Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
Stepping away from the Discworld for a moment, all of Pratchett’s stand alone novels are amazing. As much as I love the Discworld series, I think if I were to make a list of my favorite Pratchett novels, the top spots would go to these. Good Omens, his riotously funny almost blasphemous collaboration with Neil Gaiman on the subject of Armageddon, had me in stitches. I tried to listen to the audiobook in the car and had to turn it off because I was laughing too hard to see the road. Both Nation and The Long Earth lack some of humor characteristic of his other books, but they are full of the little kernels of wisdom Pratchett loves to drop. Dark Side of the Sun and Strata, like The Long Earth, are more science fiction than fantasy but, as planets named Widdershins can attest, they clearly came from the same mind that created a flat content supported by four elephants that stand on the back of a giant turtle.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
As much as I’ve enjoyed a year of reading through and collecting Sir Pratchett’s extensive works, these are books that I need to recommend with caution. There is language and innuendo aplenty, not to mention witches and wizards, but the ever present difficulty with these books is the fact that Terry Pratchett is anti-Christian. In the bizarre way some secular authors achieve, he fills his books with truths and concepts that are impossible to define outside of a story, and he does it well, often hitting the mark. Emily Dickenson would say he tells the truth, but tells it slant. And like a slanted arrow, he often nicks the bullseye, but I think that his half-hits can be dangerous if someone is building a worldview around these books. For a discerning reading who can take what’s good and leave what isn’t, I’d say you need to try at least one Pratchett book. For kids and many teenagers, it’s probably better to wait a few years before giving these books a shot.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read."
Terry Pratchett, Guards Guards
Bibliography (skipping the large amount of non-fiction books about Discworld)
The Discworld Series in Order of Publication
1. The Colour of Magic
2. The Light Fantastic
3. Equal Rites
4. Mort
5. Sourcery
6. Wyrd Sisters
7. Pyramids
8. Guards! Guards!
9. Eric
10. Moving Pictures
11. Reaper Man
12. Witches Abroad
13. Small Gods
14. Lords and Ladies
15. Men At Arms
16. Soul Music
17. Interesting Times
18. Maskerade
19. Feet of Clay
20. Hogfather
21. Jingo
22. The Last Continent
23. Carpe Jugulum
24. The Fifth Elephant
25. The Truth
26. Thief of Time
27. The Last Hero
28. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
29. Night Watch
30. Wee Free Men
31. Monstrous Regiment
32. A Hat Full of Sky
33. Going Postal
34. Thud
35. Wintersmith
36. Making Money
37. Unseen Academicals
38. I Shall Wear Midnight
39. Snuff
The Discworld Series in My Recommended Reading Order
1. Color of Magic
2. Light Fantastic
3. Mort
4. Reaper Man
5. Soul Music
6. Hogfather
7. Thief of Time
8. Equal Rites
9. Wyrd Sisters
10. Witches Abroad
11. Lords and Ladies
12. Maskerade
13. Carpe Jugulum
14. The Wee Free Men
15. Hat Full of Sky
16. Wintersmith
17. I Shall Wear Midnight
18. Guards! Guards!
19. Men At Arms
20. Feet of Clay
21. Jingo
22. The Fifth Elephant
23. Night Watch
24. Thud
25. Snuff
26. Monstrous Regiment
27. The Truth
28. Moving Pictures
29. Making Money
30. Going Postal
31. Pyramids
32. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
33. Small Gods
34. Sourcery
35. Eric
36. Interesting Times
37. The Last Continent
38. The Last Hero
39. Unseen Academicals
Everything Else
Where’s My Cow
Bromeliad
1. Truckers
2. Diggers
3. Wings
4. The Bromeliad Omnibus
Johnny Maxwell
1. Only You Can Save Mankind
2. Johnny and the Dead
3. Johnny and the Bomb
4. The Johnny Maxwell Trilog
The Carpet People
The Dark Side of the Sun
Strata
Good Omens with Neil Gaiman
Nation
The Long Earth with Stephen Baxter
Dodger