People who don't like Discworld!

[Exp. Date, the rat]

My brother wanted to know about all those books on my shelfs one day and wanted to take a stab at them, so I gave him G!G!'s and he hated it.

Now you have to understand that he is a Chemistry Teacher who has a PHD from Georgetown University and teaches at Exeter Highschool (THE highschool in the US, which has had supreme court justices as alumni. I know that and 5 cents will get you a cup of coffee as the saying goes) and he was VERY annoyed at the footnotes. Said that footnotes should only be in texts and manuals. Fiction is fiction and if it cannot be explained in the flow of story it should be left out!

I said to him. LOOSEN UP! and HAVE SOME FUN! geez! But then again he listens to Rush Limbaugh and agrees with most of what he says.

[bikkit]

My freind (the one who puts chedder on sphagetti) took one look at a Discworld and thold me that she thought them boring. The following conversation went something like this:
Me:"Why?"
her"Oh, I read one once"
Me "Which one?"
" I've forgotten"
Me "What was it about?"
"How am I supposed to know?"

As you can tell, she isn't a very good liar.

[Beth]

Just coming new into this thread and have read only the first page of posts so far. I'll look at the rest later. To address the original theme of the thread though I've gotten quite a few people started on Pratchett and Discworld. The only person that didn't like them was my older brother because like many people he dismissed the first few as they are such quick reads To be honest they are all quick reads but...BUT...that's because you don't at first realize the many things happening in the text along with the story itself. The puns, the references etc don't all get realized until many many readings have gone bye. I've sent him some later books in the series and he enjoyed them more and he loved Nation. I've started both my kids reading Discworld and my son is a huge fan. He told me to hug Terry next time I see him just for creating Sam Vimes. My daughter also likes them and we're fond of quoting the books to each other. My mom has read a few and I need to get some more for her. I've now started my son's girlfriend. The trouble is that I keep giving the books away and I have to be careful not to accidentally give away a signed copy! I don't mind buying them again though it irks me to go to the bookcase to get one and then remember I've given it to someone.

I do read books that people recommend. I think the best recommendation that I've had lately was a book called "In Spite of the Gods" the strange rise of modern India by Edward Luce. Excellent book and I couldn't put it down. After five years a few things that have driven me nuts were finally explained. I've also read Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book recently. I liked Neverwhere and I also liked The Graveyard Book except that I felt it had a shabby and incomplete ending. Too much was left completely and ridiculously unexplained I thought. I didn't realize until afterwards that it was his version of The Jungle Book. Doh.

[BluesMonkey]

i think enjoyment of the books depends on age, state of mind, and receptiveness of the reader.
I bought Colour of Magic on spec in my 20s and loved it! Bought every-Pratchett-thing as soon as I found it. Loved the Truckers trilogy, the awesome Good Omens, pre-discworld sci-fi, etc but couldn't quite get my young daughters into them. Still they were fascinated by the Josh Kirby Discworld covers, especially the "headology" explanations I offered for the cover details. Now 20-somethings, they have devoured the Discworld books and my 70-something mother enjoyed a couple of the books over a weekend. Terry's greatest asset is his ability to tap into current issues, with a funny, non-preachy (and usually spot-on accurate) take.

[kakaze]

I was just talking about Pratchett with a friend yesterday, and she said that she didn't "get" his humor.

It turns out that she simply refuses to actually read books and listens to them on tape instead. Now, I've never listed to a Pratchett book on tape before, but I can see how a lot of the puns would not be so funny in audio.

Some people.

[Sjoerd3000]

Welcome to the forum BluesMonkey

[CrysaniaMajere]

(just passing by, reading something) I only recommended Pratchett once, to a friend of mine I was SURE would have loved it. I told her to buy it, she did it and after that started reading all the other books.
I never recommended DW books to any other because I knew they wouldn't like it, they have a thing about fantasy, as if it's a kind of stupid thing for children. I know it so i don't even try.
We all love Discworld and all Pratchett's work, but other than that we have different taste, so I would first try to understand what kind of things a person likes, and try to establish if our tastes are similar.

[Tina a.k.a.SusanSto.Helit]

My baby sis has read some Pratchett, and while she gets the jokes there is such an abundance of them that it overwhelms her. I am going to give her Nation to read when I go out there for Christmas.

She has seen a couple of the movies with her husband and they don't live up to the books, so I can see where tapes would not do it for me. I re-read them obsessively and even use little post-it note flags for what I find amusing during each read, they look like little porcupines/hedgehogs when I am finished.

[janet]

My brother gave me The Colour of Magic to read saying, 'You'll like this'. He wasn't wrong. Many years later and I try to resist buying each book as it's published....and fail.
Other people's reading habits are a bit of a mystery and we can't push our taste without meeting resistance. A great many people just don't read books at all. How many have a TV in the bedroom? I don't. I read in bed and the pictures in my head are more vivid and colourful than any TV crap.....which it is mostly isn't it? Also a great many people, more than you'd think, are only literate to a basic degree even though they can busk their way through everyday life, reading a novel might be a step too far.
I operate a book exchange with a dear friend who I only see occasionally but we manage to keep each other entertained. It's currently her turn to supply the literature but when it's mine I'm going to try her with a DW book..........but which one? I'm leaning towards Wyrd Sisters.
Discuss?
Afterthought: I tried listening to Guards! Guards! as dramatised on Radio 7. Oh dear

[Who's Wee Dug]

Good choice or maybe Guards,Guards for Carrot who I found very funny.

I've listened to some of the audio books but I prefer the unabridged versions, as I seldom really listen to radio online or not I keep missing them.

So it was not a very good adaptation then.

[Tonyblack]

Guards! Guards! is a great choice as it really introduces the new reader to Ankh-Morpork.

[poohcarrot]

Pyramids!

It's hilarious and a one off.

(I don't understand why some people don't rate it!)

[Dotsie]

Guards! Guards! is a great choice as it really introduces the new reader to Ankh-Morpork.

That's what I started Mr D on, I thought it would appeal to his manliness(and I think it worked )

[raisindot]

I am so glad I never started with any of the Rincewind books, Pyramids or Small Gods, since I never would have finished any of them and would never have picked up another.

I wouldn't recommend any of the early or "one-off" books (other than Thief of Time) to a DW newbie. They're just not that compelling or interesting.

Just because I was only reading the books I could find at the library, I started with TOT and was just hooked immediately even though I knew nothing about DW at that time. Fortunately, I chose "The Fifth Elephant" as my next book and that cemented the deal. I was far more forgiving of(yet much more disappointed by) the early novels, but reading the later books first really helped show how far PTerry had come from those initial books, when he seemed to be aiming merely to be the Douglas Adams of fantasy.

Jeff in Boston

[Tina a.k.a.SusanSto.Helit]

I am quite glad that I discovered Monsewer Pratchett on my own. If I had Your example to follow, I should have my nose stuck so far up ... oh we'll pass on where, that I should possibly never have read Any of his work. Oh, Jeff in Boston, by the way... don't ever even think about The Last Continent. I am sure your chunk blowing would be heard in IL or by all the gods forfend in RI next month, where I will happily be staying with two Midwestern family members. Make sure NOT to go near its' borders or you may be tainted with Rincewind like. I find him amusing and his luggage no end of fascination.

Tina in Byron