What would you recommend?

[MJ]

I agree with PTim, absolutely, start at the begining without COM or TLF. As a teenybopper I tried to read Soul Music, got confused but already knew I loved Death, Susan et al, and went back and started with Mort - best decision for me by far. Hooked!

Some of my friends however, have jumped into DW via Tiffany & Co., so I wholeheartedly recommend that route too. It's certainly wise to consider the person you're making the recommendation for! If they love comedy and fun, then there's nobody better than the Nac Mac Feegle. However, if their humour is more on the dry side and they love a good parody with a bit of a pinch, then the Equal Rites or Mort route is a sure winner.

I'd love to be starting off again. I envy my yet-unaware friends sometimes, does anyone else ever feel like that??

[VesuvianRuin]

I would encourage people to start chronologically from Equal Rites then once read ER and Mort, go back and read TCOM and LF to put the subsequent books in perspective ie Rincewind's background; then continue through the series.

I stumbled across the DW with TCOM and then enjoyed it enough to continue and worked my way through chronologically. I can be a litte OCD in these things in that I have to read/watch things in order. I cannot just mix anything up!

[BlackAssassin]

I also think it depends on the person who you are making the recommendation to...

However, I ususally start with the Witches series - so Equal Rites/Wyrd Sisters/Witches Abroad/Lords and Ladies.... etc then once they have all been read I would introduce the Guards series - then the Death series and finally Rincewind and the Wizards.

Thats how I started - well except that hubby gave me a copy of COM first and I totally didnt like it so started off with Equal Rites and the rest of the Witches books..... once I got into it I then went back and read COM and LF and it was alot easier to understand.

[TheMole]

For the beginning, I would recommend "Wyrd Sisters" - and if one will really become interested after reading it, then start COM and continue...

[saphyress]

I would say either Guards!Guards! or Wyrd Sisters. I actually ready Pyramid first and hated it (but I don't now!), read Guards! Guards! later and was immediately hooked. After I read many others and went back to Pyramids I liked it much better but still not in my top ten of the series.

[ysabell]

What about farmers, specifically harvesters, who start with Reaper Man?

im a farmer girl and i really did enjoy reaper man, but i do love death he's my favourite character. the combine harvester made me giggle
as for books to start with, i started with mort and it got me hooked, im dreading the day terry stops writing.[/quote]

[snapcase72]

I would recommend Small Gods, Guards! Guards!, Equal Rites or Sourcery. They're quite easy to get into, and VERY worthwhile novels.

I agree on not recommending COM or LF. I found them a little hard to get the hang off, they didn't spur my interest at first...I finished Guards! Guards! and Equal Rites before COM and LF. Since then, of course, I've read them quite a few times!

[Jinx]

I started with TCOM not least of all because I'm a purist (or obsessively compulsive), but I should also state that I had broke up from a serious relationship at the time and was throwing myself into a world of books.

I needed something to escape to. It looked strange and I found this to be sufficiently wierd that if anyone asked about it, I'd just receive blank stares in return to my answer and be allowed to continue with my reading(/hiding from reality).

As it happened when I was done I found myself saying "Oh yes please, I'll have another one, thank you. Oh and one... several after that."

[elvedhel]

i guess being the awkward git i am, what wouldnt you recommend, what would you consider the weakest of the discworld books. i see no one has mentioned eric. one of the few disworld books that seems to stand totally alone.
i guess id have to look at one that introduces many of the favourite and much loved characters and of course for me it would have to be set in ankh morpork, feature death, rincewind, the mended/broken drum and a few guards and wizards to boot!

my personal faves are the death trilogy though oddly feet of clay covers quite a number of the above references

i guess any discworld book is pretty much a good introduction to the wonderful world of.. well the discworld

[Tonyblack]

Eric is an odd one as it was originally a sort of illustrated story in much the way Last Hero was - only by Josh Kirby rather that Paul Kidby. I don't think I'd ever recommend it to anyone as a first book - but it's enjoyable in its way and I've got a soft spot for the wossname...

[mspanners]

Well I would recommend any of the Rincewind or Watch books to a male reader or a Witches book if the reader is Female.

http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-ord ... de-1-5.jpg

From the Lspace site a good guide to the order best read in for a given thread.

[Tonyblack]

Well I would recommend any of the Rincewind or Watch books to a male reader or a Witches book if the reader is Female.

http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-ord ... de-1-5.jpg

From the Lspace site a good guide to the order best read in for a given thread.

You're on dangerous territory (Terry-tory ) there! I really don't think that it matter what sex you are. I know a lot of females who adore the Watch books and a load of males who are fans of the Witch books.

[mspanners]

You're on dangerous territory (Terry-tory ) there! I really don't think that it matter what sex you are. I know a lot of females who adore the Watch books and a load of males who are fans of the Witch books.
_

To be Honest if I had picked up Wintersmith as a first read of a Discworld Novel I may not have gone back for a read of the rest, sorry if that sounds sexist but that just the way I am!! Ya they are all good reads.......... but I still think Girls will like the Witch books and the Boys the Guards or Rincewind (or DEATH) Books more as an introduction to Discworld. I do...
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[Jarmara]

Actually, I prefer the Guards to the Witches and last time I checked I was definitely a girl! :lol

Oh and for the record, it was Reaper Man that hooked me.

[mspanners]

Reaper man is good, I do like some of the Witch Books (Carpe Jugulum is my fav in the series). I just find my self picking up the others if I fancy a read, although Witches Abroad makes me laugh..... the bit where the Golum frog like creature gets a smack on the head is very funny.