by Teppic » Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:56 pm
I made this personal list up for RJH's blog a few months ago, so I'll paste it here. These are the book's I've got through so far (most of them), in order of how much I like them:
1. Night Watch
2. Small Gods
3. Pyramids
4. Feet of Clay
5. The Truth
6. Maskerade
7. Thud!
8. Going Postal
9. The Fifth Elephant
10. Wyrd Sisters
11. Snuff
12. Thief of Time
13. Unseen Academicals
14. Witches Aboard
15. Guards! Guards!
16. Making Money
17. Men at Arms
18. Jingo
19. Hogfather
20. Carpe Jugulum
21. Lords and Ladies
22. Mort
23. Monstrous Regiment
24. The Last Continent
25. Interesting Times
26. Sourcery
27. Moving Pictures
28. Soul Music
29. The Light Fantastic
30. Equal Rites
31. The Colour of Magic
32. Reaper Man
Why did you pick that novel to be your number one book?
Nightwatch is an utterly superb character exploration of Vimes, putting him in uncomfortable territory. We see the young patrician who is completely fascinating, Ankh Morpork as a lawless city, the young Nobby and Colon, and whilst there are elements of magic and fantasy (going back in time, the history monks etc.) none of it feels contrived - it all fits so well. This is a properly weighty novel about a very well rounded character, an event which makes a city what it is, and raises interesting points about our own society, but again, it's above books like Snuff and Thud! in my list because it doesn't feel like its smothering us with the character (the former did) or forcing some of those points on us (the latter did). It's a perfect Pratchett, my favourite book in my favourite series, the Watch books.