'Back In Black'

[Richard A Thackeray]

Did anyone else watch the programme about Terry Pratchett on Saturday night?
Very interesting, & seemingly well portrayed by Paul Kaye
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08fjlvx/terry-pratchett-back-in-black


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...4P/fantastic-pratchett-illustrating-discworld

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...HW/how-actor-paul-kaye-became-terry-pratchett

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

but am a bit daunted by the sheer quantity of them and the fact that the early ones are so ... old somehow.

Yes, he was writing for quite a while, with the first DiscWorld book (Colour Of Magic) being released in 1983!

Personally, I'd recommend you, have a go at the City Watch books first (1st was 'Guards Guards'), or 'Going Postal', & 'Making Money' (same main character)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh-Morpork_City_Watch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Postal

Or, try the TV adaptation of 'Going Postal', via YouTube
Trailer....
(the City Watch Police woman is a werewolf)

 

[The Brewer]

I used to love reading the Bromeliad trilogy to my three kids, works of genius

 

[Dave 123]

I watched and enjoyed it. I've never read any Pratchett, although obviously I've heard a lot about him and his work. I find him intriguing, and am tempted to try a book or two, but am a bit daunted by the sheer quantity of them and the fact that the early ones are so ... old somehow.

We watched it. Neither of us have read any and we are in the same boat as you... where do you start?
Is it necessary to dress up to read it?

 

[User10119]

Start anywhere. Each of the books works on its own, whether it is the first or the 17th that you read.

I started (probably in 1988 or maybe '89, given that it was just before I started going out with Caedmon-the-hippy) with the Colour of Magic, which I picked up at the end of a party at a mate's house when everyone else had gone to bed at around 3 or 4am, planning to read a chapter or two before dozing off on the sofa. Of course, there's a problem with that theory.... next thing I knew, I'd finished it and rummaged through the bookshelves to find another... The Light Fantastic, finished just as the dawn chorus was starting.

I particularly like the ones about Death. And Vimes. And the witches. Mind, the postal one is pretty fab, and the one about newspapers, and the opera, and the one.....

Just pick one up and give it a go.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I've only read 'Mort' and loved it. I think what's important us just to grab one and see how it goes.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Thought this was going to be a thread about dweeb cyclists who wear black and think it's easier to see than high viz.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I watched and enjoyed it. I've never read any Pratchett, although obviously I've heard a lot about him and his work. I find him intriguing, and am tempted to try a book or two, but am a bit daunted by the sheer quantity of them and the fact that the early ones are so ... old somehow.

We watched it. Neither of us have read any and we are in the same boat as you... where do you start?
Is it necessary to dress up to read it?

I have read most of them, highly recommended!
I would start with the Vimes/Carrot tales: Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms.
You could also google a chronology, but personally I like the ones "in the middle" best.

 

[User10119]

Having spent my entire childhood, all my teenage years, my 20s and much of my 30s as a complete bookworm I've sort of lost the ability to read in the past 7 or 8 years, for assorted reasons, although I did discover a couple of years back that I can often read on trains. After watching Back in Black I wandered over to the bookshelf and found a copy of Wyrd Sisters. I didn't quite manage to read it all in one gulp.... but two bites did it.

 

[subaqua]

Slowly working my way through them.

we watched Going Postal and Colour of Magic when they were on telly .

If i was giving advice to anybody, it would be that they do stand on own , but the background of caracters from early ones is helpful.

I read them in order and it its good to see things develop.

is that mansplaining. probly but so farkin what.

 

[Tin Pot]

[QUOTE 4680995, member: 259"]I watched it and thought it was pretty good. Not sure about Paul Kaye, though.[/QUOTE]

Hmm I've met Pratchett, can't see Peter Kaye doing it well but I'll wait to see when I return Fromme Abroad.

 

[User10119]

My advice is to read the books in order. The characters develop over time and you get more out of the books if you understand the back stories.

It's one way of doing it and is more or less what I did - mostly by dint of tending to read them as they came out, at least until the later years (some of which I haven't read yet) by which point there is a certain critical mass of prior knowledge that it doesn't seem to make any difference. But I also think there's an argument for just jumping in with the one that appeals, or indeed the one that happens to be in front of you, because out of order also works pretty well since going back and reading an early one in light of the knowledge of what those characters will become also works, IYSWIM.

They are also books that repay re-reading, perhaps because they are so densely packed. I swear it was only on the 3rd reading that I clocked the chip shop joke that pretty much closes the book in Soul Music...

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

If i was giving advice to anybody, it would be that they do stand on own , but the background of caracters from early ones is helpful.

I read them in order and it its good to see things develop.

My advice is to read the books in order. The characters develop over time and you get more out of the books if you understand the back stories.

The 'City Watch', ideally need to be read in order, as the characters do develop
Sam Vimes, turns from a drunkard, shoved out of the way, onto the night watch, through a taciturn, sober man, to a Duke, a Sir, a man who has the ear & the trust of the most powerful people on the Disc
Even if he has to bend down to speak in the ear of the Low King
Oh!!, & he also is a Blackboard Monitor - you've got to read the books to find out why


Carrot is another growing (bad pun!) member of the Watch

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Don't forget Corporal Angua von Uberwald...

I thought about her, after writing that
It's sad that she didn't get more featuring in the 'Going Postal' filmls, but she's not in the book that much
http://www.ingridbb.com/