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Alot of people have suggested the Discworld novels to me in the past, and from what i heared about them i decided to give them a try now.

From what I understand the books don't follow a single storyline, so you don't have to (can't) read them in order.
What would be a good book to start my discworld experience in?

It depends entirely on you. The first Discworld novel is The Colour of Magic. But, no you don't have to start there. The books are several series within one, with seperate groups of characters in each series. Like The Wizards group (which loosely includes Rincewind, the 'hero' of The Colour of Magic); then there is the Guards series, the Witches series, the DEATH series... plus a lot of individual books that contain characters from all the series and some with characters from none of the series (or at least, very few)...
Read the blurb on the cover and choose.

The Wizards are nutty, the Guards are nutty and .. strange.. and.. steadfast... the Witches are wonderful and nutty and strange and sometimes scary... DEATH is terrific and so is his daughter and his horse Binky...

Some books are better than others, but they are all pretty damn good. And if you like laughing you will enjoy 'em all. :laugh:

Oh, PS: some of the series within the series DO have a set chronological order, but it doesn't much matter if you don't follow it. Just that if you read the Guards, for example, out of order, sometimes you will find Vimes married, with a child, sometimes courting, sometimes single.

I'd be starting with the first in each character 'series' at least, and trying for in order if possible.
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Novels"]See here.[/url]

Oh, and enjoy.

My personal favorite is The Small Gods. Outside of that, Rincewind the Wizzard is a collection of four seperate novels dealing with Rincewind as a main character. Since I think the collection starts off with the first couple novels in the series, I'd say it's a good way to check it out anyway.

I'd start with reading the first two books in order. If you can, actually read the books in chronological order as characters develop and change and have a tendency to appear in future novels albeit briefly. You don't necessarily have to, but its fun to see them appear later on.

In the middle of the latest
Unseen Academicals......
of course the old favs. have shown up....
DEATH and of course my personal fav. the Librarian...Ook!....:laugh:

Stilgar wrote:Alot of people have suggested the Discworld novels to me in the past, and from what i heared about them i decided to give them a try now.

From what I understand the books don't follow a single storyline, so you don't have to (can't) read them in order.
What would be a good book to start my discworld experience in?

Have you started on 'em yet, Stilgar?

Bloodstalker wrote:My personal favorite is The Small Gods.

Yes! I completely agree with that. Especially if you have some interest in or knowledge of the ancient Greek culture and philosophy, you'll love Small Gods. It's one of my personal favourites.

If you're into old school rock and pop music, you're bound to like Soul Music. The parodies and references to (what was then) modern (music) culture are hilarious! Soul Music is riddled with brilliant quotes such as "Thank you," said the grateful Death, "We're on a mission from Glod" and "Who gave you permission to paint that [red] door black?". If none of these quotes meant anything to you, though, don't read the book. Although the story is still fun, you would miss out on a lot of things that could have made the book more than just fun.

I personally like the City Watch books most, especially the first one, Guards! Guards!. Also, those City Watch books are good to start with when you're not used to Discworld absurdity yet. They can be read as regular 'Whodunnit' stories, but with an original twist. I find that the people who started with The Colour of Magic and hated it, usually do like the City Watch books, so it's a safe start.

Interesting Times is in my opinion one of the best books Pratchett has ever written, next to Small Gods. It deals with Rincewind's character, so you might want to get used to Rincewind first by reading Interesting Times before diving into the series with The Colour of Magic.

Fljotsdale wrote:Have you started on 'em yet, Stilgar?

Started in the Color of Magic, but didn't have time to read much jet.
Damn you DragonAge!

It's definatly my style of humor. It kinda reminds me of the hitchhikersguide.

Ethelle wrote:If you're into old school rock and pop music, you're bound to like Soul Music. The parodies and references to (what was then) modern (music) culture are hilarious! Soul Music is riddled with brilliant quotes such as "Thank you," said the grateful Death, "We're on a mission from Glod" and "Who gave you permission to paint that [red] door black?". If none of these quotes meant anything to you, though, don't read the book. Although the story is still fun, you would miss out on a lot of things that could have made the book more than just fun.

My favourite was "We're bigger than cheeses."

Ode to a Grasshopper wrote:My favourite was "We're bigger than cheeses."

*breaks into a fit of uncontrollable giggling* :laugh:
I completely forgot about that one. How could I?

The [url="http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/"]Annotated Pratchett File[/url] is made just for such occasions. You can find explanations of many things that might otherwise be missed for various reasons.