MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I would like my son (13) to read more and hope that TP could be the way to achieve this.
He is a capable reader but chooses books that , in my opinion , is not really giving him that yearning to turn the page , hence the time it takes him to finish these books. He has recently read 'The woman in black' and is currently reading one of the Twilight series ( the vampire movies ). But like I said, he used to read more and faster , but seem to labour through his current choices .
What books from Terry should he start with ? Is the Disc world series aimed at a certain age ? Any suggestions appreciated .
I think I'd juststart him on the Vimes series and he can try the others if he likes them. Give him Guards Guards - it's short, funny and fast paced.
colour of magic is the first discworld novel and is great,
has he read any of the how to train your dragon books, harry potter?
My daughter (12) started with The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. I is set in Discworld and is aimed at Tweenagers, although I enjoyed it (38)!
+1 Colour of Magic
Start at the start - it's a cool book for kids.
Funny, that's pretty much what I was going to say. Guards, Guards was the first one I read and it had me in stitches.
Also agree with Knightrider the How to train your dragon series is great.
When I was littler I read his Nome Trilogy -Truckers, Diggers and Wings and I still remember enjoying it.
Mort is an excellent stand alone and one of the 'classics' of discworld.
I always enjoyed nicholas fisk books when I were a lad, sci fi aimed at teenagers, try 'a rag, a bone and a hank of hair' or 'grinny'
Guards Guards is a great one that doesn't rely on prior knowledge of characters.. Really love Reaper man too.. Something about the way he writes the DEATH character that I always love.
J
TP has a few books aimed at children/teens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wee_Free_Men is a good start.
The Colour of Magic is the first book, but it's also one of the worst (in so far as there's a "worst" TP book). I'd argue that it's not the best introduction.
You know he's done Young Adult books, yes? The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, for a start.
Slightly out of date, but useful.
The Colour of Magic was the first book I read without having to for school, and I still own and read all of his (at age 38)
From Wikipedia,
Pratchett's first children's novel was also his first published novel: The Carpet People in 1971, which Pratchett substantially rewrote and re-released in 1992. The next, Truckers (1988), was the first in The Nome Trilogy of novels for young readers, about small gnome-like creatures called "Nomes", and the trilogy continued in Diggers (1990) and Wings (1990). Subsequently, Pratchett wrote the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, about the adventures of a boy called Johnny Maxwell and his friends, comprising Only You Can Save Mankind (1992), Johnny and the Dead (1993) and Johnny and the Bomb (1996). Nation (2008) marked his return to the non-Discworld children's novel, and this was followed in 2012 by Dodger, a children's novel set in Victorian London.[127]
The first one I read was Mort. Seemed like a good "gateway" book.
Ah, here. Read this.
http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Reading_Order
The Wee Free Men would be what you seek, I suspect.
The Tiffany Aching trilogy are lovely books, perfect for younger readers as well.
I dont know any of TPs books, was reading Dr Who myself at school and my uncle gave me his entire Louis L'Amour collection which I read and loved. Ah, the Sackett family saga and the wild west...
Looks like I will have to try TP for myself when I introduce his books to my son !
Thank you for the other all the other suggestions too, I will definitely look into all of them.
+1 for the nome series, they are agreat fun read and a really good introduction for youngsters to Pratchett. He's done a few recently which are aimed at younger readers, a particularly good one that includes some of the extablished characters (which will be nice if they do get into it is the wee free men (which is now a trilogy). All good stuff
Tiffany Aching trilogy
Starting with the Wee Free Men, to be clear
The wind howled. Lightning stabbed at the earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin. Thunder rolled back and forth across the dark, rain-lashed hills. The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of this elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel's eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice
shrieked: 'When shall we three meet again?'There was a pause.
Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: 'Well, I can do next Tuesday.'
Wyrd Sisters has one of the best opening paragraphs, I especially enjoyed as I read it whilst being force fed Shakespeare at school!
If, as you say, your son is a capable reader, I'd skip the "younger reader" ones and jump into the adult books. He won't get all the jokes but they're still easy reads and it's a good segue into more grown up comic literature.
Why not get him " A Blink Of The Screen" a collection of short stories from T.P. starting with his first published work,completed when he was a teenager. There are stand alone ideas and some early ideas for Disc World plots.
Yeah skip the younger reader ones...guards guards is the one to start with.
Nation went down well with my eldest as well....a tough 1st chapter though
Pratchetts books have strong female characters...dunno if that hinders take up with some teenage boys.
Tiffany aching books are a case in point...at first glance they are a 'girls' book....but it's much deeper than that
What about hitch hikers guide to the galaxy.
Wyrd sister or Mort for me.
Then read the rest in order, their brilliant.. started reading them when I was early teens (he started in 83) and I have never stopped... even his latest "long earth" still has me turning the pages (not so sold on Nation and Dodger), even if the Discworld stuff doesn't have the same zing as it did originally.
Another vote for 'Guards, Guards'.
He won't get all the jokes
I'm 41 and don't get all the jokes, I use The Annotated Pratchett as Cliff Notes when I'm reading them.
Yet another vote for Guards, Guards.
Hi Sputnik, I am a TP fan. Some great suggestions up there, +1 for anything involving Vimes and the City Watch, men at arms is a good read, Jingo, Carpe Jugulem, Small Gods is funny. As a starter try The Last Hero. It was printed ias an almost graphic novel type short story. Amazon may have it.
Good choice BTW.
I also find David Gemmell a good author of fiction/fantasy if TP doesn't float his boat. Dark Prince and Lion of Macedon are simply brill.
The Tiffany Aching trilogy are lovely books, perfect for younger readers as well.
Oh yes, loved those. Bought them cos I'm a fanboy and need to buy all his books, but really enjoyed them. Found them really evocative and moving.
Guards Guards is a good starter although Going Postal may be a new point of entry if they have seen the series on Sky.
Dancing postal staff:
He wrote a book called Strata very early on which is a good read for a younger person, however for the discworld series he should start at the beginning with The Colour of Magic and The Light fantastic.
If TP isn't doing it then Artemis Fowl is a cracking series for the younger reader.
The articles in Playboy always encouraged me.
Does Going Postal start with Moist going for a swing? OK once you're used to TP, but might be a difficult beginning.
Personally I'd start him with Maurice and His Educated Rodents. Then on to the Tiffany Aching series which will lead to the Witches storyline.
Guards, Guards! Is also an excellent start with the Ciry Guards and Vimes characters.
I'd avoid The Colour of Magic to start with. I've recently read it for the first time in 20 years. I found it tough to get in to compared to TP's later work. The assumption that you are a fantasy genre reader and would understand the common themes and caricatures could be lost on a younger reader.
There of plenty of reading guides online. Go explore.
Another vote for Mort here.
Mort for me as we'll as it is a stand alone. Soul Music is good as well, the Colour ofMagic and The Light Fantastic are so clunky compared to his later stuff. He just got better at writing.
I stared with guards guards when it first came out and never looked back. The Tiffany Aching series is good but Mrs NBT didn;t really like "I shall wear midnight" when she tried it - she did like guards guards though
Guards Guards is the best place to start I reckon.. I read it at about 14 I think and have waited eagerly for every book he's done since
+1 for Mort.
Recently re-read mort and the colour of magic, agree with above, the colour of magic is not a good start, it's a good book, but not a good start if he's not used to the genre. Mort is a good stand alone book, it was the first of his I read when I was 13 after borrowing it off a cousin. I've just started re-reading Reaper man, then I'll re-read Soul music. I also love the way he writes Death, and the VOICE as well. Death of Rats too, haha, TP, what a guy.
Reaper Man was my favourite as a kid - Susan appealed to the rebellious aspect of my teenage personality. As good an entry as any. Guards! Guards! is great but a long book from memory. Reaper Man is a real page turner.
Soul Music and Moving PIctures are two of my favourites.
I wouldn't start with Light Fantastic/Colour of Magic either, they're much more niche/geeky fantasy, and they just don't stand up as well. Too much pastiche, too much just not very good. It's all a bit Robert Rankin tbh.
Moving Pictures was my first- it stands up well on its own, and isn't laden with nerd-ness. Or Mort, Reaper Man, Guards Guards.
Thank you all for the replies. Guards Guards is on its way via Ebay and with all the recommendations and my son's response to his first TP read I will take it from there. ( Mort looks like the next in line ).
The Wee Free Men should be acquired too methinks.
You have chosen...
... wisely.
Vimes is just about the best character in the Discworld series IMHO. Just superbly written and developed.
Wee Free Men was bought for me as a Christmas present on CD read by Tony Robinson. I went to the lakes for New Year and listened to it on the way. It's a wonder I did not drive off the road I was laughing so hard. Crivens!!
Good Omens is also a funny read. "Which Chapter are you from?" Revelations.....
colour of magic dragged for me plus rincewind is a bit of a bastard in it, he gets better as the series progresses, TBH I think the whole cast of the discworld get better, the occasional inconsistencies irk tho.
I'd say guards guards or wyrd sisters
Ah - so that's what I did with summers when I was a kid...
I think I raced through most of the discworld stuff pretty quickly, for some reason non discworld side project "Good Omens" seems to my most fondlly remembered.
I'd try and vary his reading diet by including something like "Slaughterhouse Five" and "On the Beach" especially if he reads them within eyeshot of his English teachers.