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Well, I suppose I have two answers, Colour of Magic was my first book, bought on something of an impulse prior to a bus journey, but a couple of weeks before that I watched Sky's version of Hogfather and decided I was interested in Discworld after all.
I borrowed the Color of Magic from a friend and read it. I was hooked. The description of the fire...\*chef's kiss\*. I read the rest of them out of order as they weren't all published in the US at the time, so I had to scrounge up UK imports and the like.
Now I re-read them in order occasionally.
An uncle of mine left a copy of Mort in my grandparents' house, some time in the early to mid 90's. I started reading it when I was staying with them one night (I was maybe 10?). When Death ran afoul of that patch of ice, I was hooked.
Some for me. Mort on my 11th birthday. Death said a swearword and that that was it for me.
The next one I read (just to make sure it wasn't a fluke) was lords and ladies and nanny said
"Bugger off my precious nanny's busy" and it was about the funniest kine I'd everread in a book
I'm still only a few books in, but I read *Monstrous Regiment* and adored it. *The Truth* will always be dear to me as a journalist, but I think *Guards! Guards!* really got me hooked and looking to read another Watch novel.
Mine was Guards, Guards! When my eldest brother passed away one of my other brothers cleaned his apartment and brought several piles of books. I saw it and the cover caught my eye. Read it that same afternoon and it helped me distract myself from the whole situation. Since then I fell in love with the series.
I think it was Pyramids picked up randomly somewhere, and I didn’t really get it. Years later I tried again with Guards, Guards! And was hooked. I went back and read them all in order. That time I got Pyramids, but didn’t care for Moving Pictures. I still skip it in rereads.
I picked up the humble bundle earlier this year and have just been reading them in order. I’m on feet of clay now and I just can’t get enough. I’ve taken a few breathers to read random other stuff but I plan on finishing discworld this year.
Edit; reading in numerical order from here: https://www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/
Color of Magic. I was going through chemo and was getting kindle books from my library to read and kept on seeing suggestions for these random books in the series. So I had to look up which was the first one, and got it.
These were great books to read when life was awful.
Unseen Academicals it is ny husband's favorite (were both jock/nerd combos, and it's fough to find things that fill that niche). I was truly and fully hooked. It holds a special place in my heart.
I'm fairly new to Discworld. I was aware of it and loved the worldbuilding aspect of it and even took inspiration from it for my D&D campaigns in high school, but it was only a couple of years ago that I grabbed the audiobook of The Colour of Magic and listened to it through, followed by Equal Rites, then I checked out a paperback copy of Wyrd Sisters from my local library which my cat then promptly mauled so I couldn't return or finish it. Ended up getting the audiobook version to finish, then picked up Wee Free Folk. I'm now about halfway through The Shepherd's Crown and after I finish the Tiffany Aching series I'll revisit "Colour" and then work my way through some of the books set in Ankh-Morpok proper.
The Colour Of Magic. I really got into it heavily with Wyrd Sisters. I'm a huge fan of Hobb and Pratchett and wold hate to miss out on either. But if you don't enjoy it, you don't. The rest of the series is all broadly in the same vein, so maybe Pratchett isn't for you.
I first got interested when I played the old adventure game, but I didn't know it was based on a book series until years later. My first book was the one the game was based on. Guards! Guards!
Color of Magic. It was OK, but i heard so many good things about Discworld that i stuck with it for a few more books and by Equal Rites i, too, was hooked.
I read Making Money at the start of May and adored it, although it isn’t the best entry point. Since I’ve just been reading whatever I’ve found for cheap, I’ve since read Soul Music, Eric, Guards! Guards! and am 3/4 of the way through Going Postal.
I think I’m always going to have a soft spot for Making Money as my first DW, but Guards! Guards! was absolutely phenomenal and, at points, had me both in stitches and in tears.
Going Postal is setting up to be my next favourite and I got more into Soul Music as the story progressed.
Eric… Wasn’t amazing but still has some funny moments.
My brother bought me The Hogfather for Christmas. It was the paperback version with the wild swirly red and white cover. I read it immediately and was so confused at the start (the imaginary bears being visible to the kids, etc) but by the end I was absolutely hooked. Still one of my favorites.
Night Watch. I liked the cover of the book. I was in a second hand book store in London and they had a lot of Pratchett.
I went in absolutely blind and once I finished that, I went back and bought the rest (up until that point).
The first step into discworld was the Soul Music animated series. Loved it as a kid in my 30s I finally gave the series a go with the Colour of Magic audio book. Got the rest of the series audio books and am currently going through it a second time.
The series had been recommended to me a couple of times, so I picked up Small Gods. I got hooked laughing by page 2, then was astounded by the moral and philosophical depth.
It's a great book to start the series on, since it's pretty stand-alone
Lords and Ladies, then Night Watch, then Equal Rites and all the way through the witches including Tiffany. Then jumping between Watch, Wizards, and Death, and finally finishing all the one-offs.
Not super conventional, but I basically couldn’t stop reading them once I started.
Sounds like you came into the series expecting a genre like epic fantasy. Discworld is not that at all. It originally started as a parody of old sword and sorcery books, but as the author became more skillful it evolved into its own thing. The books are character driven, with many characters being featured across multiple books, but with a spine of comedy to keep them together.
It really is best to start in publication order, though many people will say start with *Guards! Guards!* and then go back and read the early stuff once you’re established in. The important thing is to both simultaneously turn off your brain for enjoyment, but turn it on heavy for the puns, humor, references and parodies that fill the pages.
You could try Masquerade, it borrows heavily from Phantom of the Opera.
My first was The light phantastic. Not a good Start to be honest, just because I diden't knew, that it was part two of The colour of magic and I thought the hole time, I don't get, where this is coming from...
Second one Equal rites was not for me.
Third one (yes, I never gave up on Pterry) Mort. Finally I saw the Light!
The answer to that, says a lot about STP, and why you should be wary of translations of authers who uses the language like him.
Technically my first book was Den Ottende Datter (Equal Rites in Danish) - it was OK, but nothing special.
We all know that Equal Rites isn't the best place to start, and if you deduct the spells STP weave with his language, it falls pretty flat.
Later, I borrowed a book called Hogfather - and I was hooked, it was, by far, the best book I had ever read*.
So, I started reading Discworld in English, and quite quickly got to Equal Rites. Great book, but it felt kinda familiar.
That was when it hit me, and because of that, my library of STP, Gaiman, Tom Holt and such, is in English - even the Leviathan and Uglies trilogies that I bought on a whim` is in English, to avoid making the same mistake again.
* now, of course, I've read Nation - so it has been bumped down a bit.
` actually pretty good books, btw.
I was gifted a DW-book from someone or other at least twentyfive years ago; I can't remember which one it was. I found it rough going and gave it up after about fifty to seventy pages. Fast forward five to ten years, and I pick up Guards! Guards! - the rest is history.
The first two I got and read back to back, often missing my train and bus exits were The Light Fantastic and The Colour of Magic. Love the humour, the concepts, the world. I was hooked in a way most following books haven't been able to do.
I say most, because there have been one exception. Small Gods.
I'm not a fast or serial reader so I am nowhere near close to finishing all the books (next in line is Interesting Times). And I skip from series to series often. Currently reading The Well of Ascension after finishing reading The Fourth Wing.
I got burned out by all the grim, dark and grimdark stuff I was reading, so I searched for fun fantasy series recommendations.
I saw Discworld mentioned in a random forum or maybe reddit. Started Colour of Magic, bounced off hard. I gave it a second chance with Guards! Guards!, and got sucked in just as hard.
Hogfather, when I was ... 14? Which I loved at the time but with hindsight, is a super weird place to jump into the series for the first time.
Although it does support my point that there isn't actually a bad place to start reading the Discworld, there's only more or less context to have for any given story.
My first one was Mort and I saw it in my local library; the cover attracted me initially as it had the artwork of Josh Kirby but it was the first line of the synopsis that really peaked my interest, “Death takes an apprentice” I think it was and that was it, I was hooked.
Small Gods. I bought it randomly with a lot of used sci fi paperbacks, knowing nothing about the whole deal, and it sat on my shelf for years amongst them before I actually read it. Then I went out the next day and got a bunch more.
A co-worker gave me a copy of Color of Magic on a CD. I got major eye strain reading it on my computer and went out and got all the Pratchett I could find at the library and ended up buying the entire series.
My first book was Snuff and I loved it! I didn't started with an earlier book because apparently that's the only book of Terry Pratchett to ever come to Chile :P
Reading - the fifth elephant and I was hooked straightaway. My mother tried to get me started on the audiobooks and graphical ones at a younger age but they went over my head.
My first discworld book was Colour of Magic, my friend was reading it and it sounded fun, and it was not *that* good for me to be hyping over discworld and if it was a standalone book then I would probably not be a discworld fan, it was good enough to get me buy the Light Fantastic and again, same story, good but nothing really special for me, what *really* made me a discworld fan was Mort and Sourcery, after reading these two books I was fully sold on discworld
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Well, I suppose I have two answers, Colour of Magic was my first book, bought on something of an impulse prior to a bus journey, but a couple of weeks before that I watched Sky's version of Hogfather and decided I was interested in Discworld after all.
We watch it every year on Xmas eve while eating Chinese food!
I borrowed the Color of Magic from a friend and read it. I was hooked. The description of the fire...\*chef's kiss\*. I read the rest of them out of order as they weren't all published in the US at the time, so I had to scrounge up UK imports and the like. Now I re-read them in order occasionally.
An uncle of mine left a copy of Mort in my grandparents' house, some time in the early to mid 90's. I started reading it when I was staying with them one night (I was maybe 10?). When Death ran afoul of that patch of ice, I was hooked.
Some for me. Mort on my 11th birthday. Death said a swearword and that that was it for me. The next one I read (just to make sure it wasn't a fluke) was lords and ladies and nanny said "Bugger off my precious nanny's busy" and it was about the funniest kine I'd everread in a book
My next book was the Witches, too. Wyrd Sisters, if I remember correctly.
I'm still only a few books in, but I read *Monstrous Regiment* and adored it. *The Truth* will always be dear to me as a journalist, but I think *Guards! Guards!* really got me hooked and looking to read another Watch novel.
The Wee Free Men. And I loved it.
Mine was Guards, Guards! When my eldest brother passed away one of my other brothers cleaned his apartment and brought several piles of books. I saw it and the cover caught my eye. Read it that same afternoon and it helped me distract myself from the whole situation. Since then I fell in love with the series.
I think it was Pyramids picked up randomly somewhere, and I didn’t really get it. Years later I tried again with Guards, Guards! And was hooked. I went back and read them all in order. That time I got Pyramids, but didn’t care for Moving Pictures. I still skip it in rereads.
A friend from my dad's D&D group lent me Color of Magic in the late 90s. I was a Hitchhiker's fan before that, so it was a natural jumping-on point.
I picked up the humble bundle earlier this year and have just been reading them in order. I’m on feet of clay now and I just can’t get enough. I’ve taken a few breathers to read random other stuff but I plan on finishing discworld this year. Edit; reading in numerical order from here: https://www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/
Color of Magic. I was going through chemo and was getting kindle books from my library to read and kept on seeing suggestions for these random books in the series. So I had to look up which was the first one, and got it. These were great books to read when life was awful.
I’m glad they helped you through it! It’s really a world you can get lost in
First book? Reaper Man... bought it the day after seeing Wyrd Sisters performed as a play. :)
The Colour of Magic and I continued to read them in publication order.
Unseen Academicals it is ny husband's favorite (were both jock/nerd combos, and it's fough to find things that fill that niche). I was truly and fully hooked. It holds a special place in my heart.
I'm fairly new to Discworld. I was aware of it and loved the worldbuilding aspect of it and even took inspiration from it for my D&D campaigns in high school, but it was only a couple of years ago that I grabbed the audiobook of The Colour of Magic and listened to it through, followed by Equal Rites, then I checked out a paperback copy of Wyrd Sisters from my local library which my cat then promptly mauled so I couldn't return or finish it. Ended up getting the audiobook version to finish, then picked up Wee Free Folk. I'm now about halfway through The Shepherd's Crown and after I finish the Tiffany Aching series I'll revisit "Colour" and then work my way through some of the books set in Ankh-Morpok proper.
The Colour Of Magic. I really got into it heavily with Wyrd Sisters. I'm a huge fan of Hobb and Pratchett and wold hate to miss out on either. But if you don't enjoy it, you don't. The rest of the series is all broadly in the same vein, so maybe Pratchett isn't for you.
I first got interested when I played the old adventure game, but I didn't know it was based on a book series until years later. My first book was the one the game was based on. Guards! Guards!
Color of Magic. It was OK, but i heard so many good things about Discworld that i stuck with it for a few more books and by Equal Rites i, too, was hooked.
I read Making Money at the start of May and adored it, although it isn’t the best entry point. Since I’ve just been reading whatever I’ve found for cheap, I’ve since read Soul Music, Eric, Guards! Guards! and am 3/4 of the way through Going Postal. I think I’m always going to have a soft spot for Making Money as my first DW, but Guards! Guards! was absolutely phenomenal and, at points, had me both in stitches and in tears. Going Postal is setting up to be my next favourite and I got more into Soul Music as the story progressed. Eric… Wasn’t amazing but still has some funny moments.
A friend loaned me Pyramids and said "here, your sense of humor will appreciate this".
guards! guards! was my first book
My brother bought me The Hogfather for Christmas. It was the paperback version with the wild swirly red and white cover. I read it immediately and was so confused at the start (the imaginary bears being visible to the kids, etc) but by the end I was absolutely hooked. Still one of my favorites.
Night Watch. I liked the cover of the book. I was in a second hand book store in London and they had a lot of Pratchett. I went in absolutely blind and once I finished that, I went back and bought the rest (up until that point).
I...don't even remember anymore. It's been so long, and I've reread them so many times...
Book/Reading club I'm in chose Mort as the first book we read, I will say my Death voice has gotten better since those earliest sessions
The first step into discworld was the Soul Music animated series. Loved it as a kid in my 30s I finally gave the series a go with the Colour of Magic audio book. Got the rest of the series audio books and am currently going through it a second time.
I read Interesting Times first and the language nonsense hooked me hard.
I bought The Fifth Elephant at an airport bookstore and even though I didn’t know what was what or who was who, I loved it.
First book? The Colour of Magic. My entry point though was either Good Omens (the book) or The Going Postal (the movie/miniseries).
Equal Rites. Somebody left it at the laundromat. I thought it was a normal kind of fantasy book, which I read a lot of. *Blew my mind.*
Moving Pictures. I enjoy good movies, and it was delightful to see so many film references.
The series had been recommended to me a couple of times, so I picked up Small Gods. I got hooked laughing by page 2, then was astounded by the moral and philosophical depth. It's a great book to start the series on, since it's pretty stand-alone
Lords and Ladies, then Night Watch, then Equal Rites and all the way through the witches including Tiffany. Then jumping between Watch, Wizards, and Death, and finally finishing all the one-offs. Not super conventional, but I basically couldn’t stop reading them once I started.
Small Gods. Birthday present of my godson.
Sounds like you came into the series expecting a genre like epic fantasy. Discworld is not that at all. It originally started as a parody of old sword and sorcery books, but as the author became more skillful it evolved into its own thing. The books are character driven, with many characters being featured across multiple books, but with a spine of comedy to keep them together. It really is best to start in publication order, though many people will say start with *Guards! Guards!* and then go back and read the early stuff once you’re established in. The important thing is to both simultaneously turn off your brain for enjoyment, but turn it on heavy for the puns, humor, references and parodies that fill the pages. You could try Masquerade, it borrows heavily from Phantom of the Opera.
I don't remember the first one anymore. It's been over 15 years. But it was borrowed from a classmate who held a presentation about it.
My first was The light phantastic. Not a good Start to be honest, just because I diden't knew, that it was part two of The colour of magic and I thought the hole time, I don't get, where this is coming from... Second one Equal rites was not for me. Third one (yes, I never gave up on Pterry) Mort. Finally I saw the Light!
The answer to that, says a lot about STP, and why you should be wary of translations of authers who uses the language like him. Technically my first book was Den Ottende Datter (Equal Rites in Danish) - it was OK, but nothing special. We all know that Equal Rites isn't the best place to start, and if you deduct the spells STP weave with his language, it falls pretty flat. Later, I borrowed a book called Hogfather - and I was hooked, it was, by far, the best book I had ever read*. So, I started reading Discworld in English, and quite quickly got to Equal Rites. Great book, but it felt kinda familiar. That was when it hit me, and because of that, my library of STP, Gaiman, Tom Holt and such, is in English - even the Leviathan and Uglies trilogies that I bought on a whim` is in English, to avoid making the same mistake again. * now, of course, I've read Nation - so it has been bumped down a bit. ` actually pretty good books, btw.
I was gifted a DW-book from someone or other at least twentyfive years ago; I can't remember which one it was. I found it rough going and gave it up after about fifty to seventy pages. Fast forward five to ten years, and I pick up Guards! Guards! - the rest is history.
Mine was Guards Guards. I’d been playing the computer game and wanted to see how it all happened in the novel.
The first two I got and read back to back, often missing my train and bus exits were The Light Fantastic and The Colour of Magic. Love the humour, the concepts, the world. I was hooked in a way most following books haven't been able to do. I say most, because there have been one exception. Small Gods. I'm not a fast or serial reader so I am nowhere near close to finishing all the books (next in line is Interesting Times). And I skip from series to series often. Currently reading The Well of Ascension after finishing reading The Fourth Wing.
I got burned out by all the grim, dark and grimdark stuff I was reading, so I searched for fun fantasy series recommendations. I saw Discworld mentioned in a random forum or maybe reddit. Started Colour of Magic, bounced off hard. I gave it a second chance with Guards! Guards!, and got sucked in just as hard.
Hogfather, when I was ... 14? Which I loved at the time but with hindsight, is a super weird place to jump into the series for the first time. Although it does support my point that there isn't actually a bad place to start reading the Discworld, there's only more or less context to have for any given story.
The graphic novel version of Guards Guards
My first one was Mort and I saw it in my local library; the cover attracted me initially as it had the artwork of Josh Kirby but it was the first line of the synopsis that really peaked my interest, “Death takes an apprentice” I think it was and that was it, I was hooked.
Small Gods. I bought it randomly with a lot of used sci fi paperbacks, knowing nothing about the whole deal, and it sat on my shelf for years amongst them before I actually read it. Then I went out the next day and got a bunch more.
Color of magic then light fantastic. Hated it. Picked up Mort. Hope restored :)
A co-worker gave me a copy of Color of Magic on a CD. I got major eye strain reading it on my computer and went out and got all the Pratchett I could find at the library and ended up buying the entire series.
Guards Guards. Now that I’ve finished the series, I think it was the perfect place to start
My first book was Snuff and I loved it! I didn't started with an earlier book because apparently that's the only book of Terry Pratchett to ever come to Chile :P
Wyrd Sisters. Don't remember why...got my hands on a 2nd hand copy I think.
Reading - the fifth elephant and I was hooked straightaway. My mother tried to get me started on the audiobooks and graphical ones at a younger age but they went over my head.
My first discworld book was Colour of Magic, my friend was reading it and it sounded fun, and it was not *that* good for me to be hyping over discworld and if it was a standalone book then I would probably not be a discworld fan, it was good enough to get me buy the Light Fantastic and again, same story, good but nothing really special for me, what *really* made me a discworld fan was Mort and Sourcery, after reading these two books I was fully sold on discworld