Trillan's Journal: British Fiction

I don't know why I didn't think to post this before. Perhaps because it's strictly an opinion thing...

If you're a fan of Douglas Adams, you're probably still as depressed about his passing as I am. But you owe it to yourself to check out Terry Pratchett's Discworld as well.

The series is actually several subseries: Rincewind & The Wizards, The Witches, The Watch, Deateh & Susan, plus a couple independent books. Which book should you start with? Well, other than not starting with one of the first two (they're okay, but not representative), it depends what you are into. Most of the books play off a phenomenon: Moving Pictures, for instance, off of Hollywood; The Truth, for instance, is based on the media (specifically, newspapers and tabloids), Wyrd Sisters apparently apparently appeals to MacBeth fans, but I'm still waiting for it in the mail...

If you haven't heard of Pratchett before and are looking for a recommendation, by all means ask. And if you *have* heard of him, please take a moment and tell me what your favorite book was. :)

Where should I start, then?

[djh101010]

I don't have a coherent starting point to get into his work, do you have a suggestion for a title I should start with? I'm OK with things happening in unusual chronological order (Asimov, etc) but something that gives me a good in-point would be great.

Re:Where should I start, then?

[Trillan]

Okay, good. An excuse to type this up. :) Only reason I left "post and ask" was because I didn't want to if nobody cared.

A good starting place is Guards! Guards!. This is the first book of the Watch series, and is pretty good. The Watch series is also a more modern series, so there are fewer continuity glitches along it. It will likely tell you if you're going to be interested in the rest of his writing.

But if there's a particular thing you're interested in, check out this list of themes:

• Wyrd Sister