Thanks to super-faithful reader Fred K. and his blog post about the proper reading order for the Discworld novels, a scheme was hatched here at SF Signal HQ. Said scheme being: Why not read all Discworld stories, including the short stories? Hence, the Great Pratchett Reading Project (GPRP) was born!
Both Tim and I jumped at the idea. Me, because I thought of it, and Tim because he likes Pratchett. John is also in, but with some reluctance. Something about the time involved or some such silly reason. Scott claims to have read all the books anyway and the young adult titles are, basically crap (that's a loose translation of his statement).
So what, exactly, are we going to do? Well, we are going to follow the Discworld Reading Order Guide 1.5 . I will start with the Rincewind Novels, Tim is taking the Watch Novels. We'll read each track, left to right, then move on downward to the next track. This will allow us to avoid any potential book conflicts, while insuring that there is a steady stream of Discworld goodnes here on the blog.
So what will we be producing for SF Signal? Most likely, some sort of master page listing the books and our reviews for them. The reviews themselves may not be the bigger ones we normally write, but to make up for that, each book review will have our individual takes on that book. Look for the reviews to see how that will work. I haven't quite figured out how we'll notify you of updated reviews, RSS readers will see the updated review in the feed, readers who scan the homepage won't. Maybe we can enlist John to create a patentet GPRP Widget for the right side bar. Stay tuned.
Now, you may be asking yourself, 'What? Why?". To which I respond: "Because". Pratchett's Discworld novels rule so why not read them all? I won't be reading them all one after the other. I will intersperse them with other books. But because they are, usually, fast reads, they shouldn't get in the way of the other books I want to read. And besides, who wouldn't want to read the books by a man unafraid to have his picture taken with a duck.....on his head.
Feel free to play along at home. If you post a review of one of the books, let us know and we'll add a link to our review of that book thus creating a ginormous repository of Pratchett reviews! The duck thanks you.
PS - I'm already 60 pages into The Color (Colour) Of Magic. Man, I had forgotten how funny it is...
Comments (14)
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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday January 18, 2007 at 1:46 PM
© 2007 SF Signal
Yes, we needs us a patented GPRP Widget dammit. As for the project itself, I very much look forward to catching up on all my Pratchety-y goodness (if that is even a word.)
Posted by Tim on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 2:34 PM
Oh, poo on you all. I started that project last year. Johnny-come-lateys!
Posted by Fred Kiesche on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 3:21 PM
I found the Discworld books stayed fresh and funny until about Small Gods, after which they seemed to get tired.
This is the book satirising rock and roll, this is the one satirising opera, etc.
Sure, they're well written, but on autopilot.
Posted by Steve on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 3:38 PM
I began listening to the first book on audio read by the author. I had a headache inside of an hour.
Posted by Jeff Patterson on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 5:12 PM
O.K., I've joined the fun at my blog. Hey, is this taking the place of the short-a-day project? And what about George R. R. Martin? Maybe we can do one of his books every six months or so...
Posted by Fred Kiesche on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 5:15 PM
Interspersed with my other novels, I've been (slowly) reading all of the Pratchett Canon, myself, from the beginning, having recently read Interesting Times.
Posted by Paul on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 7:53 PM
I have not read any of Terry Pratchett's novels. But this sounds like a good time to start. Stopped at the library today and picked up "Going Postal". I will post a review as soon and I am finished. I'll let you know when it is posted. I am just starting with an SF&F blog called "Worlds of IF".
Posted by Jim Black on Thursday January 18, 2007 at 10:57 PM
For the record, I did not refer to anything Pratchett has written as crap. I just said I wasn't interested in the young adult fiction until my son got old enough to be interested in them.
Posted by Scott on Friday January 19, 2007 at 1:40 PM
Well, he did say it was a "loose translation"!
Posted by Fred Kiesche on Friday January 19, 2007 at 2:07 PM
Man, you really lost out in the division.
The first two Rincewind books are the worst of the entire series, and Pratchett himself appears more and more bored with the character in later ones. Note that there hasn't been a Rincewind book in years; Pratchett's far more interested in the other Unseen University wizards.
Do the witches instead.
Posted by Jon Meltzer on Sunday January 28, 2007 at 9:37 AM
FYI, the blog post on my blog that inspired this madness has been archived and deleted for various reasons. The blog is dead, the blog may be reborn someday. In the meantime, I continue to read Pratchett (and others).
Posted by Fred Kiesche on Wednesday February 21, 2007 at 9:57 AM
Finished "Equal Rites", started "Mort". Onwards!
Posted by Fred Kiesche on Thursday February 22, 2007 at 1:29 PM
I finished Going Postal and loved it. My review is posted on my Worlds of IF blog. Next on my list is Thud!
Posted by Jim Black on Sunday February 25, 2007 at 12:49 PM