In case there are people on my friendslist who read Pratchett and don't know this ... the CAST LIST for the MOVIE IN PRODUCTION of Hogfather can be found here.
I am, obviously, right there with you. I'm also nervous..it's a movie adaptation of a Pratchett novel. Mind you, I trust your average British movie company much more than Hollywood (they actually read the books, it seems), but the press releases I've seen so far seem a bit confused on the plot line.
I figure that if I'm robbed of the pleasure of seeing a Discworld book adapted in a reasonable way for the screen, then I get the pleasure of bitching about it loudly and at length. It's a win-win situation!
I've seen them each once - somewhere I've got bootleg VHS tapes of them but I haven't owned a VCR in four years, so I haven't watched them in at least that long. I don't remember much about them, though. I should find them and take them to my mother's house and watch them again. If they were out on US-readable DVD I'd buy them in a heartbeat, but I'm under the impression that they're not.
The bit about "Humans have to learn little lies so they can learn the big ones like Justice and Mercy. So that they can be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape."? Because, wow. I have so much love for that part, though I see why it might get cut for a movie.
I will still complain violently if they lose it, though. *grins*
I've just recently started The Color of Magic and I'm sorry to say, after hearing nothing but great praise for him from my friends, I just can't get into it. I don't know. But I'm going to read it through to the end because it'd bother me if I did otherwise.
Is there a particular order to read the Discworld series?
Honeslty, the first few books are really rough, because he hadn't settled into the groove, so to speak. Plus, they deal with Rincewind, and there's lots of people who don't like Rincewind very much.
You don't have to read the ENTIRE series in order because there's lots of little sub-series in it. But those are best encountered in order. I'd suggest picking up Wyrd Sisters, Mort, and/or Guards! Guards! if you want to start a series, or trying one of the standalones if you're more that sort. The last two standalones - Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal - have some characters that will mean more if you read the City Watch books first, though.
Standalones: Pyramids, Moving Pictures, Small Gods, The Truth, The Last Hero (illustrated book), Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal
Unseen University, but sort-of standalones: Equal Rites, Sourcery
Rincewind books: The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent
Ankh-Morpork City Watch: Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!
Susan Sto Helit (read after Mort, though, since Susan's history leads on from the events in Mort and has spoilers for it): Soul Music, Hogfather, Thief of Time
Young adult novels not sold as Discworld books, but obviously set in Discworld if you're fmailiar with its characters: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, and the Tiffany Aching trilogy: The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and (forthcoming) Wintersmith
I have long thought that "Small Gods" is the absolute best Discworld book considered isolated from the rest of the series, especially if you've any interest in philosophy, theology, or religious history. It does have a more somber and Juvenalian tone than most of his other books.
Small Gods is growing on me. I never saw what other people saw in it, but after listening to the audiobook version, it's better than I used to think it was. I'm hard put to find a particular favorite, though.
Oh yes - simple is not the same as stupid. And I love that he knows that personal is not the same as important, and the one time he didn't remember that ... well, bad things happened. XD
Sam Vimes is my overall most favorite character, I think.
Wait. So the movie is the second book in the series? Or is it a mesh of the 2 books? I have never picked up any of those so I shall have to ask my friend about them.
It's a series in that the main character is in each of them, and her character grows and changes over the course of the books. It's not like a the-story-is-continued thing. And they'll be writing the movie so as to take out anything that's dependent on knowing the other books, I suspect.
I'd still suggest you read it before seeing the movie, because they'll have to cut out about 3/4 of it to make it fit into the movie. :D
Really all the books are able to stand alone. I don't think there's a single book that requires any other books have been read first for the reader to understand it and (if so inclined) enjoy it.
Now there ARE a lot of little things that someone who reads the books in order will pick up on as sort of bonus references, but I don't recall any that would even be missed by someone not getting it from prior knowledge. Sort of like how knowing about Bruce Campbell & Sam Rami's relationship can make seeing Bruce appear in the Spiderman movies more interesting, but someone not knowing about it won't feel lost for not knowing.
You *can* read them out of order without missing any important information about the action in that book, but the problem with reading them that way is that Pratchett writes character arcs and his characters grow and change through their series.* That's the story you miss when reading them out of order, and as a character-oriented person, I happen to think that's the most important part of the books. :)
* Except, perhaps, for Rincewind, who is also one of the characters I like least. :D
I can't disagree with any of the particulars of your arguement ... but I would point out that anyone reading the books out of order will inevitably end up rereading them in order later, and will then get that extra bonus of extended character arcs.
Now that I think about it, it's kind of enviable, actually, that the second reading could have so much more than the first. I kinda wish I'd read them out of order myself. :p
But you'll end up reading the characters informed by what you know they're going to become, instead of not knowing how they'll change - the author's intended pace of revelation is busted. I think, for example, knowing that [highlight for potential spoilers for City Watch books] Sam Vimes manages to kick the booze and rises to become not only Commander of the Watch but Duke of Ankh takes some of the power out of the depths he just barely starts to struggle out of in Guards! Guards![end spoilers]
Actually, I've been listening to the audiobooks and recently stepped backwards trhough the City Watch books, and it was really interesting that way to compare the states of said character in the spoiler above when going backwards. :) So I do recommend reading them backwards, just not the first time.
Mind you, for anyone who really doesn't care about the character arcs and reads for plot instead, it probably doesn't actually matter.
My grandfather once owned a tractor-cap with that logo. At one point he had another that said "I never make mistakes, and when I do, I lie about them", but I believe it was shredded by the bush hog, amongst much profanity.
I agree with teleophase: I don't much like the Rincewind books, and the first two (Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic) are my least favorite of the whole series. The later Rincewind ones aren't as bad, but the first two didn't appeal to me at all.
The restaurant I went to lunch at today had fake lilacs on the table. They were trapped in a solid mass of clear plastic meant to look like water in the vase, otherwise I would have been tempted to pull a Nobby and appropriate a sprig.
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I hope it's nothing.
--bink
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allboth the actors I've heard of seem well-cast, and the costumes seem to be right.Have you seen the animated films? They stuck pretty much to the books and had terrific casts, although the animation was a bit lack-lustre.
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Still, Pratchett movie!
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I will still complain violently if they lose it, though. *grins*
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Is there a particular order to read the Discworld series?
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You don't have to read the ENTIRE series in order because there's lots of little sub-series in it. But those are best encountered in order. I'd suggest picking up Wyrd Sisters, Mort, and/or Guards! Guards! if you want to start a series, or trying one of the standalones if you're more that sort. The last two standalones - Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal - have some characters that will mean more if you read the City Watch books first, though.
Standalones: Pyramids, Moving Pictures, Small Gods, The Truth, The Last Hero (illustrated book), Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal
Unseen University, but sort-of standalones: Equal Rites, Sourcery
Rincewind books: The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent
Death books: Mort, Reaper Man
Witches books: Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum
Ankh-Morpork City Watch: Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!
Susan Sto Helit (read after Mort, though, since Susan's history leads on from the events in Mort and has spoilers for it): Soul Music, Hogfather, Thief of Time
Young adult novels not sold as Discworld books, but obviously set in Discworld if you're fmailiar with its characters: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, and the Tiffany Aching trilogy: The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and (forthcoming) Wintersmith
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Sam Vimes is my overall most favorite character, I think.
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I'd still suggest you read it before seeing the movie, because they'll have to cut out about 3/4 of it to make it fit into the movie. :D
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Now there ARE a lot of little things that someone who reads the books in order will pick up on as sort of bonus references, but I don't recall any that would even be missed by someone not getting it from prior knowledge. Sort of like how knowing about Bruce Campbell & Sam Rami's relationship can make seeing Bruce appear in the Spiderman movies more interesting, but someone not knowing about it won't feel lost for not knowing.
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* Except, perhaps, for Rincewind, who is also one of the characters I like least. :D
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Now that I think about it, it's kind of enviable, actually, that the second reading could have so much more than the first. I kinda wish I'd read them out of order myself. :p
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Actually, I've been listening to the audiobooks and recently stepped backwards trhough the City Watch books, and it was really interesting that way to compare the states of said character in the spoiler above when going backwards. :) So I do recommend reading them backwards, just not the first time.
Mind you, for anyone who really doesn't care about the character arcs and reads for plot instead, it probably doesn't actually matter.
* Once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken.
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My grandfather once owned a tractor-cap with that logo. At one point he had another that said "I never make mistakes, and when I do, I lie about them", but I believe it was shredded by the bush hog, amongst much profanity.
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*glee!*
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!!!
*gasp*
!!!
*SQUEEEEEEEEEEE*