Progress

Below is a list of all thirty-nine Discworld novels. I’m aware that I might be disappointing completists out there, but I’ll be passing over the slightly more incidental titles such as The Science of Discworld (1999) and The Unseen University Challenge (1996). I’m also not setting myself specific targets with regard to complementary titles like The Discworld Mapp (1995) and The New Discworld Companion (2003). However, I have left Young Adult novels such as The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (2001) on the list.

I would be foolish to ignore the fact that the Discworld exists across many media: in addition to the supplementary books mentioned above, there are at least three video games, as well as both animated and live action television adaptations. I won’t even start on the merch – keyrings, figurines, Christmas (Hogswatch) cards. Pratchett seems to have taken an active role in producing much of this material, and you can certainly argue that you can’t legitimately experience Pratchett’s world through his novels alone, especially in a project that was seeking to understand, chronologically, its growth and development. On the other hand, this project needs something approaching an achievable goal: if I let in the short stories, can I really exclude the science books, which include plenty of narrative elements? Having let in both, eliminating the diaries seems downright rude. Where do you draw the line? Do I have to track down tea towels?

Fascinating and wonderful though the holistic project would be, the reality is that due to rarities and ephemera, it is probably already impossible to read the whole Discworld. In any case, my primary interest in doing this is to understand literary worldbuilding: due to the peculiar nature of books, about which Pratchett writes better than anyone, the novels are the main way in which the Disc is put together; the vessels in which it sails L-space. This project focuses on them, then – of course, I’ve read many of the other Discworld texts, and will inevitably discuss them as we progress. Understanding how an imagined world comes together across media with different levels of cultural capital is certainly an aim of mine. However, I’m coming at that question from the novels outwards rather than by attempting to be comprehensive.

For my own convenience, the below list was coloured green for books I have, red for books I lack. The strikethroughs indicate my progress through the series. I started on January 21st, 2012 and finished on January 14th, 2013.

  1. The Colour of Magic (1983)
  2. The Light Fantastic (1986)
  3. Equal Rites (1987)
  4. Mort (1987)
  5. Sourcery (1988)
  6. Wyrd Sisters (1988)
  7. Pyramids (1989)
  8. Guards! Guards! (1989)
  9. Eric (1990)
  10. Moving Pictures (1990)
  11. Reaper Man (1991)
  12. Witches Abroad (1991)
  13. Small Gods (1992)
  14. Lords and Ladies (1992)
  15. Men at Arms (1993)
  16. Soul Music (1994)
  17. Interesting Times (1994)
  18. Maskerade (1995)
  19. Feet of Clay (1996)
  20. Hogfather (1996)
  21. Jingo (1997)
  22. The Last Continent (1998)
  23. Carpe Jugulum (1998)
  24. The Fifth Elephant (1999)
  25. The Truth (2000)
  26. Thief of Time (2001)
  27. The Last Hero (2001)
  28. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (2001)
  29. Night Watch (2002)
  30. The Wee Free Men (2003)
  31. Monstrous Regiment (2003)
  32. A Hat Full of Sky (2004)
  33. Going Postal(2004)
  34. Thud! (2005)
  35. Wintersmith(2006)
  36. Making Money (2007)
  37. Unseen Academicals (2009)
  38. I Shall Wear Midnight (2010)
  39. Snuff (2011)

For those interested in peripheral Discworld works, Wikipedia’s bibliography is fairly comprehensive.