Reddit reviews The Color of Magic: A Discworld Novel

This list needs more Neil Gaiman.


Children/YA books: Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and Stardust are my favs. Do yourself a favor and read the version illustrated by Charles Vess, it is far superior to the (non-illustrated) mass-market paperback. I would link to it, but I can't seem to find it on Amazon. Sorry.

Now, at no point did you ask for short-fiction, though I would think it fits your criteria of being able to pick up and set down at a moment's notice, so I'm gonna rec some fine short fiction as well. Smoke and Mirrors is quite good, as is Fragile Things.

Now as long as I'm here I would be remiss if I did not at least mention The Princess Bride and the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. I linked to the first one in the series, but it has been my experience that you can read them in just about any order you want with very little trouble. I usually just go to my local library and grab whichever one strikes my fancy. Terry Pratchett is an amazing storyteller and he also made a sword out of metal ore mined from a meteor after being knighted. That is a true thing that happened. I kid you not. Read his books. They will make your life better. Also to bring this comment full circle, he co-authored a book with Neil Gaiman called Good Omens that is just fantastic.

If you're looking for fairly light, escapist type lit, you might try Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Quick, humorous reads, similar in style to Douglas Adams, but more fantasy than sci-fi.

I'd also suggest the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. The Napoleonic Wars + dragons. Again, fairly quick reads and not super heavy, but they're just enjoyable books to escape into for a bit.

World War Z by Max Brooks: Oral history of the zombie war, and surprisingly more thoughtful than you might expect.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Gorgeous book about a German girl during WWII, narrated by Death.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler: Dana has also become unstuck in time. She's a modern black woman who finds herself suddenly transported, over and over, into the time of slavery.

Kushiel's Dart (and the rest of the Kushiel series) by Jacqueline Carey: I don't know if this would be up your alley or not, but it's definitely one of my "islands," as you put it. Be forewarnd that there is explicit BDSM sex within.

Peter S. Beagle's works are another of my "islands." He's one of the most often underrated and overlooked living fantasy authors, IMO. The Last Unicorn is his best known, and it's a thing of beauty. I also really like A Fine and Private Place.

Ewik sent me the gift of Discworld. The entire Rincewind storyline I think. I'm nearly through "Colour of Magic" which I started over the Christmas break!

Thanks Ewik!

If you're a Neil Gaiman fan, I'd recommend Good Omens or Night watch. Good omens is a stand-alone book by both Gaiman and Pratchett, and is silly and fun- Night Watch is perhaps the darkest of the discworld novels and matches Gaiman's usual tone more (it's also my personal favorite :) ).

But any of the Discworld novels are worth a read, really. If you want to go chronologically, though, you should start with The Colour of Magic, however the order really isn't important- you won't miss much, if at all.