That's one of those books that different people remember differently. I am enthralled with the physical descriptions of South Carolina . ( My grandparents lived there - my parent are there now). My DH finds the relationship tom( ?) has with his psychiatrist compelling. My father really liked it, but at the same time found it overly dramatic.

I might read the very early line where it describes the smell of SC.1) very true 2) poetic 3) crude , pulls no punches. ( if I could find the book, I'd quote it- look for the word semen)

Well, one of the boys got raped after prisoners escaped from prison. And his older brother shot the escaped convict. And there's lots of therapy. And he has a fling with his therapist. And you'd never want to be a sibling or parent or other family member of Pat Conroy because in one novel he'll laud you as the most awesome person ever but in the next novel he'll portray as evil incarnate.

Conroy's actual sister is a well known poet.

Conroy has/had a niche as the Southern White Male trying to adjust to a post-segregation world with only partial success. His novels are written from a first person viewpoint, and the narrator is always the same person (even if the names change).

I went through a big Conroy phase until Beach Music, when I realized he'd run out of things to say.

The therapist in Prince of Tides was originally the sister's therapist. The narrator and the therapist end up in a weird half-therapy, half-fling relationship.

Thanks for all the info. We ended up getting our visit cut short yesterday so I didn't get to book talk. I'll be bringing it next time, though, so thanks for your input!

So I think this may have been asked before, but if someone wanted to start reading Discworld stuff from sort of beginning to end, where might one start?

The Color of Magic is the first book.

Thanks P-C!

So I think this may have been asked before, but if someone wanted to start reading Discworld stuff from sort of beginning to end, where might one start?

CoM is the weakest book in the series. I'd consult this [link]

Also Wikipedia: [link]

I came across them out of order. AISTR Mort was pretty good, but the first one I remember really liking was Guards! Guards!

Another possible place to start is Small Gods, which isn't really part of any of the sub-series. One of the great things about Pratchett is that he doesn't really need to be read in order. I started with Thud!