As the Summer of 2019 was passing us by I realized that I had not read nearly enough Discworld so far. It didn’t quite fit in with my reading plans or my reading challenge and I thought that was a shame. So the goal to focus more on Discworld in 2020 was formed. Despite wanting to take it easy with reading the books, I have still only read 14 books out of 41. Some of them have been read a while ago too. So having a better focus on this series does seem right.
And then I realized what better way to do that then by sharing this goal for myself with all of you by a reading challenge. This is going to be low key in the sense that you can step in at any point of having read Discworld. At having read zero, some or all. You can set your own goal and discuss the books with us.
Title
Turtle Recall comes from the 2012 Discworld companion Pratchett wrote with Stephen Briggs. At that point there were 39 books out.
Goal
Read books set in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. This challenge isn’t to read the whole of the series as I know that is a big commitment. Just hop along reading the Discworld novels. Ones you still need to read or ones that you want to reread.
Rules
You can set your own goal or reach for the levels down below.
All Formats count
All 41 Discworld books count
All short stories and graphic novels count
Companion books count as well as they are a part of Discworld. I have also seen books that talk about Discworld and all that. They can be allowed as well, however don’t do this more than once. This challenge is really about Pratchett’s own words (or Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby (Discworld Imaginarium) count too as they worked alongside Pratchett for a long time).
Rereads count.
Levels to Reach For
Discworld is the world that all the stories are set in. It is a flat planet (disc) on the backs of four elephants who stand upon the great turtle A’Tuin. The Disc is about 10.000 miles wide. In the middle of Discworld lies the mountain Cori Celesti, and home to the Disc’s Gods.
Level 1 / The Counterweight Continent / 1-5 Books
The Counterweight Continent is on the other end of the Unnamed Continent and Klatch. It is much smaller in landmass than either of them but makes up for it in its crust that is made almost entirely out of gold and octiron. The octiron is cause of the rare sapient pear trees the contintent has. Wood from these trees create Luggages. Beware if you come across a Luggage. It is home to the Agatean Empire.
Level 2 / Klatch / 6-10 Books
Klatch is one part of Discworld’s super continent and located on the other end of the Circle Sea. It includes the countries Klatch, Howondaland, Djelibebi and Ephebe to name a few. Those outside of Klatch view it as a barren, sandy land. In reality Klatch has jungles in Howondaland.
Level 3 / Lancre / 11-15 Books
Lancre is a place on the Unnamed Continent and lies in the Ramtop Mountains. It is a major earthing point for Discworld’s magic and as such you will often see witches and walking trees abound. It is quite unknown how big Lancre truly is because of the mountain area, but mostly of all because of the magic warping things.
Level 4 / Pseudopolis / 16-20 Books
Pseudopolis, which means false city, is also known as Psephopololis according to the Discworld mapp. It has a school of magic called Braseneck College that has a longstanding rivalry with The Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork. Nothing much seems to happen here…
Level 5 / Ankh-Morpork / 21-25 Books
Ankh-Morpork is city on the Unnamed Continent. The name refers to itself, behind walls, and the surrounding suburbs and neighbouring farms. It is partly build upon itself as when the river (Ankh) flooded they just continued to build on the abanded buildings. Ankh-Morpork thrives on guilds. There are guilds for every profession. From thieves to clowns.
Level 6 / Unseen University / 26-30 Books
The Unseen University is a school of wizardy. The university is set in Ankh-Morpork. The Faculty are mostly filled up by old wizards, and strangely, one orangutan librarian. The head of the school is the archangelor, a position currently held by Ridcully. Another, somewhat, known figure is Rincewind. He holds various unwanted positions in the school for which he receives no salary.
Level 7 / The Rimfall / 31-35 Books
The Rim is the end of the world. The Rimfall is the endless waterfall there. It flows into space and takes many unfortunate things along with it.
Level 8 / Death’s Domain / 36-41 Books
Death’s Domain is, as the name suggests, the domain of Death, the reaper of Discworld. It lays outside of time and space. He lives there with his manservant Albert, his horse Binky and the Death of Rats. Almost everything is in different shades of black. Mon Repos is the main house and the inside is much larger than the outside.
Goodreads Group
I created a goodreads group for easier talking. That is something I missed during the reading challenge I did last year when there were a lot of elements there.

1 member
Created for the 2020 Discworld Reading Challenge that will be hosted on A Dance with Books. However as time passes this group will move into just discussing Discworld as well, embracing new and older readers of Terry Pratchett’s work. Be welcome.
Currently under construction
Books we’ve read
View this group on Goodreads »
Share book reviews and ratings with Turtle Recall , and even join a book club on Goodreads.
Group Reads
If any of you are interested we could do a few group reads throughout the year. Two or three maybe. In the goodreads group we could decide which ones to nominate and then vote to read. I think the more standalone discworld books work well for this but if anyone has any other ideas feel free to share them.
Discworld Guide
For those that are new to Discworld I want to write one or multiple guides to Discworld about the arcs, reading order and so on. If you have any suggestions for topics send them my way please.
Fill in Form
You can save this and copy and past the covers of the books you have read for this reading challenge in paint. You can also lengten the white in paint as you read more and more.
This is such a great idea!! I’ll definitely join 🥰 reading Discworld is always a good thing
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Yeay welcome. And it certainly is 😀
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WOO! This is great Annemieke 😀 I love the Discworld but also have only read a small number of them (7) even though I highly enjoyed them. I’m interested in signing up for this 😀 Jen
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Yeay that would be great. I think I’ve read 10+ at this point. There is so much around us to focus on that it can be hard or prioritize the older ones.
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I’m in – love Discworld and I’ve been wanting an excuse to re read some of my favourites
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I am happy to provide you with an excuse to reread 😀
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I’m so excited for this!! I’m totally in and would really appreciate a post on where to start with the books. I’ve only read one Discworld book so far — Equal Rites because I wanted a story about Witches. I believe it’s the first Witches book. I’d like to complete that part of the series and then continue with other series within Discworld. I’m new to it all but am already fascinated by it. I’ll most likely post by TBR/sign-up post in January.
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Yes Equal Rites is the first of the Witches arc and a great place to start. The posts on where you can start within the series are in the works for the first few months of 2020!
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I’ll be on the lookout for it.
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I think a good one for a group read would be The Color of Magic. I read it so long ago that I need to do a re-read before I continue on with the Rincewind arc. Also, because it gets such a bad rap, I think it would be interesting to see why that is; especially for me because I remember loving it. Ha ha. 😁
This is going to be fun! 🐢🌏
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Yes I can’t wait. I’m going to post a poll in the goodreads group to see what people want to read and I’ll add colour of magic for sure!
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Yay, I join in! This will help me with my Re-Read 🙂
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Yeay!
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Ah, this is funny. I was just having a conversation with Ryan @ Muse With Me about needing to get in at least one more Terry Pratchett book this year (since he has one more he’s hoping to read this month, too). I’m so in on this! I actually received several more Discworld books this year (and I think I’ll be getting a couple for Christmas), so it’s good timing. I’ve been meaning to get to more of them. :3
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Yeay I am so glad you are joining in 😀
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Wanted to read so much Discworld this year, but never did. So 2020 will be the year!!! This is perfect 😁
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Yeay so glad you are joining 😀 We get distracted by all those other books 😉
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I am so glad I stumbled across this challenge, I love Pratchett and always manage a few books each year, mostly re-reads. Count me in, off to check out the goodreads group.
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Glad to see you joining ❤
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This is a lovely idea, I actually finished re-reading all the Discworld books last year on audio, can’t remember how long it took me!
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It is quite the commitment!
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