Re. the Pratchett Discworld books. Some of them need to be read in sequence but all of them are funny in their own right.
I particulary like those that involve Commander Vimes of the Night Watch and his wife, Lady Sybil, who breeds dragons. The storyline where those two got together, Vimes sitting in Sybil's sitting room while a very elderly dragon has its head on his knee and is gently dribbling acid down his leg; Vimes absent-mindedly lighting his cigar with a small "flaming" dragon-pup (to Lady Sybil's horror - baby dragons tend to explode when over-excited); Vimes' interaction with his "men", the bogey-man who carries a door round with him, the zomby whose limbs fall off every now and then, the very shy banshee who slips notes under the doors of the soon-to-be-bereaved, that say, "Ooo-eee-ooo-eee", the female werewolf and Detritus the troll, the dwarf who turns out to be female - but all dwarves have beards so nobody knew.
I also have a fondness for Death, who rides a white horse called Binky and is rather fond of cats. The 3 witches are fantastic characters too. Once you've read it you'll never forget the thought of Granny Weatherwax running backwards and forwards with her broomstick, trying to jump-start it, and Nanny Ogg who has been a bit of a "goer" in her time - and still is, given half a chance.
The wizards at Unseen University are a dissolute bunch, much given to over-indulgence in everything that's bad for you, especially food, and have a librarian who was turned, in a magical accident, into an orang-utan. Sorry but, to me, Harry Potter is just a pale imitation.
