Anne McCaffrey's Books About Pern

If anyone is interested, I have written a (probably dozen post) back story detailing what the world of Pern is all about. It will be chock-full of spoilers, though, giving you a glimpse into important plot points as I summarize the series.

In the meantime, here is the order in which I recommend reading them:

Recommended reading order for those new to the world of Pern:

Dragonflight
Dragonquest
- Dragonsong
- Dragonsinger
- Dragondrums
The White Dragon

These are the first two trilogies of the series, though I have stuck the Harper Hall trilogy in the middle. This is because you will miss a LOT of information and some very special development of characters if you go right to the third book of the original Dragonriders of Pern series, The White Dragon.

To continue with the original characters introduced in these books, you might want to go on to read these next:

The Girl Who Heard Dragons (a short story, but the main character comes up later books) This story is available by the book of the same name, as well as in the book, A Gift of Dragons. Stopping down to read all 4 stories in A Gift of Dragons would be nice
All the Weyrs of Pern
Dolphins of Pern (centers on a new character related to someone you've read about by now, but you'll want to read it before the next book, regardless)
The Skies of Pern

From here, it's up to you what order you read them in, depending on your own personal preference.

Here are the books falling in Chronological order, Pern time:

Book or "Short Story"
Dragonsdawn
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (Contains the following four stories:)
- "The Dolphins' Bell"
- "The Ford of Red Hanrahan"
- "The Second Weyr"
- "Rescue Run"
Red Star Rising (known in the US as Dragonseye)
"Ever the Twain"
Dragon's Kin
Dragon's Fire
Dragon Harper
Dragonsblood
Moreta,
Nerilka's Story
"Beyond Between" Can be found in the book Legends II : new short novels by the masters of modern fantasy
Masterharper of Pern
Dragonflight
Renegades of Pern
"Runner of Pern" (In the book, A Gift of Dragons)
Dragonquest
Dragonsong
Dragonsinger
Dragondrums
"The Impression"
"The Smallest Dragonboy" (In the book, A Gift of Dragons)
"Ever the Twain" (In the book, A Gift of Dragons)
The White Dragon
"The Girl Who Heard Dragons" (In the book, A Gift of Dragons, also in a book by the same name)
All the Weyrs of Pern
Dolphins of Pern
The Skies of Pern

As for the books in quotes, some of these I've never seen, much less read. She writes short stories based on Pern, and they're published within other books sometimes