{"id":62,"date":"2005-03-20T08:35:58","date_gmt":"2005-03-20T15:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=62"},"modified":"2021-09-22T18:54:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T22:54:47","slug":"good-omens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/62","title":{"rendered":"Good Omens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Good Omens<\/em> (1990) Neil Gaiman<\/a> and Terry Pratchett<\/a><\/p>\n

Good Omens<\/em> is one of my all time favorite books, and one that I’d take with me to be stranded on a desert island<\/a>, because it’s funny<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Really funny. <\/p>\n

With lots of passages that make me giggle, and even laugh out loud, not just when I read them, but even when I go back and think about them later. Like:<\/p>\n

…courting couples had come to listen to the splish and gurgle of the river in the Sussex sunset. He’d done that with Maud, his missus, before they were married. They’d come here to spoon, and on one memorable occasion, fork.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even the footnotes are funny.<\/p>\n

(24) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life…
\n25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee?
\n26 And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.
\n27 And the Lord did not ask him again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But in addition to being funny, the book is just plain good. The characters are great, the story is great, the only weakness I can think of is that the whole thing has to end.<\/p>\n

As far as the story: it’s England, it’s the Apocalypse, and the Antichrist is coming into his powers, except that, being eleven and having been misplaced as a baby, he doesn’t really know about his powers. The only people who really know what’s going on are an angel and a demon who’ve been on Earth so long they’ve gone native, and a young woman, Anathema Device, who is guided by her family heirloom, “The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter.”<\/p>\n

Although I like Anathema, I have to say that my favorite characters are Aziraphale and especially Crowley. There’s something about a demon with verdant, thriving houseplants. (And I wonder whether his method really works. If so, I might consider using it.) <\/p>\n

The thing about Good Omens<\/i> is that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman together manage to be even funnier than they are alone, which is pretty impressive, since I find both of them quite amusing.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t read this book, you should. It’s really that good.<\/p>\n

Oh, for Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett fans who have not yet read this book, Terry Pratchett’s DEATH and not Neil Gaiman’s Death, is one of the Hell’s Angels of the Apocalypse.<\/p>\n

“Woss the matter with you?” asked Big Ted, irritably. “Go on. Press ‘D.’ Elvis Presley died in 1976.”
\nI DON’T CARE WHAT IT SAYS, said the tall biker in the helmet, I NEVER LAID A FINGER ON HIM.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rating: 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good Omens (1990) Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett Good Omens is one of my all time favorite books, and one that I’d take with me to be stranded on a desert island, because it’s funny. Really funny. With lots of passages that make me giggle, and even laugh out loud, not just when I read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,2,291],"tags":[76,141,217],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","tag-neil-gaiman","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-witches"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-10","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2447,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2447","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":0},"title":"Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agness Nutter, Witch","author":"Michelle","date":"July 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agness Nutter, Witch (1990) Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett With so much recent discussion of Good Omens on the web recently, what with its anniversary, and with my recent rereading of American Gods, I've been wanting to reread Good Omens. So a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/good-omens-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/63","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":1},"title":"The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (2001) Terry Pratchett The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is one of Terry Pratchett's young adult books, are set in Discworld. Talking cats, talking rats, and an appearance by Death (as well as by the Death of Rats). Aside from being slightly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/135","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":2},"title":"Anansi Boys","author":"Michelle","date":"October 2, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Anansi Boys (2005) Neil Gaiman All summer I went back and forth over whether I was going to get Neil Gaiman's new book Anansi Boys in hardback, or wait until it came out in paperback. On one hand, I greatly prefer paperback books--they're smaller and lighter. On the other hand,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Anansi_Boys.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1482,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1482","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":3},"title":"The Thief of Time","author":"Michelle","date":"November 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Thief of Time (2001) Terry Pratchett I have no idea how I'd missed this book for so long. It came out in 2001, which was when Michael & I were buying our house, but you'd think I would have noticed long before now there was a Discworld book I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Thief-of-Time.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2720,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2720","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":4},"title":"Night Watch","author":"Michelle","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Night Watch (2002) Terry Pratchett This book, for me, strikes far more political chords than funny bones. It doesn't make it bad, it just makes it a lot darker than some other Terry Pratchett book. (He) started in the wrong place. he didn't look around, and watch, and learn, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Night-Watch.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":65,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/65","url_meta":{"origin":62,"position":5},"title":"Jingo","author":"Michelle","date":"April 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Jingo (1997) Terry Pratchett What surprised me most about this book was that it was written in 1997. A new island has risen between Ankh Morpork and Klatch, and war seems to be the only way to determine who really owns the island. Jingo features Commander Samuel Vimes and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/Jingo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}