I've been on a kick recently, trying to read the books we own rather than buying new ones, and since my husband owns so many sci-fi/fantasy books that I missed, I tend to be reading a lot of those these days. Along those lines, I pulled Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett off the shelf the other day.The world will end on Saturday. Next Saturday. Just before dinner, according to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies written in 1655. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist.Good Omens is a bit hard to classify - is it fantasy? YA? - but I will say this for sure: it's funny. Nine times out of ten, I don't find so-called funny books to actually be funny, so I was really pleased that this one is. It's ridiculous, mostly absurd, and very funny. I whipped through it in two days (despite it's relative heft - my edition is 354 rather large pages) eager to know if the world really would end and amused by the dry, British humor throughout.
Buy Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (a subtitle that is not on my 1990 edition, by the way) on Amazon.
I agree-this is a book that I've reread 4 times and still laugh! I introducted it to my mom, and she's bought it as a gift for all sorts of people. :D
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree - I'm a great fan of Terry Pratchett! Witty, laugh-out-loud funny, and full of great characters and a cracking plot into the bargain. Fantastic stuff.
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