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Good Omens

“So computers are tools of the Devil? thought Newt. He had no problem believing it. Computers had to be the tools of somebody, and all he knew for certain was that it definitely wasn’t him.”

Good Omens is a very, very funny book, co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It covers the few days before the world ends, and in this version of the Apocalypse, everything is turned on its head. The 4 horsemen of Armageddon, for example, ride motorcycles, and one of them is named Pollution since Pestilence retired after the discovery of penicillin. There is a mix up at the hospital and the baby Antichrist gets temporarily misplaced. An angel and a demon work together to try to prevent the world from ending because, dangit, they kind of like humans and they’ve each really forged an identity on earth for themselves. After responding to a job posting in the paper, a bloke called Newt unwittingly becomes a witch hunter, then proceeds to fall in love with the first witch he comes across.

Unlike most Terry Pratchett novels I’ve read, this story does not take place in his fictional Discworld planet. It takes place in our world (mainly in England), but Pratchett’s brand of humor is still unchanged and completely recognizable. If you want to read more of my thoughts on Pratchett’s unique and wonderful style, I reviewed him very early on in my blogging days in this post.

This book is for you if: you appreciate witty, scarcastic, sometimes dark humor; you are in the mood to read something that feels like fluff but engages your brain with its intricate funnyness; if you already like Terry Pratchett.

This book is not for you if: Monty Python’s brand of humor makes you uneasy;  fictional alternate realities of the spiritual world feel sacrilegious to you; excessive sarcasm makes your skin feel scratchy (this happens to me sometimes).

Anyway folks, it’s funny. I wouldn’t call it ‘irreverent’ because it doesn’t intend to be an accurate representation of spiritual reality–it’s supposed to be a caricature. Take it with a couple grains of salt. Or maybe even a handful of salt. One thing I appreciated as a Christian is that God and Jesus are not characters in the book and are in fact rarely mentioned–Pratchett and Gaiman stay far away from them and instead really focus on characters I was comfortable laughing about such as the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crawley, who have a hilarious working relationship with one another that has developed over the centuries into something verging on true cooperation.

If the plot doesn’t sound up your alley, I still encourage you to get into Pratchett via his other novels. He’s written about a million books, so grab one from the library and try not to snort soda/water/coffee/milk out your nose.

Have any of you read Good Omens? Did you love it or hate it? And as always, I’d love to hear any book recommendations from my lovely readers since I’m always searching for something new to read.

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance

My friend Carrie let me borrow her copy of this wonderful book. It is unlike anything I’ve been reading recently, and I enjoyed the change very much.

The book, published in 1905, tells the story of a rich young man who finds his way into Fairy Land. The young man’s name is “Anodos,” which means “pathless” or “ascent” in Greek. He journeys throughout the forest, encountering beauty and evil, ignorance and wisdom, fleeing from the goblin of the Ash Tree and protected by the maiden of the Birch Tree. The language is romantic and carefully constructed. Its intricacy is not merely ornamental, though–each sentence is packed with meaning. I haven’t read “Pilgrim’s Progress,” but it seems to me there may be similiarities; as this character journeys throughout Fairy Land, he encounters temptations that he must resist, and the physical events and decisions he makes frequently have spiritual consequences.

This book takes effort to read, but an effort well worth it. This isn’t the kind of book I would read in one sitting. I’ve taken my time with it, reading a little on the El on my way home from work, some in bed at night, and some with my afternoon coffee. Each chapter is a beautifully crafted vignette that can be read by itself, and deserves to be slowly chewed on. There is a moral concept to each section, but not one that leaps out at you in an obvious way such as “don’t steal!” The concepts are richer, and are woven into the narration in a much more subtle way. One chapter before going to sleep for me proved extremely delightful–it’s like a bedtime story for adults. In the word of C.S. Lewis, “It will baptize your imagination.”

Right after being betrayed by his own senses into pursuing a maiden whose beauty turns out to be an illusion and whose true face is one of decay, Anodos ponders:

“I took my way I knew not whither, but still towards the sunrise. The birds were singing; but not for me. All the creatures spoke a language of their own, with which I had nothing to do, and to which I cared not to find the key anymore. I walked listelessly along. What distressed me most–more even than my own folly–was the perplexing question, How can beauty and ugliness dwell so near?”

The edition I read was illustrated by Arthur Hughes, in the Pre-Raphaelite style. I love the ink drawings of knights errant and fairies. It added a lovely magic to the pages.

This book isn’t for everyone. It’s not a quick and easy read, but it has a beauty that will slowly seep into your heart with each chapter.

I leave you with some gems of wisdom from the last few pages:

“I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness . . . Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return . . . I know that good is coming to me–that good is always coming; though few have at all times the simplicity and the courage to believe it.”