Two for One Book Reviews
I realized I hadn’t written any book reviews for a long time, in part because I spent so long reading Bleak House then didn’t feel like writing anything up, so today I’ve got a double dose. It’s even thematic! (The theme being gods, the end of the world, and humor.)
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
I’d been meaning to read this book for years. I ended up ordering it through ILL because the public library didn’t own a single copy. (Don’t even get me started about how woefully inadequate the local public library is sometimes.)
Good Omens is the book that makes Armageddon fun. It’s got angels, demons, Satanic nuns, witches, witch hunters, the Antichrist, his neighborhood gang, and the four bikers of the apocalypse. It’s also got a great sense of humor, and occasionally, special footnotes for Americans.
The Antichrist and friends have something to say on the subject of America:
The Them nodded sagely. Of this at least they had no doubt. America was, to them, the place that good people went to when they died. They were prepared to believe that just about anything could happen in America.
By this measure, I must have great karma or something.
I particularly enjoyed the unlikely partnership of Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon. They both rather enjoy life on Earth in the Twentieth Century and would prefer if the world didn’t end just yet. Over the centuries they’ve learned that the difference between good and evil isn’t always clear, and that just maybe they have more in common with each other than with their superiors.
The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter are another highlight. Agnes Nutter, who was burned as a witch, was perhaps the best prophet ever. Unfortunately, most of the time she didn’t understand what she was seeing
Good Omens is packed with strange characters and weird prophecies. I thought it was funny and extremely creative, and it was a very quick read.
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
And now we move from Christianity to Greek mythology! I actually hear about this book on doctorwho, because it has a Doctor Who reference. (Zeus likes Doctor Who because the Doctor is a god. I think he’s been watching “Last of the Time Lords”)
In Gods Behaving Badly, the Greek gods are alive and well-perhaps not precisely well, but definitely alive-in contemporary London. The Olympians share a dilapidated house they purchased centuries ago and struggle to combat their decreasing relevance in the modern world. Artemis is now a dog-walker, Aprodite is a phone sex operator, Apollo is a TV oracle, and Dionysus is a night club owner. Athena is engaged in serious research attempting to discover why the gods powers are waning, but no one else can understand her findings.
Artemis, who hates living with her family but can’t afford to move away, does the next best thing. She hires a cleaner-a mortal cleaner.
Alice followed Artemis over the threshold and into the house.
“Rule number one,” said Artemis as they enter. “Never go up to the top floor of the house. Rule number two: I am always right.”
Alice murmured assent but her focus was on the state of the house. It was dirty. Alice had expected that, had seen enough through the open door to testify to it most convincingly. But she hadn’t anticipated quite how dirty it would be. It wasn’t grime so much as sedimentation. Everything: the carpet (she assumed it was a carpet-neither sight nor texture gave much assistance in identifying the substance under the black sludge that covered it), the walls, the windows that let in the barest trickle of mottle light as if through thick gray snow-all encrusted with so many layers of filth that Alice nearly suggested calling in the services of an archaeologist, though that would have involved her speaking, an activity that both she and Artemis were mutually opposed to. And anyway, one of Artemis’s rules was no suggestions.
Thanks to an ongoing argument between Aphrodite and Apollo, Alice the cleaner and her not-quite-boyfriend Neil are sucked deeper into the affairs of the gods-which the old myths agree is usually dangerous business. Thanks to some Olympian slip ups, the world may be coming to an end, and it’s up to a mortal hero to save the day.
I really enjoyed this book, and I’d recommend it especially to people who’re familiar with Greek myths.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
I’d been meaning to read this book for years. I ended up ordering it through ILL because the public library didn’t own a single copy. (Don’t even get me started about how woefully inadequate the local public library is sometimes.)
Good Omens is the book that makes Armageddon fun. It’s got angels, demons, Satanic nuns, witches, witch hunters, the Antichrist, his neighborhood gang, and the four bikers of the apocalypse. It’s also got a great sense of humor, and occasionally, special footnotes for Americans.
The Antichrist and friends have something to say on the subject of America:
The Them nodded sagely. Of this at least they had no doubt. America was, to them, the place that good people went to when they died. They were prepared to believe that just about anything could happen in America.
By this measure, I must have great karma or something.
I particularly enjoyed the unlikely partnership of Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon. They both rather enjoy life on Earth in the Twentieth Century and would prefer if the world didn’t end just yet. Over the centuries they’ve learned that the difference between good and evil isn’t always clear, and that just maybe they have more in common with each other than with their superiors.
The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter are another highlight. Agnes Nutter, who was burned as a witch, was perhaps the best prophet ever. Unfortunately, most of the time she didn’t understand what she was seeing
Good Omens is packed with strange characters and weird prophecies. I thought it was funny and extremely creative, and it was a very quick read.
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
And now we move from Christianity to Greek mythology! I actually hear about this book on doctorwho, because it has a Doctor Who reference. (Zeus likes Doctor Who because the Doctor is a god. I think he’s been watching “Last of the Time Lords”)
In Gods Behaving Badly, the Greek gods are alive and well-perhaps not precisely well, but definitely alive-in contemporary London. The Olympians share a dilapidated house they purchased centuries ago and struggle to combat their decreasing relevance in the modern world. Artemis is now a dog-walker, Aprodite is a phone sex operator, Apollo is a TV oracle, and Dionysus is a night club owner. Athena is engaged in serious research attempting to discover why the gods powers are waning, but no one else can understand her findings.
Artemis, who hates living with her family but can’t afford to move away, does the next best thing. She hires a cleaner-a mortal cleaner.
Alice followed Artemis over the threshold and into the house.
“Rule number one,” said Artemis as they enter. “Never go up to the top floor of the house. Rule number two: I am always right.”
Alice murmured assent but her focus was on the state of the house. It was dirty. Alice had expected that, had seen enough through the open door to testify to it most convincingly. But she hadn’t anticipated quite how dirty it would be. It wasn’t grime so much as sedimentation. Everything: the carpet (she assumed it was a carpet-neither sight nor texture gave much assistance in identifying the substance under the black sludge that covered it), the walls, the windows that let in the barest trickle of mottle light as if through thick gray snow-all encrusted with so many layers of filth that Alice nearly suggested calling in the services of an archaeologist, though that would have involved her speaking, an activity that both she and Artemis were mutually opposed to. And anyway, one of Artemis’s rules was no suggestions.
Thanks to an ongoing argument between Aphrodite and Apollo, Alice the cleaner and her not-quite-boyfriend Neil are sucked deeper into the affairs of the gods-which the old myths agree is usually dangerous business. Thanks to some Olympian slip ups, the world may be coming to an end, and it’s up to a mortal hero to save the day.
I really enjoyed this book, and I’d recommend it especially to people who’re familiar with Greek myths.