008 of 100: all tapes left in a car for more than a fortnight metamorphose into Best of Queen albums
In this latest installment of Angie B's 100 Things, POP CULTURE YOU SHOULD KNOW:
They're my #2 and #3 most beloved authors in the entire fucking world. I love them separately -- Terry with his witty satire, Neil with his dark fantasy -- and when they came together... It was literal magic. Good Omens is a book that absolutely must be read by everyone in the world. I'm not exaggerating with hyperbole here, folks: it's an incredible, amazing, hilarious, philosophical masterpiece.
I first fell in love with this book for its witticisms, snappy zingers, and snarky characters. Crowley was delicious, Aziraphale beautifully nebbish, Newt Pulsifer endearing, Anathema fierce and spunky. I cackle every time I read about the ducks at the pond, and Crowley's creative horticultural methods, and Aziraphale's book collection, and the Them's interesting views of the world, and about Dog (Satantic Hellhound and Cat Worrier), and the (mis)adventures of the Four on their way to the Apocalypse. It's the sort of book that elicits chuckles and grins on every page, outright laughter on every other.
And then, around the third or fourth reread, I truly began to appreciate the deeper subtext. The commentary on human nature and the concepts of religion. Good vs. evil. Nature vs. nurture. How the future is never set in stone, no matter what a highly accurate witch sees in her visions. The foibles, follies, fuck-ups, and fancies of life. What it actually means to be a human. This is a book with more layers than an onion, all wrapped up in highly entertaining and imminently readable window dressing.
I read this book at least once, if not twice, a year and it has yet to diminish in my eyes. It remains just as funny, inventive, and deep as it's always been. And if you've yet to sink your teeth into either Terry or Neil, you absolutely cannot go wrong with Good Omens. It's a perfect introduction to the Discworlds and Neverwheres of its writers' minds.