July Book Study: Good Omens

Fenika · Jul 3, 2011

Hello, and welcome to the F/SF Book Study. This thread is for discussion of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet.

***Spoilers*** will be streaking naked through this thread unpredictably. You have been warned.

Here are the previous book studies:

2008:
Ender's Game (August)
Lies of Locke Lamora (September)
A Deepness in the Sky (October)
A Fire in the Deep (November)
Storm Front (December)

2009:
I Am Legend (January)
The Onion Girl (February)
Lord of Light (March)
Small Gods (April)
Beggars in Spain (May)
The Once and Future King (June)
Foundation (July)
The Graveyard Book (August)
Neuromancer (September)
The Last Wish (October)
The Knife of Never Letting Go (November)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (December)

2010:
Battle Royale (January)
Jhereg (February)
Cyberabad Days (March)
Tigana (April)
Next (May)
Perdido Street Station (June/July)
Boneshaker (August)
His Majesty's Dragon (September)
Never Let Me Go (October)
The Child Thief (November)
Solaris (December)

2011:
Lirael (January)
Blindsight(February)
Lavinia (March)
Hugo nominees (April)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (May)
Dawn (June)

Alessandra Kelley · Jul 3, 2011

Eee, I loved that book. We have a copy of the first printing we bought when it came out. It was our introduction to Terry Pratchett.

Caitlin Black · Jul 4, 2011

Oh, I read this book. I borrowed it from the library and devoured it in 2 days - which few books can claim from me.

Loved every word of it. Though it's been a while since I read it, so I can't even remember character names, let alone small details to analyse such as word-choice. And alas, I don't have a copy of my own (and I have so many books in my TBR pile that I can't give time to re-reading Good Omens, lovely though it was).

areteus · Jul 4, 2011

Fond memories of this book... My copy is also a first ed printing and it is signed. It was my intro to Gaiman, having already been an ardent Pratchett fan.

For me, it was an amusing skit on not only films like The Omen but also on the whole concept of prophesy. The modern interpretations of the four horsemen (apart from Death who is a very traditional model and quite deliberately so) were certainly reminiscent of Gaiman's work in similar themes - such as the Endless. I especially love how Pestilence retired in a huff, muttering something about 'Penicillin', leaving the field open for Pollution to take over

Kitty Pryde · Jul 4, 2011

Oh man, this book has so much awesome about it! It's my favorite spec fic novel of all time. I've read it at least twenty times. Great urban fantasy, hilarious, touching, brilliant characters, with some bonus sci-fi bits thrown in. If you really want to geek out over it, this is a helpful link: http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/good-omens.html

mirandashell · Jul 4, 2011

I have this book! My first Gaiman.

So... what happens next?

JenniferB · Jul 4, 2011

I love Pratchett, but I don't think I've read this one. I just downloaded it to my Kindle to read. Yay!

Kathleen42 · Jul 4, 2011

*squee* This is the book I think I've given most often as a present.

mieshe · Jul 17, 2011

Terrific book! I love the idea of writers working together, and I love any kind of book with allusions to religion/the apocalypse/angels and demons, so this was pretty darn perfect. Loved the humour in it too, and the personifications of the four horsemen were fantastic.

lastlittlebird · Jul 17, 2011

Good Omens was loaned to me by a priest when I was a teenager. He was a pretty cool priest!
I think it was my introduction to both Pratchett and Gaiman...
I'm surprised my mind wasn't completely dissolved by all the awesome floating around.

KimJo · Jul 17, 2011

I've read this book several times, though not recently. I may have to dig out my copy and re-read it. I thought it was a brilliant book.

Kricket · Jul 23, 2011

Just finished it this morning. First time reading either Gaiman or Pratchet and now I want to read more by them. I loved this book. I've never read anything like it. It was so clever and portrayed human nature so well it's almost scary. Excellent read.

JS Emuakpor · Jul 23, 2011

It was an excellent read. I've read a lot of Pratchett and nearly everything Gaiman, including the Sandman. I truly enjoyed Good Omens, though I thought it sounded more like Pratchett than Gaiman.

July Book Study: Good Omens

Fenika

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

Caitlin Black

Wild one

areteus

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

mirandashell

JenniferB

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

mieshe

lastlittlebird

avem narrans

KimJo

Outside the box, with the werewolves

Kricket

Chirp! Chirp!

JS Emuakpor

I lurk. Therefore, I am.