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Good Omens
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Pratchett, Terry and Gaiman, Neil - Good Omens - Start Date January 13, 2013*** REVISIT starts August 4, 2018
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is this January's book of the month? is it for the group to read?
Zara wrote: "is this January's book of the month? is it for the group to read?"Yes. It won for January's 2013 Adult Paranormal/Urban Fantasy/SciFi/Fantasy Book of the Month.
Excellent. I picked up a copy of this book from a local library and started reading it tonight. It sounds so funny already.
Awesome. I voted for this!Gonna get a copy now.
I'll sign up for this one. It may be hard to get it for the beginning of January, though. My library doesn't have a copy (?!) and neither do my bookstores. I will have to order it online and wait for delivery; says it ships in 1-2 weeks. I think they are re-issuing it with a new book cover and older copies have been pulled (at least up here in Canada).
Zara wrote: "Excellent. I picked up a copy of this book from a local library and started reading it tonight. It sounds so funny already."Can you hold off till mid month? It looks like this one might not be so easy to get. My library only has audio and ebook. I need to wait till someone returns it.
I can try. The copy I have is from one of the many libraries I'm a member of. I actually reserved at two different libraries and it came in at both within days of each other. LOL.
I have requested it from the library. Hopefully I will get it in time.
Count me in for the read. I just have to remember when the date rolls out :P
I am looking forward to this one!
I'm in for this one as well! I'm going to pick it up at B&N later today. Love both of these authors so I'm looking forward to reading a collaboration.
I've read this book 7 or 8 ties. I'm in!
This is one of my all time favorite books. New readers are in for a treat!
Got this on audio. Super duper stoked.
I've got the hard back copy so I'll try to divide the reading up shortly.
I'm in I already read this but want to read it again.
I'm excited to start this. 2 of my favorite authors!
I'd like to give this a try. This will be my first group read. I hope I can keep up!
Just like Heather, I'd like to give this a try too. This would be the first time I'll be joining a group read.
Another book with no chapters. *Looks up at the writing gods and asks, "Why? Why? Whhhhhhyyyyyy???????"* Well, at least this one has sections.
Proposed Reading Plan:
Date: Section(s) Pages
January 13 In the Beginning - Eleven Years Ago 1 - 64
January 14 Wednesday 64 - 114
January 15 Thursday - Friday 117 - 172
*****SPLITTING UP THE SATURDAY/SUNDAY SECTION INTO 2 PARTS*******
January 16 beginning with Saturday - end with the following sentence in the Saturday section:
"That'll be quite enough of that kind of language, Mr. Shadwell," said Madame Tracy, and she marched him out of the hall and down the stairs to Crouch End High Street, where an elderly scooter waited to take the two, well, call it three of the away.
175 - 276
January 17 Begin with the following sentence:
The Lorry blocked the road. - end 276 - 369
Lisarenee, speaking only for myself, I would like Saturday divided up...I don't see the divisions here between Saturday and Sunday...it looks like it is all grouped together?I'm still waiting for my book to arrive...ordered it on the 3rd...praying to the book God...
Also, the 13th is Sunday, the 14th is Monday, the 15th is Tuesday, etc., ... Saturday is the 19th.
Cathie wrote: "Also, the 13th is Sunday, the 14th is Monday, the 15th is Tuesday, etc., ... Saturday is the 19th."Um, Cathie, those are the section names not the actual days of the week. I had a feeling this would get people confused. Saturday is a huge section in the book and I hate breaking a section up, but if everyone else is okay with it I'll break it down so we're reading 100 pages on the 15th and 100 pages on the 16th. Any one mind the last 2 days being split up by read to this sentence on page ?????
Heh, that had me confused for a second too. Yeah, we should probably break the last section up.
Uhhh duh me! No wonder I was totally confused! I don't have the book in front of me and what you posted made no sense to my limited mind, lol. Thanks for clearing it up Lisarenee. And if I'm understanding it any better now, then spliting up Saturday seems better to me...a book has to be exceptionally good for me to want to read 200 pages at one go and I do not know how my reading tastes for this book will be. I'm in favor of the 100 pages at a time.
Lisarenee wrote: "Another book with no chapters. *Looks up at the writing gods and asks, "Why? Why? Whhhhhhyyyyyy???????"* Well, at least this one has sections."This one is my fault too, Lisarenee. *hides*
Heather and Mina, so glad you're joining us for your first group read! Just so you know, you don't have to answer all of the discussion questions if you don't want to. You can always pick and choose which ones to answer, or skip them altogether if you'd prefer that. Hope you guys enjoy this one! :-D
Mary wrote: "Lisarenee wrote: "Another book with no chapters. *Looks up at the writing gods and asks, "Why? Why? Whhhhhhyyyyyy???????"* Well, at least this one has sections."This one is my fault too, Lisarene..."
lol It's not your fault it's the author's. *Sigh* Perhaps I need to tweet Neil and Terry. Give them a piece of my moderating mind. *smirk*
Okay, but just so you know, I only nominated one book for March and it DOES have chapters. I checked. ;-)
lol I haven't nominated anything yet. Need to start thinking about it.
I'll be doing this as I voted for it. I got mine yesterday. I read this years ago and love Terry Pratchett.
Got my copy today..has me cracking up already.
Dee, if you can wait until the 13th, you can read along with us! We'll be reading a specific amount per day and Lisarenee and I will be coming with discussion questions for everyone.
This will be the first time that I'll be reading along via audiobook as that's the version I was able to get hold of. I think I'll start early as audiobooks take longer. This will be a whole new experience.
Mary wrote: "Dee, if you can wait until the 13th, you can read along with us! We'll be reading a specific amount per day and Lisarenee and I will be coming with discussion questions for everyone."Sorry I just saw the reading plan. I would love to wait-I don't; however, think I can read as fast as all ya'll. :) So I'll just read on my own and read this discussion page. :)
No problem, Dee! There are always people behind, by the way, so feel free to answer the questions at your own pace. And pipe in whenever you want - don't just read! We'd love to hear your thoughts. Hope you enjoy the book!
******************************************************************************Please note the splitting up of the Section entitled Saturday *******
*********************************************************************
Take it from me...there's no shame in being behind. I'm always behind! :-P
Thanks..well luckily football season ends in a few weeks..I'll do more reading I'm sure then. :)
In case you don't have the following pictures in your book versions I thought I'd post these two. The devil image is found on the inside of the front cover, while the angel is found on the inside of the back cover:
Questions and Comments for In the Beginning - Eleven Years Ago by Lisarenee1) So we have an angel and a demon who aren't quite friends but seem to hang around each other. The demon was once an angel. I'm guessing the two perhaps knew each other before Crowley started working for the dark side. Did you recognize that Crowley was Crawley right away? Did you like how he maintained some of his snake-like characteristics even in a more humanly form?
"he was wearing snakeskin shoes, or at least presumable he was wearing shoes, and he could do really weird thing with his tongue. And, whenever he forgot himself, he had a tendency to hiss."
2) We have a misplaced Antichrist baby. Here's the run down of who went where:
The Youngs got the Antichrist and named him Adam
The Dowlings got the Young's baby and named him Warlock
The Dowlings baby ended up with the sisters. What do you think happened to him? Do you think he possibly stayed with the sisters or got adopted or do you suspect they disposed of him?
3) We have several questionable people whose part in all this I'm unsure of:
Anathema Device - 8 year old girl who will only live until the age of 11? Did I get that right?
Newton Pulsifer - 12 year old inventor? Likes electricity.
Scarlett - former arms dealer who might become journalist?
Sable - wrote a diet book which slowly starves people to death? He signed a copy as Dr. Raven Sable but has no degree and is not a doctor.
Mr. White - seems to be present when bad things happen--Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Windscale.
Any suspicions on how these guys will come into play with this one? Are they for team Satan?
4) Thoughts on Warlock's upbringing? How'd you like the revised nursery rhymes? Do you think this experience will end up testing the question that Aziraphale posed about genetics? "What will hapen to the child if it doesn't get a Satanic upbringing, though?"
5) What role will Agnes Nutter's prophecies play? Will we ever find out what she predicted?
6) First impressions of Crowley and Azirphale?
Questions and Comments for In the Beginning - Eleven Years Ago by Lisarenee1) So we have an angel and a demon who aren't quite friends but seem to hang around each other. The demon was once an angel. I'm guessing the two perhaps knew each other before Crowley started working for the dark side. Did you recognize that Crowley was Crawley right away? Did you like how he maintained some of his snake-like characteristics even in a more humanly form?
"he was wearing snakeskin shoes, or at least presumable he was wearing shoes, and he could do really weird thing with his tongue. And, whenever e forgot himself, he had a tendency to hiss."
It's funny, normally I pick up on those sorts of details, but this time it took me about 30 pages in before I recognized that he was one and the same. I think there was just so much going on that I didn't catch that. I like the thought that they knew each other before Crowley switched to the dark side, but I thought that Crawley was a demon? How could he have been an angel? Did I miss something?
2) We have a misplaced Antichrist baby. Here's the run down of who went where:
The Youngs got the Antichrist and named him Adam
The Dowlings got the Young's baby and named him Warlock
The Dowlings baby ended up with the sisters. What do you think happened to him? Do you think he possibly stayed with the sisters or got adopted or do you suspect they dispose of him?
As terrible as it would be, I would think that they would dispose of him, but I would hope that they sent him to an adoption agency to be adopted.
3) We have several questionable people whose part in all this I'm unsure of:
Anathema Device - 8 year old girl who will only live until the age of 11? Did I get that right?
Newton Pulsifer - 12 year old inventor? Likes electricity.
Scarlett - former arms dealer who might become journalist?
Sable - wrote a diet book which slowly starves people to death? He signed a copy as Dr. Raven Sable but has no degree and is not a doctor.
Mr. White - seems to be present when bad things happen--Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Windscale.
Any suspicions on how these guys will come into play with this one? Are they for team Satan?
I think that some of them are for God and others are for Satan, but I am not sure at this point which is which. Having so many characters is quite confusing. I am still trying to make sense of it all. I might have to take some notes on this one. Even though I think I am following so far.
4) Thoughts on Warlock's upbringing? How'd you like the revised nursery rhymes? Do you think this experience will end up testing the question that Aziraphale posed about genetics? "What will hapen to the child if it doesn't get a Satanic upbringing, though?"
I think that it is a mixture of both nature and nurture. I am thinking that he is not going to be as evil as everyone is expecting him to be, but neither do I think he is going to be a little golden child. I am curious as to how the whole thing is going to go down.
5) What role will Agnes Nutter's prophecies play? Will we ever find out what she predicted?
I am thinking that eventually we will find out some of her predictions. I am thinking it will be revealed at the end as a sort of revelation ending. I am predicting that everything that is currently happening is what the book of Agnes Nutter's prophecies is all about. I could be wrong though.
6) First impressions of Crowley and Azirphale?
I really like how these two are portrayed. I can't wait to see how things are going to end and the role these two will play in it. I must admit to liking Crowley's character a bit more as I think he is more believable and definitely fits the bill of how we humans seem to be living these days.
Laura wrote: "It's funny, normally I pick up on those sorts of details, but this time it took me about 30 pages in before I recognized that he was one and the same. I think there was just so much going on that I didn't catch that. I like the thought that they knew each other before Crowley switched to the dark side, but I thought that Crawley was a demon? How could he have been an angel? Did I miss something?"
If you read enough paranormal books, you'll notice a lot of people will say demons are fallen angels.
Laura wrote: "As terrible as it would be, I would think that they would dispose of him, but I would hope that they sent him to an adoption agency to be adopted."That's my guess too. :(
Laura wrote: "I think that some of them are for God and others are for Satan, but I am not sure at this point which is which. Having so many characters is quite confusing. I am still trying to make sense of it all. I might have to take some notes on this one. Even though I think I am following so far."
That's why I made the above list. I was getting a little confused with all the people thrown at us with no explanation as to why.
Laura wrote,"I think that it is a mixture of both nature and nurture. I am thinking that he is not going to be as evil as everyone is expecting him to be, but neither do I think he is going to be a little golden child. I am curious as to how the whole thing is going to go down."
I am too.
Laura wrote, "I am thinking that eventually we will find out some of her predictions. I am thinking it will be revealed at the end as a sort of revelation ending. I am predicting that everything that is currently happening is what the book of Agnes Nutter's prophecies is all about. I could be wrong though."
That would be my guess too and it's interesting that the only copy believed to be in existence is a hop, skip, and a jump from where the two were drinking.
Laura said, "I really like how these two are portrayed. I can't wait to see how things are going to end and the role these two will play in it. I must admit to liking Crowley's character a bit more as I think he is more believable and definitely fits the bill of how we humans seem to be living these days. "
I kind of like how the two are portrayed as to regular Joe Smoes, drinking and calmly discussing their favorite sports teams and which is gonna win the 'BIG' game:
"The Saints are going to win."
"No the Devils are going run away with the win at the last minute."
You know what I mean?
1) So we have an angel and a demon who aren't quite friends but seem to hang around each other. The demon was once an angel. I'm guessing the two perhaps knew each other before Crowley started working for the dark side. Did you recognize that Crowley was Crawley right away? Did you like how he maintained some of his snake-like characteristics even in a more humanly form?"he was wearing snakeskin shoes, or at least presumable he was wearing shoes, and he could do really weird thing with his tongue. And, whenever e forgot himself, he had a tendency to hiss."
Yeah, I liked how he mentioned in the beginning he wanted to change his name from Crawley to something else and I found it quite amusing that he only changed one letter. He's definitely my favorite character, reminds me very much of The God of Mischief, especially the way he messes with people--subtle things but can still destroy their day and slowly eat away at their soul (kind of like commuting to New York City every day).
2) We have a misplaced Antichrist baby. Here's the run down of who went where:
The Youngs got the Antichrist and named him Adam
The Dowlings got the Young's baby and named him Warlock
The Dowlings baby ended up with the sisters. What do you think happened to him? Do you think he possibly stayed with the sisters or got adopted or do you suspect they dispose of him?
I have a horrible suspicion that they disposed of him which is really awful but I have to remind myself it's a work of fiction and no babies were harmed in the writing of this book.
3) We have several questionable people whose part in all this I'm unsure of:
Anathema Device - 8 year old girl who will only live until the age of 11? Did I get that right?
Newton Pulsifer - 12 year old inventor? Likes electricity.
Scarlett - former arms dealer who might become journalist?
Sable - wrote a diet book which slowly starves people to death? He signed a copy as Dr. Raven Sable but has no degree and is not a doctor.
Mr. White - seems to be present when bad things happen--Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Windscale.
Any suspicions on how these guys will come into play with this one? Are they for team Satan?
I am not entirely sure either of these characters. I think some are on Team Satan and some play for the other team and I would wager a guess that they will all have a hand in Armageddon in some way (either spur it along or try to stop it). I’m also trying to figure out if they are from the Bible in some capacity or not.
4) Thoughts on Warlock's upbringing? How'd you like the revised nursery rhymes? Do you think this experience will end up testing the question that Aziraphale posed about genetics? "What will happen to the child if it doesn't get a Satanic upbringing, though?"
The nursery rhymes were a bit frightening (yet funny). And I completely agree with the upbringing issue. Children’s minds are like sponges and their personality is set by the time they are five so parenting is very important in this stage. Seeing how Warlock is raised by an evil nanny and a nice gardener instead, he kind of has a balance of both good and evil inside him so everything is canceled out and he’s just plain normal. And maybe even boring when he gets older.
5) What role will Agnes Nutter's prophecies play? Will we ever find out what she predicted?
I find it funny that the one book with true predictions doesn’t sell but all the other hacks are rolling in the dough. I think the events happening in the book are what Agnes Nutter has predicted. That’s my guess, that we never know the words just get to see everything unfold.
6) First impressions of Crowley and Azirphale?
Love Crowley. I love his blasé attitude towards showing off his powers in public and how he toys with humans for fun. He’s just a great character. Azirphale is there to counterbalance Crowley and to bring up valuable points in arguments. I like that they are working together to maybe stall Armageddon for their own personal selfish reasons. I think Azirphale’s bookshop is hilarious and how he discourages customers from buying from his own personal library absolute genius.
I’m truly loving this book. The characters are engaging and the wit has me laughing at loud. I also liked that Sable dined at The Top Of The Sixes! My grandma used to take me there all the time when I was a kid! But I ate a cheddar cheese burger not just a string bean and a slice of meat.
Nothing But Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (other topics)Authors mentioned in this topic
Terry Pratchett (other topics)Neil Gaiman (other topics)
This topic is open for discussion of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Be prepared for SPOILERS.
According to "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter," "Witch" (the world's only "completely" accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.
So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon--both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle--are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .