Good Omens.

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Aug 29, 2008
559
2,425
Bridgwater Somerset
#1
I would recommend this Book a lot.
If you are into Terry's sense of humour then this book is a must......... even if it is just to read about Deaths part in the Book.Neil Gaiman co-wrote the book with Him,it is VERY good. 8)
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#2
It's a book that I'm very fond of as well. :) I love the feelings of nostalgia that Adam creates. Even though Adam lives in a world of computers and TV, he seems to live a sort of 'Just William' existance.

I'd also recommend the books of Neil Gaiman if you like Good Omens. I think my favourite so far in American Gods, but Anansi Boys, Neverwhere and Stardust are all really good and well worth checking out.
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#5
If anyone ever makes it as a movie, then I think Terry Gilliam would be perfect. I really think he'd do a great job of it, but then he is one of my favourite directors. ;)
 

Jarmara

Lance-Corporal
Aug 1, 2008
152
2,275
West Yorkshire
www.brisinga.co.uk
#6
Oh gods no.

Just.... no.

The beauty of Good Omens is that it's the normal world with paranormal things happening in it. If Gillingham gets hold of it it'll become Fantasy Earth with crazy people doing crazy things and the entire flavour of the story will be lost. Gillingham is a fantasy director, Good Omens is not a fantasy book.

Or at least, not to me it isn't.
 
Aug 20, 2008
27
2,150
Manchester
#8
So far I'm on my fifth edition of good omens. It's generally the book I say to people "Give this a read if you enjoy it there is a universe on a parallel plane that was never meant to fly that I'd like to introduce you to". For my money Terry Gilliam is the only director that could do it justice as a film though Guillermo del Toro might run him a close second.
 

Jan Van Quirm

Sergeant-at-Arms
Nov 7, 2008
8,524
2,800
Dunheved, Kernow
www.janhawke.me.uk
#11
Jarmara said:
Oh gods no.

Just.... no.

The beauty of Good Omens is that it's the normal world with paranormal things happening in it. If Gillingham gets hold of it it'll become Fantasy Earth with crazy people doing crazy things and the entire flavour of the story will be lost. Gillingham is a fantasy director, Good Omens is not a fantasy book.

Or at least, not to me it isn't.
Crazy people doing crazy things? This 'real' world is full of those already I would venture... The US voting in the Dumbest most war-mongering Man in the World not once... but twice!???? :rolleyes: And 'Flash in the Pan' Gordon Brown convincing everyone that we're having a 'downturn' and not a full-blown recession if we trust the Bank of England - yeah right! :x

Terry Gilliam - eminently suitable for Good Omens I'd have thought - Twelve Monkeys? Brazil? Years of sending up the 'Establishment' in Monty Python (for TV and film)... give the man the job 8)

Or maybe Ridley Scott - he had us pretty convinced that climate change was inevitable in Blade Runner and that Unicorns SHOULD exist in Legend and did humankind a HUGE favour by holding his hands up to the long-denied phenomenon that Men do drive Women completely lala in Thelma & Louise?

Plus Black Hawk Down which vaguely brings us back to the Father of the Dumbest war-mongering Man in the World and the Biggest Bull-sh*tter in the World just to convince us that this Planet is doomed to have callous, mendacious, and idiotic world leaders... there is no sanity out there folks *goes off to get a permanent visa to Ankh Morpork and/or Mordor* (at least Vetinari is an efficient cynic in his autocracy and Sauron gives megalomania bags of conviction and of course black is sooo flattering on any minion...) :twisted:
 

Jarmara

Lance-Corporal
Aug 1, 2008
152
2,275
West Yorkshire
www.brisinga.co.uk
#12
and...breathe :rolleyes:

What I perhaps failed to adequately convey was that I find Gilliam's work, especially lately, has tended to create a wacky alternate reality where everything is Fantasy wrote large. What I believe Good Omens needs is to be set in very much an actual reality, with no jolly arch winking at the how Fantasy we're being. If you give it a wacky treatment, you lose the subtlety of the narrative. Gilliam has produced decent work in the past, but it's never been in touch with reality and his portfolio has been sadly lacking in quality for the last decade or so.
 

Imkihca

New Member
Feb 4, 2009
10
2,150
Wiltshire, England
#15
I love this book, I'm currently trying to get a friend into Terry Pratchett and I've given her Good Omens to read as a taster since she's not so into fantasy. Fingers crossed she likes it as much as I do!
 
Mar 5, 2009
17
1,650
lancashire
#16
Good omens

I absolutely love this book apart from the fact I like almost anything by Neil Gaiman (except stardust I felt it read slightly wishy washy, not at all up to his normal standards) it was the first book to introduce me to Terry Pratchett, I think one of my favourite characters in the book apart from Crowley is DOG it's the mutt of hell :devil:
 

baruch menachem

Lance-Constable
Mar 26, 2009
38
1,650
#18
I liked the Hemingway parody, the commentary on the index cards on the result of the Hemingway Parody, and I liked the resolution of the whole story.

Adam is a pretty smart kid.
 

ColinEdwards

Lance-Constable
Aug 3, 2008
37
1,650
Norfolk/Suffolk border
#19
Did anyone see on television (Mary, Queen of Charity Shops) - tucked into a box of 'unwanted' donations - the white cover hardback edition of Good Omens? I wonder if it got thrown out? It just goes to show that one person's recycling is someone else's treasure.

About five years ago there were several Clarecraft discworld figures including DW70 the big Great Atuin piece being sold for bargain prices in a Norwich charity shop. The shop staff couldn't understand why they were so popular, none had heard of Terry, yet he had been at a booksigning in the same street only a few months earlier!
 

Dotsie

Sergeant-at-Arms
Jul 28, 2008
9,068
2,850
#20
ColinEdwards said:
About five years ago there were several Clarecraft discworld figures including DW70 the big Great Atuin piece being sold for bargain prices in a Norwich charity shop. The shop staff couldn't understand why they were so popular, none had heard of Terry, yet he had been at a booksigning in the same street only a few months earlier!
Obviously the donor had good intentions, but I would say it would be better to sell on ebay & give the money to charity. Half a dozen old dears can't really be expected to get the best price for collector's items.
 

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