I am reading a book that tickles my funny bone. It’s absolutely hilarious. Sadly, I can not recommend this book to everybody. The ones who believe that they have a direct line to heaven should avoid this book but for the rest of us, who are open-minded and are cursed with a sense of humor, this book is a must read.
“I mean, d’you know what eternity is? There’s this big mountain, see, a mile high, at the end of the universe, and once every thousand years there’s this little bird-”
“What little bird?” said Aziraphale suspiciously.
“This little bird I’m talking about. And every thousand years-”
“The same bird every thousand years?”
Crowley hesitated. “Yeah,” he said.
“Bloody ancient bird, then.”
“Okay. And every thousand years this bird flies-”
“-limps-”
“-flies all the way to this mountain and sharpens its beak-”
“Hold on. You can’t do that. Between here and the end of the universe there’s loads of-” The angel waved a hand expansively, if a little unsteadily. “Loads of buggerall, dear boy.”
“But it gets there anyway,” Crowley persevered.
“How?”
“It doesn’t matter!”
“It could use a space ship,” said the angel.
Crowley subsided a bit. “Yeah,” he said. “If you like. Anyway, this bird-”
“Only it is the end of the universe we’re talking about,” said Aziraphale. “So it’d have to be one of those space ships where your descendants are the ones who get out at the other end. You have to tell your descendants, you say, When you get to the Mountain, you’ve got to-” He hesitated. “What have
they got to do?”“Sharpen its beak on the mountain,” said Crowley. “And then it flies back-”
“-in the space ship-”
“And after a thousand years it goes and does it all again,” said Crowley quickly.
There was a moment of drunken silence.
“Seems a lot of effort just to sharpen a beak,” mused Aziraphale.
“Listen,” said Crowley urgently, “the point is that when the bird has worn the mountain down to nothing, right, then-”
Aziraphale opened his mouth. Crowley just knew he was going to make some point about the relative hardness of birds’ beaks and granite mountains, and plunged on quickly.
“-then you still won’t have finished watching The Sound of Music.”
Aziraphale froze.
“And you’ll enjoy it,” Crowley said relentlessly. “You really will.”
“My dear boy-”
“You won’t have a choice.”
“Listen-”
“Heaven has no taste.”
“Now-”
“And not one single sushi restaurant.”
A look of pain crossed the angel’s suddenly very serious face.”
― Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
From the Publisher:
When a scatterbrained Satanist nun goofs up a baby-switching scheme and delivers the infant Antichrist to the wrong couple, it’s just the beginning of the comic errors in the divine plan for Armageddon which this fast-paced novel by two British writers zanily details. Aziraphale, an angel who doubles as a rare-book dealer, and Crowley, a demon friend who’s assigned to the same territory, like life on Earth too much to allow the long-planned war between Heaven and Hell to happen. They set out to find the Antichrist and avert Armageddon, on the way encountering the last living descendant of Agnes Nutter, Anathema, who’s been deciphering accurate prophecies of the world’s doom but is unaware she’s living in the same town as the Antichrist, now a thoroughly human and normal 11-year-old named Adam. As the appointed day and hour approach, Aziraphale and Crowley blunder through seas of fire and rains of fish, and come across a misguided witch hunter, a middle-aged fortune teller and the Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse. It’s up to Adam in the neatly tied end, as his humanity prevails over the Divine Plan and earthly bungling. Some humor is strictly British, but most will appeal even to Americans “and other aliens.” Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. –
Hey, I’m halfway through Volume 7 of the original Harry Potter series. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
LikeLike
I love a book that will make me laugh and think at the same time. How could I resist a book when one of the characters (Crowley) is described as an angel that did not so much as fall as vaguely saunter downward 🙂
Books about angels and demons seem to be a prevailing theme this year. It is now noted on my very long reading list!
btw – I just finished a book called The Humans by Matt Haig. This is a read you might find interesting – a view of human behaviour from the perspective of an alien sent to Earth on a mission. It manages to be both entertaining and poignant.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The Humans” is now on my wishlist. Thank you!
As for Good Omens. I bet my butt you will laugh as hard as I did.
LikeLike
I’ve read this so many times my copy is falling apart 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will have to check it out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think you might like the humor as well.
LikeLike
This is one of my favourite books having read it several times over the years. I also have to admit that I have ‘borrowed’ the idea for my Wayne and Greg stories on my blog.
The whole concept of the story intrigues me and I’m so pleased to read your take….I’m sure you’ll find reason to read it a few times….there’s always something new to discover.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I expected a fantasy story but it was so much more. I love British humor and I have a rather cynical view of the world -so it was right up my alley. It made me laugh out loud. I found it witty, sassy and intelligent. Who would have thought the end of the world could be so entertaining. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes indeed so glad to find another lover of this book 📚
LikeLike
Hmmmm. *jotting down the title and author for use in searching my Kindle library later* Thanks! I’ve recently seen a movie that included some of the people from ‘Monty Python’ years (John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin..and some others) as alien beings who are manipulating an earthling in an effort to find out if humans are ready to join the Great Universal Federation (or something)… so I’m ready for another dose of British bon witties….. This book sounds like the ticket!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am really curious and can’t wait to see if my blogging friends will like it as well. Keep me posted.
LikeLike
I had a really hard time with Pratchett’s Disc World series and couldn’t get through the first book. But this sounds worth the try. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think you will snicker like a little girl, just the way I did. Let me know if I am right or wrong. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just learned about Neil Gaiman -the kids in my workroom made me listen to one of this books. And even though it’s fantasy…I love it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been meaning to read Gaiman too. *Sigh* I need a few more hours a day!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You HAVE to read Gaiman. It’s right up your alley -I think.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been meaning to. I really have.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Diana. I thought it was just me. Pratchett’s work was so highly recommended to me and I bogged down big-time.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Then we are three who don’t care about him 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isn’t that funny? Well, it’s good we all have different tastes – how boring the world would be if we were all the same 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
It is, without a doubt, one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isn’t it?
LikeLiked by 1 person