I finally got around to reading Terry Pratchett. I knew I'd like him, because I'm a big time nerd, and I love Douglas Adams. I had read Good Omens, the book written by both Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It was ok. Not the big life-changing experience the blurbs on the back of the book suggested it would be. Anyway, I read Going Postal. The story was somewhat saccharine, and I had to endure paragraphs such as:
"Very nearly nobody knew about them. But the thory is easy to understand. It runs: the sea is, after all, in many respects, only a wetter form of air. And it is know that air is heavier the lower you go and lighter the higher you fly. As a storm-tossed ship founders and sinks, therefore, it must reach a depth where the water below it is just viscious enough to stop its fall."
And that's on the first page. After you get past the kind of opening that would qualify for the Bulwyer-Lytton Fiction contest (http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/), the book turns out to be good. His greatest sucess, I think, is in building a world with many unusual details. The unexpectedness of many of the events, characters, and even analogies kept me interested. I'll be reading his work again. I believe I'll go for THUD! next.
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Neil Gaiman's Coraline is one of my favorite books ever in the entire history of the world. And for the record, I told him so in person in New Orleans. Then in Little Rock he signed my edition, drawing a picture of a mouse on the inside cover.
But that's beside the point. The point is that I couldn't get into Good Omens, either for some reason. So you think I'll like the Terry Pratchett one?
It wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, but I really enjoyed the quirkiness of it. I’m looking forward to reading Gaiman’s Sandman series. I’ve heard really good things about it, but I’ve never read anything that he has done with the exception of Good Omens. I’m really glad I’m not the only one who wasn’t impressed. In the introduction to the paperback I have, at least one of the authors went on at length about how much people love it, and bring him battered copies to sign. I was beginning to think I missed something.
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