For my 50th birthday this last summer I didn’t want my kids to feel the need to do anything crazy for my birthday so I asked them to buy me books. Specifically I asked them to buy me old used paperback versions of one of their favorite books and then to write a message in the front cover of why it was one of their favorite books.

Good Omens was the book my daughter gave me. An excerpt of her note on why this is one of her favorites is as follows:

“I like that the demon isn’t 100% bad, and the angel isn’t 100% good. Like Crowley and Aziraphale, I’ve learned that asking questions is all part of the great plan.”

I completely agree. I haven’t read this book in decades, so it was great fun getting to read it again especially after watching the series. The series is so close to the book that when you’re reading the book the differences really jump out. It was interesting to see what Neil Gaiman added or edited to make the series work as a series and a few things that were updated just because times have changed.

But above everything else I was just amazed at how well written this book was. Even the most seemingly mundane sentence was written so well. The flow, the word choices were all just perfect. I’ve read interviews where Neil Gaiman says that he and Terry Pratchett were mostly just having fun and trying to impress each other. It’s very obvious that was the case. They weren’t trying to write a hit, they were just having fun. There’s something to learn from that.