Good Omens & The Finn Family Moomintroll

I have recently being trying to mix up my reading habits to include different mediums. A few weeks ago I thoroughly enjoyed the visual challenge of reading some comics- but that's another post. Another medium I've been trying is audio. It's been years since I have listened to an audio book (I did listen to them quite frequently as a child), and I'd forgotten what a heady experience it is.

Recently, I've been listening to two audio books.

The first is The Finn Family Moomintroll, written by Tove Jansson and read by the incredibly talented Hugh Laurie. The Moomin stories were favourites of mine as a child, and it has been a rather magical experience (albeit strange, with childhood memories popping up all over the place) to hear Hugh Laurie perfectly represent each character with a different 'voice'.

Find out more about the Moomins here.

The second audio book in question is Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (oh why, oh why have they never worked together since!?), and read by Stephen Briggs. If you never read any other comic fantasy, read Good Omens. Or better yet, allow Stephen Briggs to read it to you.

The story is both hilarious and thought-provoking. It follows Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon (or an angel "who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards"), unlikely partners in crime who face impending Armageddon and realize that they've come to like Earth the way it is, really. There are many other characters you won't soon forget, many of them endearing. (Read more about the book at Gaiman's webiste, here.)

Stephen Briggs lends to all this an actor's talent, giving different characters distinct voices and often making me chuckle out loud as I sit and listen through my earphones.

I can't recommend it highly enough. Buy it for someone this Christmas. Or buy it for yourself. You deserve it, right?