Three Purgatory Poems

Three Purgatory Poems: The Gast of Gy, Sir Owain, The Vision of Tundale, edited by Edward E Foster, 254 pages

This book collects three fourteenth century poems involving Purgatory and the bonds of love which connect the living and the dead.  In "The Gast of Gy" the titular gast (ghost) haunts his wife until she seeks help from the local Dominicans, who interrogate the spirit about his place in the afterlife and provide him with their prayers of assistance.  "Sir Owain" is a romance about a 12th century English knight who travels through a mystical Irish cave to Purgatory.  "The Vision of Tundale" tells the story of a crooked merchant who has what moderns would call a near-death experience in which his guardian angel gives him a tour of the afterlife, a tale the Latin original of which may have helped inspire Dante.

The texts are presented in Middle English (although some are themselves translations of older poems), with marginal notes when the language is sufficiently different from Modern English that such help is likely to be necessary and longer notes at the end of each work to more fully explain difficult passages.  The result is a text which maximizes both readability and clarity, making the original works accessible without burying them in commentary or rewriting them entirely.

Boo

Boo by Neil Smith
310 Pages

"When Oliver "Boo" Dalrymple wakes up in heaven, the eighth-grade science geek thinks he died of a heart defect at his school. But soon after arriving in this hereafter reserved for dead thirteen-year-olds, Boo discovers he’s a 'gommer', a kid who was murdered. What’s more, his killer may also be in heaven. With help from the volatile Johnny, a classmate killed at the same school, Boo sets out to track down the mysterious Gunboy who cut short both their lives.

In a heartrending story written to his beloved parents, the odd but endearing Boo relates his astonishing heavenly adventures as he tests the limits of friendship, learns about forgiveness and, finally, makes peace with the boy he once was and the boy he can now be."

 An okay book.  The mystery is fairly easy to solve and there are parts in the middle that are just annoying.  Not recommended.

Good Omens

Good Omens : The Nice and Accurate  Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, 412 pages

Several centuries ago, a witch by the name of Agnes Nutter predicted the future, with events culminating in an apocalypse. The time for said apocalypse has come. It will be heaven versus hell in one fantastic showdown. The Antichrist has been chosen and born. There are a few snags in the plan, though. The representatives for heaven and hell, Aziraphale and Crowley, respectively, who happen to be friends, aren't thrilled about the apocalypse and would like to figure out a way around it. The child they thought was the Antichrist was switched with a human child at birth. The four horsemen of the apocalypse have some groupies that can't decide what to call themselves.

In other words, an already crazy situation becomes even crazier. This book was very entertaining, a sort of scifi/fantasy blend, with lots of sharp wit and many actual laugh out loud portions. I'd not previously read anything by either of these authors, but I will definitely check out some more of their works.

P.S. Crowley, the representative for Hell, was definitely my favorite character in this book, driving around in his vintage Bentley, taking credit for heinous human acts that he actually had nothing to do with. :)