;)
ABAW: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Monday, January 17, 2011 at 1:14PM The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I know, I know. It’s ridiculous that it took me so long to read this book. It’s just exactly the sort of silliness that I love. I wanted to read it. I lamented the cultural jokes I was missing. Even Sonar X10 has read it, and while he reads a lot, I have a considerable head start on him in reading years. So, of course, it was the first book I wrote down when making my list of Book I’ve Missed that I Want to Read for this year.
I was not disappointed. The writing is sharp, funny, totally nonsequiter, absurd, confusing, and very very smart. For those of you who do not know (surely there aren’t that many of you!) this is the story of Arthur Dent, who evacuates Earth with his friend, Ford Prefect, in the moments before the planet is destroyed to make an interstellar bypass. Arthur spends the entire book a bit confused by the shocking turn his life has taken.
Ford is writing an update to the “Earth” entry for the indispensable handbook of all freeloading space travelers, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but gets stuck on Earth for sixteen years. Why does he rescue Arthur, of all the people on Earth? I have no idea. Ford and Arthur escape the torture of Vogon poetry and hook up with Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian McMillan, who found each other on Earth, of all places. A number of highly improbable things happen in the story, which makes it that much more improbably funny.
Some secrets: 42, don’t piss off the mice, watch out for the whale guts, don’t let Marvin get you down, don’t let the Vogons read you poetry, don’t forget your towel or your Guide, and above all, please, DON’T PANIC.
Also, if you like/love/live The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, go read The Sheriff of Yrnameer by Michael Rubens. If you’ve already read that one too (overachiever) Rubens is currently working on a sequel. I hope he doesn’t leave out Kenneth. *Sigh* Kenneth.
A Book A Week, Read Something in Words 
Reader Comments (2)
I just have to check, you're not stopping at the Guide are you? I know, I know, you have a whole list of goodies ahead. So long, Dani, and thanks for the fish. :)
FOR NOW I am only reading the Guide. I have already gone on to Leviathan. But I will return for more intergalactic adventures in between scheduled books. xo~