• THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
• by Douglas Adams
• [rated by PBS readers as #39]
• 216 pages

Immediately, this came with an enthusiastic nod from my friend Kim, a Sci Fi fan. I asked her if she had read it. She smiled ruefully (she is very good at smiling ruefully) and said, “the appropriate question is not whether I’ve read it. The question is how many times.”

No faint praise there!

Just started and the immediate comparison is Vonnegut, but I’m sure more will come. Seems fun and absurd. Looking forward to where it will take me. After all, it is twice as high on the list as Vonnegut and Kim has read it multiple times. Here we go…

7/2/19

I hesitated in writing this but then I thought what the hell. If I’m going to keep on track for this little project then I might as well let fly!

I am pretty much not into this book at all.

It reminds me, in inventiveness and sheer absurdity, of the Vonnegut book earlier in the year. Maybe it is one too many of those absurdist yarns for this concrete blond. Wacky characters racing around the Universe – saying dopey things, having three heads – you know, that sort of thing. Hm. Don’t get me wrong! Love it for you! Not so much for me.

Also, in terms of absurdity, I grew up on Tom Robbins – Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Jitterbug Perfume… I loved those books. Equally inventive and absurd to these two wacky titans but Robbins’ books had really cool stories at their core that I still remember years later. His books have it all over these books for me.

This book is clearly loved by millions. It is considered a masterpiece. To each his own.

I had a talk with Kim about it today. I wanted to see it through her eyes. After we talked, I read another 20 pages and I thought it was funnier than before.

But right now, the greatest thing in its favor is that it is short. Thank God. If this book was like…well, like this PLUS 700 pages long, it might be my first abort of the book list. But I will finish it. God.

One note – I know I started a few months early but I’m excited to hit my quota of 10 books a year after this is done – and with almost 6 months to spare! I can’t help planning for the handful in this book pile that could take me a whole year to read – War & Peace, Monte Cristo…

Okay. Enough of me taking a break and thinking happy thoughts. It’s back to planet WhatTheFuck.

7/12/19

Though it started off seeming like I should finish this deal in about 15 minutes!, I’m finally done.

I get the creativity. I get the imagination. Not my thing.

Although I did write to Kim happily, at one point, to tell her that I had finally found a character that I had really taken a shine to – Marvin, the depressed robot. I kind of loved him, especially when he would ask people, “Am I bringing you down?” Or when Marvin is face down in the mud and gets an offer to be helped up, he says something like, “Nah, this is probably where I should be.” That amused me big time. It perplexed Kim, since Marvin was the only character that she didn’t like. Ah well. Different strokes…

I also liked the relentlessly perky control board in the ship that pissed everybody off. And the doors that made a sound of satisfaction whenever they closed.

No doubt about it. Tons of creativity here. I still like Tom Robbins lunacy light years more than this, and I haven’t read one of those for half a life or more.

This was my tenth book! Cool that I’m one tenth of the way through. I will write a little review of the first ten books in a bit. But you know what I gotta do first! I have to hurry. I’m deeply late! Sheer seconds and minutes are flying by!

Gotta pick the next one!

I picked Hatchet, which is a series by Gary Paulsen. When I saw its cover on the PBS list show, I just assumed it was something scary or in the horror genre. But it is another young teens book about survival in the wilderness. I would be a bit skeptical but I loved the last young adult one! So I’m far more open. Plus the reviews on Amazon make it sound like a really good story, which I think I could use after the intergalactic silliness of Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Sorry Kim. And I’ll always have Marvin. Love Marvin.