Douglas Adams
think after having made little to no progress in the past aboutmonths it's best if I just give up even pretending I'm still reading this book.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was the book I really wanted to read classic English comedy Bring it on! I enjoyed that book if I was rating this alone it would be a goodstar book it was funny and inventive with some great characters.
. . it's the other books in this series that made it so difficult for me, The second The Restaurant at the End of the Universe wasn't particularly bad, but didn't even nearly live up to Hitchhiker's Guide, I plowed through it hoping it would get better,
It didn't.
Halfway through the third book Life, the Universe and Everything I just got stuck, There was no longer any consistent plot, often even within the books, and I didn't really have a clue what was going on any more, There were some interesting bits but not enough to motivate me to read any more,
And I'm disappointed about this, because there were some great characters, Marvin the depressed robot is sheer genius and I love him, Unfortunately, he's not in it all that much, Similarly, the incredibly enthusiastic doors were great, but for obvious reasons namely that they are doors don't appear all too often,
I love British humour dry wit and sarcasm is very much my thing, But even that wasn't enough to save this series for me, My recommendation: read Hitchhiker's Guide, but don't bother with any of the others,
I'll maybe try reading this again in a few years because I so want to love these books, and hopefully the outcome will be better, But I'm not holding my breath, Just as funny as advertised, but I made the mistake of reading the collection of all five novels, and what's more trying to read them all in one go.
Once I got about halfway through Life, the Universe, and Everything, it had stopped being funny and had gotten a little confusing, Adams is excellent at humor, not so much at plot,
So, for clarification:for the original Hitchhiker's,for The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, andfor the others.
One of the funniest books, and one of my favourite, ever, Read it now it's got good writing, great jokes and the meaning of life thrown in, What more could you want December,:
HG, volume: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, read by Stephen Fry, finished.
So long, and thanks for all the fishiness :
A LITERARY SIBLING :
The Cyberiad Stanisław Lem
September,:
HG, volume: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe finished!
Much of the British variety of nonsense, loads of ludicrousness and quirky characters by the dozen, this short novel is an Improbability Field all by itself :
Buddy reading with Tara/would do again :
DOUGLAS ADAMS' OWN SOUNDTRACK:
sitelinkOneTrick Pony Album Paul Simon
October,:
HG, Volume: Life, the Universe and Everything finished!
FEATURING:
Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged,
Slartibartfast and his Bistromathicallydriven spaceship,
Agragag, the Karmic Hater,
Hactar, the Purposeful Computer,
The Ashes of English cricket,
The people of Krikkit, a bunch of real sweet guys who just happen to want to kill everybody,
Armies of robots doing quadratic equations instead of fighting,
The hell of an extremely disreputable party in an erratically flying building,
Halfcrazed etymologists raving on Sqornshell, swamp planet and natural habitat for loquacious mattresses,
Anonymous, the halfmad journalist.
Buddy read with Tara during the Goodreads black dust storm, disabling email notifications, inapp notifications, and push notifications to phones :p
HINTS AND ALLUSIONS
sitelinkThe Cyberiad
sitelinkDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
sitelinkThe Trial
SOUNDTRACK:
sitelinkParanoid Android Radiohead
sitelinkTubular Bells Album the Caveman passage Mike Oldfield
sitelinkElohim's Voyage Weidorje Guida galattica per gli autostoppisti è un ciclo di romanzi stravaganti e imprevedibili, in cui i fili seguiti dai personaggi sembrano assolutamente lasciati in balia del caso, così come in balia del caso sono gli incontri tra loro e dunque l'avanzamento della trama.
Lo premetto subito: alla lunga, all'ennesimo incontro totalmente fortuito con un personaggio di cui si era parlato a inizio libro, questo escamotage smette di divertire, Tuttavia, bisogna ammetterlo: Douglas Adams è stato bravo nel tener presente molto di ciò che aveva scritto in precedenza, creando una narrazione tutto sommato dotata di senso,
La vicenda incomincia quando la Terra viene demolita per lasciar spazio a un'autostrada spaziale e l'inglese Arthur Dent è così costretto a fuggire insieme all'alieno Ford Prefect, proveniente da Betelgeuse e redattore di una guida della galassia dedicata agli autostoppisti.
Da allora, è un susseguirsi di peripezie a spasso per spazio, tempo e universi,
Passiamo ai punti a favore: l'umorismo inglese di Adams è splendido e in alcuni punti si ride di gusto, I personaggi sono memorabili la mia preferita è Fenchurch, purtroppo non presente in tutti i romanzi, ma anche Ford Prefect, il robot Marvin e Arthur Dent non sono affatto male.
Insomma, tutto sommato la lettura viaggia rapida e colpisce positivamente,
Consigliato a chi apprezza un certo umorismo demenziale per quanto mi riguarda, è un libro da tre stelle su cinque, Romanzo preferito: Addio, e grazie per tutto il pesce,
Buona lettura e ricordate: NIENTE PANICO,
Let's start with the humour, Yes, it's everything that humour should be, For a while, you are ohsoamused and impressed, . . but then you weary of being so amused, Akin to being kept on the edge of your seat for a good few hours something's going to get sore, It's just such a strain, I skipped ten or so pages near the middle but I'm sure those ten pages were, like the rest of the book, terribly witty and sickeningly clever,
The plot takes twists like, . . ah, what's a good analogy A snake on LSD That'll do, Don't get me wrong, they're good twists and Adams is admittedly superb at making the inherently illogical seem orderly and precise, but they just don't stop coming, And after a while, the worst happens and the reader just stops caring,
I can see
why this book has achieved its cult status, It deserves its cult status in many ways, There are moments of startling originality that knock you back and spin your world to a crazy new angle, but when the whole book is all but filled with these moments, the crazy new angle begins to make you dizzy and irritated.
At the end, I'm still feeling ohsoamused and impressed, but also ohsorelieved I can stop, I read most of this series when I was younger and had only one book left to complete it, I saw this gorgeous piece of paper and ink in the bookstore and knew it was finally time to finish her off, Since it had been so long in between I decided to give the first four a reread which is not my usual at all, I'm a read it once and move on kind of girl, I found the introduction to be super interesting because I had no idea there were so many different versions of this story out there and I do love a little behind the scenes fact sharing.
Here is my book by book review of this amazing collector's edition with a little canned cream corn talk mixed in for fun:
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Stars
My grandparents had a closet full of canned goods and books in their back bedroom and it was where I happened upon this book a quarter of a century ago Im old enough now that I can say ol timer shit like that.
The absurd amount of canned creamed corn was amazing to behold, but this book with its quirky cover was where it was at, Im pretty sure I devoured it in no time and was ready for the next installment of Arthur Dent does the Universe,
This is the story of a man named Arthur Dent and what happens to him after a friend rescues him moments before Earth becomes no more.
Hitchhiking across the universe with a towel in one hand and a ridiculously written guide in the other, with barely a moment taken to absorb each new and exciting thing that comes his way.
I found the writing to be superb with the perfect blend of dry humor, sarcasm, wit and randomness that I love, The characters were stellar, and the story was out of this world if you arent rolling your eyes after reading that sentence you should be,
Five to a book that is a gazillion times better than canned cream corn,
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Stars
This was another back bedroom closet find, I had it and the next two in the series tucked away in a hidden corner, I did not have any of that damned canned cream corn though, Seriously, who eats that crap By how untouched they looked in my grandparents closet, not even them, I would like to believe it was an end of the world decoy canned goods stash, Im thinking a person could peel the labels and put them on the good stuff and use the label free cans as weapons or something,
Arthur Dent continues his adventures through space forwards, backwards and possibly even sideways with the same funloving bunch of characters plus a few not so funloving ones.
gt
Another excellent read, It didnt feel like a new book but a continuation of a story I was dying to hear more of, The writing maintained its excellence and the characters were still quite entertaining, I didnt love this read as much as the first, but it did get the job done,
Four to a book that made me excited to have a secret closet even if it contained canned cream corn,
Life, the Universe and Everything Stars
Pretty sure I liked this book more than I did the previous one but not enough to equal a star.
I would say maybe a smidge over a half, I did however like it more than the canned cream corn it shared shelf space with, You are probably asking yourself right now, “Is she going to keep bringing up that damn canned cream corn” and the answer is hell yes because annoying can be entertaining when you are doing it to someone else.
Arthurs adventures turn a bit more serious when protecting the universe from destruction becomes the name of the game,
Another great book that kept the story going in a way that didnt bore or become repetitive, The authors voice has to be the absolute best part of all this series, For once I can say it wasnt the characters that kept me coming back for more but the man behind the words, I got the feeling his written word matched the way he was in person and he most definitely was a person I would have loved to have met.
Four to a book that almost made me forget about the closet canned cream corn for a moment,
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish Stars
This is the book that had a cover that stuck out in my mind just as much as the first book in the series did.
This is also the book that began the downward spiral into lower star ratings, Even though I didnt love it as much as I did the first three, wait for it I did love it more than my grandparents love canned cream corn I am not sorry at all.
Arthur falls in love,
Honestly, this one felt out of place, I didnt want it or ask for it, and I sure as hell didnt expect a mushy love story to fall into my lap when it did, The story that took place around it wasnt bad but this dip into cootie pool was more than enough to contaminate it,
Three to a book that made me think about romance mixed with canned cream corn and man that is so freaking gross,
Mostly Harmless Stars
This was my welcome back to the series book after twentyfive years of doing the school, work, marriage, children and lots more work life.
It had been on my list for a while and when I happened upon the collectors edition I knew it was time, I must admit that it was a little odd seeing this book on a shelf without canned cream corn keeping it company,
Doing your own thing is the name of the game for Arthur until the universe happens again,
This was my least favorite of all the books, The story wasnt as entertaining, and I found myself putting it down to do other things, I cant blame my rereading of the others first because devouring a book series in one gulp is kind of my thing, The characters were just as zany as before and I had zero complaints about the writing style, I think the fault was all in the plot and there just isnt much you can do when that isnt top notch,
Three to a book that is coming dangerously close to blending in with the canned cream corn at grandmas house,
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe Stars
I was left wanting more after reading this, If this had been a full book and stayed on track with the path it was on I would have liked it more than the last two books in the series.
It reminded me of how entertaining Zaphod could be and why he entertained me so in the first book, I'm torn on the rating because it was good but there wasn't enough there to satisfy me,
Three to a short story that make me want to throw canned cream corn at someone, .
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was the book I really wanted to read classic English comedy Bring it on! I enjoyed that book if I was rating this alone it would be a goodstar book it was funny and inventive with some great characters.
. . it's the other books in this series that made it so difficult for me, The second The Restaurant at the End of the Universe wasn't particularly bad, but didn't even nearly live up to Hitchhiker's Guide, I plowed through it hoping it would get better,
It didn't.
Halfway through the third book Life, the Universe and Everything I just got stuck, There was no longer any consistent plot, often even within the books, and I didn't really have a clue what was going on any more, There were some interesting bits but not enough to motivate me to read any more,
And I'm disappointed about this, because there were some great characters, Marvin the depressed robot is sheer genius and I love him, Unfortunately, he's not in it all that much, Similarly, the incredibly enthusiastic doors were great, but for obvious reasons namely that they are doors don't appear all too often,
I love British humour dry wit and sarcasm is very much my thing, But even that wasn't enough to save this series for me, My recommendation: read Hitchhiker's Guide, but don't bother with any of the others,
I'll maybe try reading this again in a few years because I so want to love these books, and hopefully the outcome will be better, But I'm not holding my breath, Just as funny as advertised, but I made the mistake of reading the collection of all five novels, and what's more trying to read them all in one go.
Once I got about halfway through Life, the Universe, and Everything, it had stopped being funny and had gotten a little confusing, Adams is excellent at humor, not so much at plot,
So, for clarification:for the original Hitchhiker's,for The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, andfor the others.
One of the funniest books, and one of my favourite, ever, Read it now it's got good writing, great jokes and the meaning of life thrown in, What more could you want December,:
HG, volume: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, read by Stephen Fry, finished.
So long, and thanks for all the fishiness :
A LITERARY SIBLING :
The Cyberiad Stanisław Lem
September,:
HG, volume: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe finished!
Much of the British variety of nonsense, loads of ludicrousness and quirky characters by the dozen, this short novel is an Improbability Field all by itself :
Buddy reading with Tara/would do again :
DOUGLAS ADAMS' OWN SOUNDTRACK:
sitelinkOneTrick Pony Album Paul Simon
October,:
HG, Volume: Life, the Universe and Everything finished!
FEATURING:
Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged,
Slartibartfast and his Bistromathicallydriven spaceship,
Agragag, the Karmic Hater,
Hactar, the Purposeful Computer,
The Ashes of English cricket,
The people of Krikkit, a bunch of real sweet guys who just happen to want to kill everybody,
Armies of robots doing quadratic equations instead of fighting,
The hell of an extremely disreputable party in an erratically flying building,
Halfcrazed etymologists raving on Sqornshell, swamp planet and natural habitat for loquacious mattresses,
Anonymous, the halfmad journalist.
Buddy read with Tara during the Goodreads black dust storm, disabling email notifications, inapp notifications, and push notifications to phones :p
HINTS AND ALLUSIONS
sitelinkThe Cyberiad
sitelinkDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
sitelinkThe Trial
SOUNDTRACK:
sitelinkParanoid Android Radiohead
sitelinkTubular Bells Album the Caveman passage Mike Oldfield
sitelinkElohim's Voyage Weidorje Guida galattica per gli autostoppisti è un ciclo di romanzi stravaganti e imprevedibili, in cui i fili seguiti dai personaggi sembrano assolutamente lasciati in balia del caso, così come in balia del caso sono gli incontri tra loro e dunque l'avanzamento della trama.
Lo premetto subito: alla lunga, all'ennesimo incontro totalmente fortuito con un personaggio di cui si era parlato a inizio libro, questo escamotage smette di divertire, Tuttavia, bisogna ammetterlo: Douglas Adams è stato bravo nel tener presente molto di ciò che aveva scritto in precedenza, creando una narrazione tutto sommato dotata di senso,
La vicenda incomincia quando la Terra viene demolita per lasciar spazio a un'autostrada spaziale e l'inglese Arthur Dent è così costretto a fuggire insieme all'alieno Ford Prefect, proveniente da Betelgeuse e redattore di una guida della galassia dedicata agli autostoppisti.
Da allora, è un susseguirsi di peripezie a spasso per spazio, tempo e universi,
Passiamo ai punti a favore: l'umorismo inglese di Adams è splendido e in alcuni punti si ride di gusto, I personaggi sono memorabili la mia preferita è Fenchurch, purtroppo non presente in tutti i romanzi, ma anche Ford Prefect, il robot Marvin e Arthur Dent non sono affatto male.
Insomma, tutto sommato la lettura viaggia rapida e colpisce positivamente,
Consigliato a chi apprezza un certo umorismo demenziale per quanto mi riguarda, è un libro da tre stelle su cinque, Romanzo preferito: Addio, e grazie per tutto il pesce,
Buona lettura e ricordate: NIENTE PANICO,
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide.
Together they stick out their thumbs to the and begin a wild journey through time and space,
"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"
Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea, It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat.
"Life, the Universe and Everything"
The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky so they plan to destroy it.
The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mildmannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew,
"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"
Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressedout imagination.
But a giftwrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality, So to speak.
"Mostly Harmless"
Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose, Can he save the Earth from total obliteration Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover Can he save his daughter from herself
Also includes the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe".
Let's start with the humour, Yes, it's everything that humour should be, For a while, you are ohsoamused and impressed, . . but then you weary of being so amused, Akin to being kept on the edge of your seat for a good few hours something's going to get sore, It's just such a strain, I skipped ten or so pages near the middle but I'm sure those ten pages were, like the rest of the book, terribly witty and sickeningly clever,
The plot takes twists like, . . ah, what's a good analogy A snake on LSD That'll do, Don't get me wrong, they're good twists and Adams is admittedly superb at making the inherently illogical seem orderly and precise, but they just don't stop coming, And after a while, the worst happens and the reader just stops caring,
I can see
why this book has achieved its cult status, It deserves its cult status in many ways, There are moments of startling originality that knock you back and spin your world to a crazy new angle, but when the whole book is all but filled with these moments, the crazy new angle begins to make you dizzy and irritated.
At the end, I'm still feeling ohsoamused and impressed, but also ohsorelieved I can stop, I read most of this series when I was younger and had only one book left to complete it, I saw this gorgeous piece of paper and ink in the bookstore and knew it was finally time to finish her off, Since it had been so long in between I decided to give the first four a reread which is not my usual at all, I'm a read it once and move on kind of girl, I found the introduction to be super interesting because I had no idea there were so many different versions of this story out there and I do love a little behind the scenes fact sharing.
Here is my book by book review of this amazing collector's edition with a little canned cream corn talk mixed in for fun:
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Stars
My grandparents had a closet full of canned goods and books in their back bedroom and it was where I happened upon this book a quarter of a century ago Im old enough now that I can say ol timer shit like that.
The absurd amount of canned creamed corn was amazing to behold, but this book with its quirky cover was where it was at, Im pretty sure I devoured it in no time and was ready for the next installment of Arthur Dent does the Universe,
This is the story of a man named Arthur Dent and what happens to him after a friend rescues him moments before Earth becomes no more.
Hitchhiking across the universe with a towel in one hand and a ridiculously written guide in the other, with barely a moment taken to absorb each new and exciting thing that comes his way.
I found the writing to be superb with the perfect blend of dry humor, sarcasm, wit and randomness that I love, The characters were stellar, and the story was out of this world if you arent rolling your eyes after reading that sentence you should be,
Five to a book that is a gazillion times better than canned cream corn,
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Stars
This was another back bedroom closet find, I had it and the next two in the series tucked away in a hidden corner, I did not have any of that damned canned cream corn though, Seriously, who eats that crap By how untouched they looked in my grandparents closet, not even them, I would like to believe it was an end of the world decoy canned goods stash, Im thinking a person could peel the labels and put them on the good stuff and use the label free cans as weapons or something,
Arthur Dent continues his adventures through space forwards, backwards and possibly even sideways with the same funloving bunch of characters plus a few not so funloving ones.
gt
Another excellent read, It didnt feel like a new book but a continuation of a story I was dying to hear more of, The writing maintained its excellence and the characters were still quite entertaining, I didnt love this read as much as the first, but it did get the job done,
Four to a book that made me excited to have a secret closet even if it contained canned cream corn,
Life, the Universe and Everything Stars
Pretty sure I liked this book more than I did the previous one but not enough to equal a star.
I would say maybe a smidge over a half, I did however like it more than the canned cream corn it shared shelf space with, You are probably asking yourself right now, “Is she going to keep bringing up that damn canned cream corn” and the answer is hell yes because annoying can be entertaining when you are doing it to someone else.
Arthurs adventures turn a bit more serious when protecting the universe from destruction becomes the name of the game,
Another great book that kept the story going in a way that didnt bore or become repetitive, The authors voice has to be the absolute best part of all this series, For once I can say it wasnt the characters that kept me coming back for more but the man behind the words, I got the feeling his written word matched the way he was in person and he most definitely was a person I would have loved to have met.
Four to a book that almost made me forget about the closet canned cream corn for a moment,
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish Stars
This is the book that had a cover that stuck out in my mind just as much as the first book in the series did.
This is also the book that began the downward spiral into lower star ratings, Even though I didnt love it as much as I did the first three, wait for it I did love it more than my grandparents love canned cream corn I am not sorry at all.
Arthur falls in love,
Honestly, this one felt out of place, I didnt want it or ask for it, and I sure as hell didnt expect a mushy love story to fall into my lap when it did, The story that took place around it wasnt bad but this dip into cootie pool was more than enough to contaminate it,
Three to a book that made me think about romance mixed with canned cream corn and man that is so freaking gross,
Mostly Harmless Stars
This was my welcome back to the series book after twentyfive years of doing the school, work, marriage, children and lots more work life.
It had been on my list for a while and when I happened upon the collectors edition I knew it was time, I must admit that it was a little odd seeing this book on a shelf without canned cream corn keeping it company,
Doing your own thing is the name of the game for Arthur until the universe happens again,
This was my least favorite of all the books, The story wasnt as entertaining, and I found myself putting it down to do other things, I cant blame my rereading of the others first because devouring a book series in one gulp is kind of my thing, The characters were just as zany as before and I had zero complaints about the writing style, I think the fault was all in the plot and there just isnt much you can do when that isnt top notch,
Three to a book that is coming dangerously close to blending in with the canned cream corn at grandmas house,
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe Stars
I was left wanting more after reading this, If this had been a full book and stayed on track with the path it was on I would have liked it more than the last two books in the series.
It reminded me of how entertaining Zaphod could be and why he entertained me so in the first book, I'm torn on the rating because it was good but there wasn't enough there to satisfy me,
Three to a short story that make me want to throw canned cream corn at someone, .