February 07 BotM Thread - HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

[Ribbons]

Bump'd!

[Bob Samonkey]

I still want HGTTG. I have been waiting to have someone to talk to about it. No one will read it around here...

I live with a house hold of non readers.

[MacCready]

Hitchhikers.
It's winter, I'm freezing my ass off ( yup, there it goes ), and I guess I'd rather laugh than anything else right now.

[havocSchultz]

Hitchhikers.
It's winter, I'm freezing my ass off ( yup, there it goes ), and I guess I'd rather laugh than anything else right now.

Isn't it always winter up at the outpost there MacReady...?

[ONeillSG1]

Hey gang! Sorry for the lack of Book Club-ness in December and January. I didn't really have a theme planned for this month, so I just chose several books that I found interesting. And away we go...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy



The beloved Douglas Adams romp about a boy and his dog, or something like that. Also: comic existentialism, Vogon poetry, dolphins, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Babelfish, and, of course, 42. Will ONeill's bane finally be lifted? You decide!

Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms.

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

FINALLY!!! AWESOME!!

[Ribbons]

Today's the last day before the poll closes, I believe. Just figured I would bump the thread in case anybody wanted to get their vote in and hasn't yet.

[Bob Samonkey]

Already started reading it again

[Ribbons]

Okay, it's official: the Book of the Month for February is...







Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! Somewhere, ONeill breathes a sigh of relief.

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

I want to thank everybody who took part in this vote, and I hope you all enjoy obtaining and reading the book. There's no time limit on this thread, so feel free to come in and post your thoughts on the story whenever you want. Thanks everybody.

[Vegeta]

Yeah, a book i've actually read in the last year or two!

[ONeillSG1]

Yeah, a book i've actually read in the last year or two!

Ditto.

[buster00]

Yeah, a book i've actually read in the last year or two!

Ditto.

Threeto!

[minstrel]

Well, I haven't read it since the late 80s. It was hilarious, though! I should go through it again.

[Vegeta]

It is one quick read minstrel. I think it took me about 4 or 5 hours... maybe. Lots of laughs though.

[Pacino86845]

Towel Day

What do I do?

Carry your towel with you throughout the day to show your participation and mourning.

When do I do it?

May 25th.

Where do I do it?

Everywhere.

[Fried Gold]

Don't forget to buy some authentic towels.

[Ribbons]

I just cracked this book open today. I'm only a chapter or so in, but I'm actually liking it better than I thought I would. It's almost incredible how relentlessly absurd the narration is; it must have taken Douglas Adams forever to write.

[tapehead]

Adams didn't produce a lot of work. If you're interested, I think 'Salmon of Doubt" has a couple of articles where Adams talks about his writing method that I found pretty fascinating. He wasn't able to work in a very ordered way and was prepared to wait for inspiration to strike him.

'I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by'
-D.A.

[buster00]

'I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by'
-D.A.

LOL, I use that quote almost every day.

[Cha-Ka Khan]

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

Nicely adapted by Pirates of the Carribean as well:

Elizabeth: "There will come a moment when you have the chance to do the right thing."
Jack: "I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by."

[Ribbons]

A-ha! I finally know what a "hoopy frood" is!

I miss Bluebottle...

[Pacino86845]

BulBittle is like a younger, more Canadian Douglas Adams, eh?

[Ribbons]

He is one hoopy frood indeed.

Just outta curiosity, who's the little green guy with his tongue sticking out on the cover of the book? I've seen him all over Hitchhiker's memorabilia, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing like him in the book, unless I missed it or haven't gotten there yet.

[Ribbons]

So I just finished Hitchhiker's (I bought the anthology) and am now onto The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Seems intriguing, though I think I'm liking the first one better so far -- although there is more Marvin the Paranoid Android, which is always a good thing. Can anyone who's read all 5 books in the series break down which ones they like the best?

[Bob Samonkey]

He is one hoopy frood indeed.

Just outta curiosity, who's the little green guy with his tongue sticking out on the cover of the book? I've seen him all over Hitchhiker's memorabilia, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing like him in the book, unless I missed it or haven't gotten there yet.

I always thought it was some random planet sticking its tonuge out at us....

So I just finished Hitchhiker's (I bought the anthology) and am now onto The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Seems intriguing, though I think I'm liking the first one better so far -- although there is more Marvin the Paranoid Android, which is always a good thing. Can anyone who's read all 5 books in the series break down which ones they like the best?

Though I enjoyed them all and there are some really funny parts in the other books (the tank and Marvin comes to mind...) they do tend to go downhill from there. Of course they are all really high on the hill and they only roll a little way down. Mostly Harmless rolled the furthest.

[Al Shut]

my memory is failing but my favorite was most certanly one of the first three.

so I kinda second Poopflingius Maximus

[Ribbons]

Thanks Al, Poopflingius Maximus.

I will soldier on; if the story has dipped in quality it's from a very high hill, as you say. At the very least, Adams' flair for comedic prose makes the book hard not to enjoy at least in some way.

[minstrel]

The first three are all pretty much the same in style, imagination, and quality, as far as I remember. In the fourth and fifth books, Adams seems to have taken a more serious and cynical turn. I haven't read them since the 80s, but as I recall, they aren't as funny, and they're kind of down on the human race as a whole. Also, it seemed that Adams was trying to change the character of Arthur Dent from being well-meaning but clueless Everyman to being a more heroic, macho stud. It didn't work for me.

I have the anthology here; I should reread it sometime.

[DennisMM]

Definitely the first book, though I'm touched by the sweetness of Arthur's romance with Fenchurch - the girl in Rickmansworth station who thought of a way to make the world peaceful, just before the Vogons destroyed the world - in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

[minstrel]

Definitely the first book, though I'm touched by the sweetness of Arthur's romance with Fenchurch - the girl in Rickmansworth station who thought of a way to make the world peaceful, just before the Vogons destroyed the world - in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

I don't remember the details, but that sounds like one of the examples of Adams' increased cynicism in the last two books.

[DennisMM]

Fenny and her fate are on the first page of the first book, though you may be saying that the romance itself is a sign of Adams's cynicism - the inclusion of a romance at all, I mean.

[Bob Samonkey]

Definitely the first book, though I'm touched by the sweetness of Arthur's romance with Fenchurch - the girl in Rickmansworth station who thought of a way to make the world peaceful, just before the Vogons destroyed the world - in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

I agree but it did not seem to me to have the same Hitchhikerness...

[Ribbons]

"Zaphod's just this guy, you know?"

[tapehead]

The BBC radio broadcasts are actually the original source of the first three books, I think, and quite a few of the same actors from that were cast in the early eighties tv version - which is badass. All the versions are different.

[Ribbons]

Did they use that line in the TV show? DID THEY?!

[Maui]

Ribbons, did you like this book?

Do you recommend it? I've always wanted to read it, just never got around to it.

[tapehead]

That's what I selected as well. I've been aching to read Life of Pi, but curiosity and fanboy love has gotten the better of me.

I have read Life of Pi and I still want HGTTG. I have been waiting to have someone to talk to about it. No one will read it around here...

I live with a house hold of non readers.

I think this is also the only specific HGTTG / Douglas Adams thread we've had in the Zone.

http://tinyurl.com/4pqvh

[Fievel]

I've read it and listened to it being read by Adams himself. Simply and brilliantly ridiculous.

[Maui]

I've read it and listened to it being read by Adams himself. Simply and brilliantly ridiculous.

Well, that's good enough for me. I thrive on ridiculous!

[Ribbons]

Ribbons, did you like this book?

Do you recommend it? I've always wanted to read it, just never got around to it.

Definitely check out the first one, and if you like it go from there. I wasn't I would like it either, but it really is quite hilarious, and Adams has a lot of interesting ideas about time, space and life in general buried underneath all the wacky names (like Zap-Em-Deads and Eezeespeeks).

Also... I just posted the 42nd reply in this thread! w00t!

[Maui]

Ribbons, did you like this book?

Do you recommend it? I've always wanted to read it, just never got around to it.

Definitely check out the first one, and if you like it go from there. I wasn't I would like it either, but it really is quite hilarious, and Adams has a lot of interesting ideas about time, space and life in general buried underneath all the wacky names (like Zap-Em-Deads and Eezeespeeks).

Also... I just posted the 42nd reply in this thread! w00t!

Cool, thanks! Will check this out.

[Fievel]

Adams has a lot of interesting ideas about time, space and life in general buried underneath all the wacky names (like Zap-Em-Deads and Eezeespeeks).

Don't forget his digs at religion & politics as well - one of the main bits of humor (humour?) that I thoroughly enjoyed about the series.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

humor (humour?)

that's how Brits cheat at scrabble...

/Eddie Izzard.

[Ribbons]

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish kind of seems like the "Mario 2" of the Hitchhiker's Guide series. It's not bad, but it's almost set in an entirely different universe from all of the other books (I guess according to the Whole Sort of General Mish-Mash, this is technically correct ).

So I read the five books in the anthology, and they were all pretty good. I think I liked the first (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and maybe the second (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe) the best. They seem like the purest distillation of (most of) the ideas that are expressed over each novel, and I was also kind of bummed that Zaphod and Marvin more or less dropped out of the series after the third book, but the quality of Adams' prose is so consistently entertaining throughout the series that it's hard to not like any of them, really. I'm glad I finally got around to reading these.

[tapehead]

Martin Freeman, Arthur Dent for the new Millennium, tells us what were already knew - these hitchhikers won't be dining at Milliways any time soon.

[Fievel]

So I read the five books in the anthology, and they were all pretty good. I think I liked the first (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and maybe the second (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe) the best. They seem like the purest distillation of (most of) the ideas that are expressed over each novel, and I was also kind of bummed that Zaphod and Marvin more or less dropped out of the series after the third book, but the quality of Adams' prose is so consistently entertaining throughout the series that it's hard to not like any of them, really. I'm glad I finally got around to reading these.

Wow... that pretty much summed up my feelings on the series as well.

Damn Death for taking you away so early Douglas Adams!!!!!!!!! I would have loved some more entries every now and then.

And a bummer about the lack of a sequel to the movie......

....ahhh fuck it. I'm glad. I'll read the book or listen to one of the MANY audio representations if I need a fix.

[caruso_stalker217]

Reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Bloo]

Reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I haven't read that book in forever

[caruso_stalker217]

First time read for me. Could've read it in one sitting but I figure I procrastinate with everything else so why not this too?

[Bloo]

First time read for me. Could've read it in one sitting but I figure I procrastinate with everything else so why not this too?

first time I read it was in Jr. High, had to do a book report on a book we had never read I found it in my shcool's library adn ti blew me away and corrupted my tiny little brain

make sure you read the whole "trilogy"

[Ribbons]

Wot's all this about a trilogy then!?