The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
read: circa 1993
Guardian 1000 Novels
This blog has largely focused on "literature," the fancy-pants books that make up greatest of all time lists and are read pretty much exclusively by English majors and high school students under duress. I love those books. But if I could only take a handful of novels to a desert island, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is in the life raft with me. I've probably re-read it more often than any other book as an adult, and it always makes me laugh.
I'm something of a Hitchhiker's completist. I have the paperback, the fancy-edition hardcover, the British mini-series on VHS, I saw the Mos Def movie version in the theatres, and I have the Neil Gaiman making of book with the radio transcript. I've read all five books in the trilogy, including the dreadful Mostly Harmless. I love Hitchhiker's. I miss Douglas Adams. R.I.P.
Richard Dawkins dedicated one of his books to Adams and said "...literature has lost a luminary..." So not everyone considers it unliterature :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't forget about the HHGG videogame. It was interactive fiction written by Adams himself. I think you can play it on the web somewhere.
Thanks, found the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml
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