What can I say? I wish I had been in the movie, although it was bad and I guess I should be happy about NOT being in it.

I was right to not want to read this one.

It's so stupid. This is not even close to my kind of humour. I like clever funny, not stupid funny. This is just beyond ridiculous and I mostly cringed my way through it. I don't think I cracked a smile once.

I get that this is hilarious and delightful for some people but I am not one of them.

Thank god it was mercifully short.

He really wrote an entire series of this crap?

British humour, man. I just n  don't get it.n

This was book 13 of my #Dymocks52challenge refined. You can read more here.

***

n  Originally shelved as 'never gonna happen':n

Absurdist humour is not really my thing, and I've heard enough about this one to not even be a little tempted to read it. It sounds too ridiculous for my liking. I'd rather read something with clever humour.

Useful phrases in Icelandic

Að mestu meinlaus - Mostly harmless

Bless á meðan og takk fyrir allan fiskinn - So long and thanks for all the fish

Ekki örvænta - Don't panic

Fjörutíu og tveir - Forty-two

Húppi frúddi - Hoopy frood

Lífið, alheiminn og allt saman - Life, the universe and everything

Ó þú fretlaði rýtböggull - O frettled gruntbuggly

Öll mótstaða er tilgangslaus - Resistance is useless

Vetrarbrautarheilakúpubomba - Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster

Þennan hræðilega verk í öllum dióðunum í vinstri síðunni - This terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side

Þrjátiu altairska dollara á dag - Thirty Altairian dollars a day

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy starts on a Thursday, and Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. Things start going sour when a construction crew tries to knock his house down so they can build a highway bypass through the land it sits on, and get worse rather quickly when the Earth is suddenly and completely destroyed. A galactic orphan, Dent embarks on an interstellar journey with his longtime friend Ford Prefect (who is really an alien who has been stranded on the Earth for the past fifteen years), Zaphod Beeblebrox, who is President of the Galaxy, Zaphod's girlfriend Trillian, and a depressed robot named Marvin.

There were some things I didn't like about this book, but overall I really enjoyed it. Just after the halfway point in the book, when the travellers reach the planet Magrathea, the tone changes from constant joke-telling and silliness, with a frenetic story and dialogue, to a more serious tone, with a more static story taking place in just one locale (on and around the planet Magrathea), with less jokes and humour and noticeably denser prose. This made the two halfs of the book quite tonally different from each other, which I personally found jarring. The book started to get funnier again near the end, but in a book that is only 180 pages you really notice when the tone changes for even 20-30 pages, as it did in this book.

I also generally didn't care much for the second half of the book for this reason; the first half was more fun, and I wish the entire book had been written in that way. It felt a bit like Adams got tired of trying to write non-stop silly prose and dialogue and somewhat gave up on that for a decent amount of the second half of the book, only picking it back up again near the end.

Some characters were also very one-dimensional and didn't add much to the story. The best example of this was Trillian. I would have liked to see her have a larger role in the story, given she is the partner of one of the main characters, but I found her to be flat and mostly invisible. Maybe she is developed more in later books in the series; I guess I'll find out when I pick these books up again.

Negatives aside, I loved Adams' humour; this is a very funny book, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. I thought some aspects of the story and world-building were crazy but absolutely brilliant, and I feel, with this first book, like Adams has only just begun to craft what will end up being a hilarious and impressive tale of our universe and its "history".

Recommended!

4.5 stars

Well, it's a rather tough one to review, isn't it?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a sci-fi comedy with a good dose of philosophy, lots of loveable characters, and an ingeniously absurd plot. You’ve probably read the thing and wonder what I’m going to have to say about it. As it turns out, probably not a whole lot you haven’t heard before.

So, instead of that, I thought about giving you 42 quick thoughts on the novel. But then, that too seemed too daunting an affair to consider writing and would almost definitely be an unpleasant thing to read. I mean, really, towards the mid-point of such a list you’d just be getting into a list of snacks I ate in between reading.

In lieu of all that, I’ll be brief.

I liked this a lot. It was a nice break from the hard sci-fi I’ve found myself reading of late, and a good reminder that there’s a lot that can be done with the genre. Speaking of: do we have much other funny sci-fi out there? If so, do let me know in the comments.

Sorry to my fiancé for having put this one off for so long. I LOL’d like everyone used to LOL when the book came out rather than how we all LOL today. It was a great gift all those years ago, but I worry that if I had read it back then a wormhole might have opened up to drop it into the distant past of a far away alien civilization. And I think we all know how that sort of thing turns out.

There’s a lot of great writing to be found between these pages. A lot of it uses simple language, portmanteaus, and suitably wild looking alien words to convey a world in which anything might happen. Very often that very anything does happen (see: orbital sperm whale).

I had a good bit of fun and will touch back with the rest of the books in the omnibus later in the year. I think I’ll be visiting them whenever I need a good laugh, or feel like something a bit lighter.

3/5

"En los remotos e inexplorados confines del arcaico extremo occidental de la espiral de la Galaxia, brilla un pequeño y despreciable sol amarillento.
En su órbita, ..., gira un pequeño planeta totalmente insignificante de color azul verdoso, cuyos pobladores, descendientes de los simios, son tan asombrosamente primitivos que aún creen que los relojes de lectura directa son de muy buen gusto.
Este planeta ... tenía el problema siguiente: la mayoría de sus habitantes eran infelices la mayor parte del tiempo. Muchas soluciones se sugirieron para tal problema, pero la mayor parte de ellas se referían principalmente a los movimientos de pequeños trozos de papel verde; ... ".

Así es como arranca la "Guía del autoestopista galáctico", escrita en 1979 por Douglas Adams, que después se transformó en serial radiofónico, serial televisivo y, finalmente en 2004, sería convertida en película de Hollywood, hoy de difícil acceso o al menos, yo no lo he conseguido. En cualquier caso, este arranque ya nos predispone para una novela de humor inglés, muy al estilo de Monthy Python, para lo bueno y para lo malo. Sobre la Guía se nos dice nada más empezar:

"En primer lugar, es un poco más barata (que la Enciclopedia Galáctica); y luego grabada en la portada con simpáticas letras grandes, ostenta la leyenda NO SE ASUSTE".

Todo esto da pie a una delirante aventura de ciencia ficción donde conviven algún terrícola y muchos alienígenas de diferentes procedencias, que componen una ingeniosa y divertida sucesión de situaciones disparatadas, en las que no faltan referencias a teorías físicas o astronómicas sobre diversos aspectos. Como ejemplo, puede servir la descripción que hace de la toalla como complemento indispensable en la mochila de cualquier autoestopista galáctico. Para los amantes de las matemáticas o la física, es especialmente reseñable a alusión a la Teoría de la Improbabilidad, como fuente de alta energía, o a la R17 como límite superior y flexible de la velocidad máxima que puede alcanzarse. He aquí una muestra:

"La Energía de la Improbabilidad Infinita es un medio nuevo y maravilloso para recorrer grandes distancias interestelares en una simple décima de segundo, sin tener que andar a tontas y a locas por el hiperespacio".

Y por si esto no parece lo suficientemente disparatado, ahí va otra cita sobre la existencia de la Tierra:

" ... el planeta ... fue encargado, pagado y gobernado por ratones. Quedó destruido cinco minutos antes de alcanzarse el propósito para el cual se proyectó, y ahora tenemos que construir otro".

La razón por la que afronté la lectura de este libro se la debo a "La anomalía", donde uno de los diseñadores del protocolo de actuación es fan declarado de esta novela y hace referencia a la respuesta a la Pregunta Última de la Vida, del Universo y de Todo, proporcionada por el super-ordenador Pensamiento Profundo. Y claro, ya había oído hablar antes de la novela y no pude resistirme.

Resumiendo, la novela es divertida y disparatada y seguro que hace las delicias de aquellos que os apasione este tipo de humor, pero no busquéis argumento más allá de estas consideraciones. En cualquier caso, os hará pasar un buen rato. En mi caso, opino que el tiempo no le ha hecho mucho bien y se ha quedado un poquito anticuada, de manera que no ha conseguido engancharme demasiado y, desde luego, no para leer las tres novelas que tiene como secuelas.

Arthur Dent is having a bad day his home is being demolished, a new highway bypass is needed progress you know, it's for his own good...really, so goodbye house. On the bright side (by the way), it does not matter either. Earth too will no longer be, soon just billions of inconsequential floating pieces scattered throughout the cosmos, no one left to remember. The powers of the galaxy have decided this little insignificant, dull planet at the edge of the Milky Way must go. A hyperspatial express route is being built, Earth is in the path no big deal to the rest of the universe, just a few souls disappear think of the convenience to others , people... His friend drops by, Mr. Ford Prefect and finds Arthur lying in the mud in front of the bulldozers, and asks him what's new ? And can he go to the local pub for a drink, they must talk... Seems okay to Dent, but first the intelligent man gets a gentleman's solemn sacred promise, from a bureaucrat (who shall remain nameless), that his house will still be standing when he gets back. Even has Mr. Prosser, replace him in the dirt (I can never keep a secret). After a few drinks which relaxes Arthur, Ford tell's his friend he's an alien from a another planet in the vicinity of the great star Betelgeuse, just 600 light-years away. Dent always thought Prefect was an eccentric man but this being England, perfectly permissible, goes on to explain he's a researcher for something called, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". A weird sound emulates from the outside disrupting this enlightening discussion, Arthur jumps up runs out the door and sees that there are no more gentlemen in the world now. Home gone, but the over excited man starts calling the wrecking crew unkind names. Such language (I will not repeat them, in mixed company, besides this is a family site ). People should be calm, always calm nothing to be concerned about, remember you are English...Looking up, odd yellow streaks in the sky Dent wonders, Ford did say the Earth would be destroyed today but he is strange...Stiff upper lip ...But something is occurring, though. Ford arrives and the noise level rises also...A short time later the waking, Dent...Mr. Dent, comes to in the dark in an alien spaceship , one of those that vaporized his not quite beloved planet, with Ford there... Evil green, and very ugly aliens the Vogons who like to torture people by reciting bad poetry, I mean really bad Vogon poetry, resulting in captives welcoming death, rather than listen to another word... Captain Jeltz hates hitchhikers, and Ford had a devise to enter the ship, secretly. But the clever friends say they loved the excruciating poem, of the captain's; obvious lying, the angry poet has the two rudely thrown off the craft into space, without... spacesuits...these aliens, are barbarians... They can hold their breaths for thirty seconds, so don't worry... A miracle, on the 29th second, they're saved by the President of the galaxy , in a stolen vessel. And the runaway politician ( surprisingly not exactly honest), Zaphod Beeblebrox is on board, so is his two heads and three arms, with his girlfriend Trillian and Marvin, the paranoid robot, don't talk to it, he's very depressing, you would want to crush him, with your bare hands ... As the semi cousin (what's that?) of the president, Ford Prefect is in luck. All the galaxy, are after the Heart of Gold, the new spaceship which can cross the Milky Way, in a flash, on ship the greedy, seek the legendary, lost and fabulously rich planet, Magratha. In the vastness of the whole endless Universe everything's is possible, except an android like Marvin...Remember the Guide's motto, "Don't Panic"...

طنز کتاب را خیلی درک نکردم و با خود کتاب هم آن‌چنان ارتباط برقرار نکردم.

******************************************************************
تاریخ تکامل هر تمدن مهمی تو کهکشان از سه مرحله مشخص و مجزا می‌گذره: زنده موندن، دانش اندوختن و تکمیل کردن دانش. به این مراحل می‌گن مراحل «چه‌جوری، چرا و کجا». برای مثال مهم‌ترین سؤال مرحله‌ی اول اینه «چه‌جوری غذا پیدا کنیم که از گشنگی نمیریم؟» مهم‌ترین سؤال مرحله‌ی دوم، «چرا غذا می‌خوریم؟» و مهم‌ترین سؤال مرحله‌ی سوم، «خوشمزه‌ترین کباب رو از کجا می‌شه خرید؟»
شاید بتوان گفت که غرب در نیمه دوم قرن بیستم درحال گذار از مرحله دوم به مرحله سوم است. مسائل و پرسش‌های مهم فلسفی و سیاسی اهمیت خود را برای اغلب مردم از دست داده‌اند، چرا که پاسخی برای آن‌ها یافت نشده و کوشش‌ها به‌جایی نرسیده یا آدمی را به‌جایی نرسانده‌اند. در غیبت این پرسش‌ها لذت یا همان مرحله سوم آدامز «خوشمزه‌ترین کباب رو از کجا می‌شه خرید؟» به دغدغه اصلی بدل شده ‌است. پیش‌گفتار مترجم- صفحات ۹- ۱۰ کتاب
واقعاً عجیبه. دقیقاً همون موقعی که آدم فکر می‌کنه زندگی از این بدتر نمی‌شه، یه اتفاقی می‌افته و آدم می‌بینه که خیلی بدتر از این هم هست. صفحه‌ی ۱۰۶ کتاب

Nothing to review here, awesome no matter how many time you read it.

This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a very long time, but have been putting off for a number of reasons: 1) It’s honestly pretty rare that I read anything published before the 80s unless it’s classic horror. 2) It’s science fiction, which is my most hit-and-miss genre. 3) I love the film adaptation, and I’m always worried, after loving a film adaptation, that the book will ruin the film for me and I won’t be able to love it anymore.

n  “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.”n

All of that said, this is probably my fiancé’s favorite book of all time, and as his birthday is later this month, I promised to finally read it! It was a quick and fun read, but it’s a really tough book for me to rate. My feelings are so all over the place, but I ultimately decided on 3.5 stars, rounded up.

n  “If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.”n

The single greatest thing that this book has going for it is absolutely, hands down, the humor. It’s very dry and probably would fit well into what many of us North Americans like to playfully refer to as “British humor”, but it somehow doesn’t feel dated to the 70s in any way. I laughed out loud—or smirked, at least—more times than I can count during this story, though I don’t know how much of that is in thanks to picturing the jokes being delivered by Mos Def and Martin Freeman. I’m honest enough to admit that I probably wouldn’t be rating this as highly if I didn’t enjoy the film so much, but that’s beside the point.

n   “This must be Thursday,” said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. “I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”n

I’m not rating this book based solely on its wit and snark, though—there’s also something to say for how unique it is, how original it was for its time, and how solidly it has stood through the decades. I always say I’m not a big sci-fi fan, so I don’t really know the genre as well as many of you might, but for any book to have become this big of an international phenomenon, and then to have stayed as such for nearly 40 years as of now, is impressive and probably worthy of praise just for that.

n   “Ford… you’re turning into a penguin. Stop it.”n

Is this book perfect? I don’t know, honestly. I’m a broken record here, but with my ambivalent feelings for the genre as a whole, I’m not the best person to answer that for you. What I can say is that it’s a super fun read, and if you’ve never picked it up before, you should totally give it a try. Or watch the film. In fact, even if you have read it, you should still watch the film, because it’s amazing.

n   “So long, and thanks for all the fish!”n

---

Buddy read with Terry!

You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!

I need a Babel fish and make it translate my mind.

"Whatever happened to my mind, I did it."

.
.
.

"This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time."

Story: Earth is demolished. A man is secretly taken to another planet. So enjoy I say.

It's filled with weirdos because most of them are beings from somewhere else (to keep it subtle or to make it worse) and the story is chaotic and funny as heck.

But really though, reading this series talking about demolishing the Earth during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic did made me question my choice of books.

(And every book I pick up these days are either too depressing or stressed the heck out of me. I question my choices. Yes, I do that a lot these days.)

I was going crazy trying to calm down and understand what was going on in the first few chapters. But then chapter 6 started and there's no going back. Of course, we gotta read the first 5 chapters to get this feeling.

I love this chapter! Funny yet the discussion going on in there. Fun! Faith vs Man.

My favourite character would be Ford. He would be someone I would want to punch in the face but cannot survive without.

Arthur. Oh Arthur. You remind me of us humans that I keep getting all the second-hand embarassment whenever you appear.

Trillian. The way her character is reminds me of some of the most calmest yet intriguing people. I like how her vibes scream sarcasm towards Gaphod, the semi-cousin of Ford.

And what the hell is wrong with Grunthos (yes, that's a real fictional character's name... Real and fictional.) Torture yourself with the poems by Poet Master Grunthos. (My Favourite Bathtime Gurgles....yes, get the hint.) The horror! I cried laughing there!

And you will meet a few more characters. Almost philosophical ones I would say.

Marvin, you will be remembered.

The more pages you turn, the more you will enjoy the story. There's nothing normal here. Because, of course, it didn't happen on our planet. Let your imagination have its exercise and be tickled with an imaginary world somewhere out there.

The entire read reminds me so much of the nerds Sheldon Cooper, Lennerd, Howard and Raj. Like they have written a story together finally!

(The irony though that the book series happened years before the show.)

Another story there, Magrathea. It could happen. Myth?

Love the space time I had with the first book!

Parts like this out of nowhere got me laughing out loud
("Ah...! What's happening?it thought.

Er, excuse me, who am I?

Hello?

Why am I here? What's my purpose in life?

What do you mean by who am I?")

Of course, it's not always about the human and humanlike beings here.
I just wish no fictional animal was harmed in the story.

The end of chapter 21 made me quite emotional. I wish I never have to say such lines. Ever.

And (bam!) the chapters that followed this until the end made this read a perfect read for me. I am telling you this is the kind of book the more pages you read the more you get invested.

I kept telling myself "this is so chaotic", "do I need to be worried about how worried I am now while reading this crazy story?" and "I want to go there". Actually the whole story felt rather claustrophobic too.

I really love the last few chapters more. It's everything you need to think about you, the world you live in and what might be actually happening as opposed to what we are made to believe all our lives.

And human, be very scared of mice. (Now I know why we go crazy sht seeing mice!)

"Resistance is useless."

چقدر این داستان جذاب بود!
راهنمای کهکشان اثر خودش رو روی زندگی واقعی گذاشته. برنامه ی ترجمه ی Big Fish! کامپیوتر Deep Thought! حوله ی استاپ زن ها!!!
چقدر خوشحالم که این داستان رو خوندم. بعضی قسمت ها واقعا خندیدم و یا با نیش باز لبخند زدم. بعضی قسمت ها هم با خودم گفتم ینی این مهملات چجوری به ذهن نویسنده رسیده؟!؟

شخصیت های داستان با قهرمان ها خیلی فاصله دارن. تو این داستان با یه رئیس جمهور ازخودراضی، یه اتواستاپ زن عجیب، یه زمینی بی خبر و بدبخت، یه ربات افسرده و یه کامپیوتر چاپلوس طرفیم.
ایده های داستان واقعا ناب هستن. این خاص ترین کتاب علمی تخیلیه که تا به حال خوندم! بارها و بارها غافلگیر شدم.

بهتون توصیه می‌کنم حتما و حتما و حتما بخونیدش!
خیلی هیجان زده ام که بقیه ی داستان رو بدونم. ای کاش می‌شد برای ادامه ی داستان به نمایشنامه ی رادیویی اش گوش بدم. شرط می‌بندم اونجوری لذت داستان صدبرابر می‌شد :)

پیوست :
فیلمشم دیدم و بانمک بود! البته کتابش بهتره!