The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Arthur Dent is having an exceptionally crappy day. First, his house is going to be bulldozed to make way for a new highway and his impromptu protest is having mixed results. Then, his quirky friend Ford pulls him away to the pub because the unemployed actor has something of great importance to tell Arthur. And, then, Ford tells him that the world is going to end in a matter of minutes--undercover aliens like Ford sort of get a hands up on these kinds of announcements. And then Arthur finds himself on a bizarre outer space adventure with Ford, a two-headed politician named Zaphod, a rather attractive scientist named Tracy who found Arthur quite boring at a party six months earlier, and a chronically glum robot named Marvin the Paranoid Android on a quest for a lost planet while aboard the Heart of Gold, a magnificent spacecraft gained by somewhat illegal means and powered by the Improbability Drive.

Several times on this blog--and in chats--I have lamented my lack of knowledge of the hard sci fi genre. I like sci fi, but most of my readings in the genre have been in dystopian sci fi. My familiarity with sci fi tales sporting aliens and space ships is sadly limited. To remedy this, my good friend Scott, an avid classic sci fi reader, has recommended several sci fi books to me, chief of which is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the premier sci fi comedy book. I mentioned blogging it last week and was pleased when Serena and Penguins commented on how much they love the book. As always has happened with book suggestions I get from my readers, I was not disappointed. I loved this book and can't believe I have lived 21 years without reading it. *beats head with book* Thanks to all of you!

First and foremost, this book is just flat-out, laugh out loud funny. Though I had moments that were my favorites--the Vogon poetry reading, the mouse experiments *wink wink*, and the police shootout--the whole book was full of delightfully weird characters, silly situations, and witty deadpan narration that reminded me very much of both Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde, two of my favorite writers. I also adored the absurdity of so much of the story. I was trying to remember where I had heard Adams' name before and was not too surprised when I flipped the book open and read his bio, which notes that he wrote for Monty Python. This book reminds me very much of Monty Python with the zany verbal exchanges and frequent use of irony.

One thing I particularly loved--and I'm not sure how much sense this is going to make, but here we go--is how Adams embraces the novel's insanity and runs with it. I've read several books where the author creates an interesting world but then tries to smooth over any reader disbelief by adding convoluted "logic" to back up the plot and any deviations from the real world. Adams, on the other hand, never relies on this, which more often than not backfires. Adams makes no attempts to logically explain away the craziness that's going on and that actually makes the novel even more enjoyable than if he had tried the alternative.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the perfect end-of-summer read. Its wildly inventive world will appeal to sci fans and the hilarious plot and narration will delight humor fans, especially for those who are fond of absurdist British humor. Penguins has told me that after finishing this one, I'll have to read the whole series. Indeed! :D
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This Week in Literary History:
4 August 1792: Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley is born in Sussex, England. A talented poet--and born rebel--Shelley was kicked out of Oxford, famously ditched his wife for Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, and drowned in a boating accident at the age of 29. Along the way he wrote some outstanding poetry, of which "Ode to the West Wind" and "Stanzas Written in Dejection" are some of my personal favorites. I also highly recommend his fascinating prose treatise "A Defense of Poetry" in which Shelley reiterates the need for poetry and provides what may have been a defense of his own notoriously tumultuous personal life in the process. I must admit, for years I was more of a fan of Shelley's wife, Mary--I adore her classic Frankenstein--but as I have gotten older, I have learned to appreciate Shelley's work, as well.

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Somewhat Important Announcement: This pains me to write, but I'm going to have to take a break from Blogger for the next few weeks. I don't want to! *nerd tantrum* But I am leaving on Friday for my new college's one week long orientation. Judging by the schedule, my internet time will be extremely limited, as will my reading time. After that, I am going to be carrying a full class schedule at a new school, working a new job, and living in a new residence. I don't want to make promises that I can't keep or post substandard posts, so I think I'm just going to take a little break and resume blogging in early September around Labor Day after I get adjusted to my new life. I'll be around until about Thursday--and plan to post a final post on my other blog later this week--so I should be able to respond to comments until then. Likewise, if you don't see me here on Blogger or Sparknotes or Critique Circle or Facebook or Twitter until early September, don't freak! I am not ignoring you and I have not been abducted by mutant giraffes bent on world domination. I will try my best to keep up with PMs and my e-mail, but it may take me a few days to get to it. I am going to miss all of you so much! But I am not abandoning you. I already have some reviews in the works, namely Markus Zusak's I Am the Messenger--a suggestion from Penguins. :D

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A Somewhat Less Important But Less Solemn Announcement: My more observant readers--those of you who looked at the upper right hand corner today--may have noticed that I added two Goodreads widgets. (I stole the idea from Lucy and Bruce and needed help to do it from Windsong. :D) Now all of the books I have most recently read--along with how many stars I give each one--will be on the first widget, and the books on my immediate to be read list will be on the second one. In case you're wondering, yes, I most certainly joined a website just because I wanted awesome book widgets. (Hence, I was slightly disappointed when I uploaded all of the books I've read this year to the site only to find that only a third of them were displayed on my widget. Poor me.) Regardless, I like the site and I love the widgets! If you have a Goodreads profile, feel free to friend me on the site, though, as with my other internet playgrounds, I may not be active until September.

See all of you in a few weeks! *waves* :)

Fahrenheit 451

Guy Montag lives in a vapid, futuristic America where there are no books, no ideas, and no independent thought. (Sound familiar?) He spends his days as a fireman, burning illegal "worthless" books, including Shakespeare, Faulkner, and poetry, and his nights tolerating his mindless, TV-addicted wife, Mildred. Literature, knowledge, and appreciation of any of the finer things in life are all shoved aside in favor of superficial pop culture and the fast life. And then Guy meets Clarisse, a teenaged neighbor who (insert astonished gasp) thinks and appreciates nature and takes the time to talk to people! Oh my God! How dare she? This is earth-shattering behavior to Guy, who has grown accustomed to the fast-paced, self-obsessed society in which he resides. Soon, he's stealing the books he should be burning and is beginning to question his life. Once he discovers that there is more to life than TV and the saccharine sweet world he lives in, he becomes determined to change society. But at what price?

Fahrenheit 451 is one of the world's premier sci fi books and is one of my favorites. Why? I love Bradbury's writing, for starters. He has a style that is both evocatively descriptive and lyrical, yet still readable. (Bradbury has been accused of overusing adjective and noun sentence constructions. I won't argue that, but I still find his style readable and enjoyable.) Guy Montag is not the most mentally swift of heroes, but he has a good heart and it's encouraging to watch his transformation from an unthinking drone to an intellectual rebel. I also love the gripping, compelling plot - this book is a genuine page turner. And since it's a cool 160 pages, I guarantee you'll read it all in one setting. I particularly love the scene where Guy lashes out at Mildred and her idiot friends by demanding that they have an intellectual conversation and illegal poetry reading with him which, as you may guess, ends disastrously. That scene leaves me howling every time. I also like the unique dystopia that Bradbury creates. Rather than fashioning a totalitarian communistic society, like so many other dystopian writers, Bradbury's futuristic world bears a disturbing resemblance to modern-day America, with its rejection of knowledge and culture in favor of superficial pursuits. This book is often championed as a criticism of book censorship and it is. But the real target of Bradbury's anger is obsession with televison and superficiality in general. The people of this society didn't have book censorship and thought control thrusted upon them by force. They accepted it willingly because they were brainwashed with the box, and this makes the book all the more disturbing because of it.

But the main reason I love this book is because this book scares me! The very notion of a society that burns books tears at my very existence. I would be nothing without my books. Reading has been my favorite hobby since I was a toddler. What would I do with my spare time? I wouldn't have a job, because I work in a library. I wouldn't have a blog, because I blog on books. I wouldn't have a future, because my plan is to teach literature and history and write books. I wouldn't get Hanukkah and birthday presents, because that's what I always get. My God! I am Jewish - We're the "People of the Book"! What would we Jews argue with each other about if we didn't have books? Just thinking about this upsets me. (Of course, I got upset when my books were banished to the basement. I can still hear them whimpering like little lost orphans at night. *sheds tear* My poor darlings, there, there, don't cry, Rebecca and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Garfield 30 Years of Laughs & Lasagna: The Life & Times of a Fat, Furry Legend! *cough* I digress. I do this when I am upset...) And I assume that, since you're reading a blog devoted to books, you also love books. What would you do in a society like the one Bradbury describes?

Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is an amazing, thought provoking read. The narration is evocative, the plot is suspenseful, and the setting is eerily familiar. Read Fahrenheit 451. If it doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.

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Next Week: I am going to try to read Ron Hansen's The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, an excellent historical fiction novel set in the American West. This is one of my favorite historical fiction books. I am rereading it just to blog on it. Yeah, it's that good.

1984

I have been watching you. I know that you did not like my review of The Inheritors. I saw that grimace on your face when I mentioned Golding's name. Don't deny it! I watched your reaction over the telescreen I have installed next to your computer. And do not claim the review never existed. I said it existed; therefore, it exists. You must repent of this thought crime against the Dark Lord Zella…or else.

Now, now, there, there, do not be alarmed. I have not morphed into an evil, totalitarian blogger. I am merely acting like one to illustrate what Winston Smith contends with in George Orwell's dystopian classic 1984. Of course, instead of contending against a delusional, blogging bookworm, Smith finds himself going head-to-head with the shadowy bureaucracy of his native Oceania, a futuristic society that is closely modeled on Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.

I have a confession of my own to make. I have never read this book until now. I have always meant to, because I adore dystopian fiction, but I never got around to it. Then Rebecca posted about this novel, and I felt that I needed to read it ASAP. I am glad I did - I enjoyed 1984. For me, the best part of this novel was Orwell's dystopia, Oceania. Orwell brought this nightmarish society to life with his vivid detail. I particularly loved the scenes set at Winston's place of employment: The Ministry of Truth (more appropriately named the Ministry of Lies) where Winston forges documents in the name of aiding the state. I also liked Winston, although I can't say that I understood him. He's sympathetic in a somewhat pathetic sort of way. He reminded me of a bit of a more likable, more gullible version of Joseph K. from Kafka's The Trial. Orwell also integrates a fascinating exploration of the nature of truth and free thought into this novel, without being cumbersome.

Although I enjoyed this novel, I found the pacing a bit uneven. I was instantly intrigued with the first part, which introduces us to Winston and his world, and I found the ending engrossing and harrowing. (The ending gets kudos for having one of the creepiest tortures I've ever read about.) But the middle part was slow to me. The parts where Winston finds himself descending further into rebellion against the state were interesting, but the bulk of this part of the novel are scenes in which Winston engages in a romance with a coworker who is also disillusioned with the party. The romantic side story did not really interest me. Perhaps my biggest problem was I didn't like Julia, his love interest. The nicest word I can apply to Julia is "vapid." I can think of some other words for her too, but I won't go there.

Pacing aside, 1984 remains one of the preeminent dystopian sci fi novels for a reason. Although written at the start of The Cold War, this novel explores issues that are still relevant. Orwell crafts a nightmarish society with disturbing parallels to our modern world. If you've never read 1984, definitely give it a read.

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Next Time: This post was a little later than I expected because I was busy celebrating Hanukkah this weekend. That is not a bad thing though. For Hanukkah, I received a book that I simply must share with my fellow grammar geeks and word nerds here on blogspot: Robert Hartwell Fiste's The Dictionary of Disagreeable English. I should have the review up in a couple of days.