The first time I read a novel or any work of fiction it’s all about the story. Who did what, where, when and why. If the story is compelling I will fly through it, eager to see how it all ends.
If the book is exceptional I will read it again a few years later. This time I will look for the beauty of the book, the stories within the stories, the metaphors and allegories, the character development, and perhaps even the word choice of the author. Since the outcome of the story is already known, this second reading is about being immersed in the book.
This is how I experienced The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The second reading was more relaxed and leisurely, allowing the full brilliance of the book to hit me. It’s easy to categorize this book as comedic, a parody, a science fiction spoof. It is all those things, but that doesn’t begin to describe the full power of Hitchhiker.
Unlike any other book on my top 25 list, this book was not originally a book. It was a radio series that became an institution, with books, movies, TV shows, and all the assorted merchandise. Think of a Saturday Night Live skit done on radio, set to science fiction, then written as a book. That’s Hitchhiker.
Like a good SNL skit, the book has social commentary oozing out of every chapter. It taps into our insatiable desire for looking into the future. It has sudden plot twists, or sometimes what seems like no plot at all. We tend to think of randomness in a book as bad — but Douglas Adams is one of the first to understand that randomness was what we all experience in life but could never quite express. In that way, this book was post-modern before the term was popular.
Of course, it’s also hilarious. I mean flat out fall on the floor funny. It’s irreverent, witty, crazy fun. If you love to laugh, you will love the book.
So why does it make my top 25 list? The book was published in 1979 while I was in college. At a time when SNL was still good and movies like Animal House were all the rage, here comes an English science fiction comedy that broke all the rules. It was edgy and seemed anti-establishment, but it was also nuanced and clever. It was humor with a social edge, written for the thinking person.
That struck me. Humor did not need to be crass or foul. People did not need to swear, get drunk, have sex, do drugs, or flip off the college president to be funny. Irreverence could be clever if done right. Humor could be nuanced.
My taste in humor has been shaped by that realization. Oh sure, I still sometimes chuckle at garbage. But by and large I’m a lot more impressed with thoughtful humor that you don’t mind hearing in front of your mother. Part of that was shaped by Hitchhiker. Plus let’s face it — it’s hilariously funny.
And for this reason The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy makes my list of 25 books that influenced my life.
Want to read more of my top 25? Here is the list thus far:
Celebration of Discipline – #1
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – #2
The Cost of Discipleship – #3
The Screwtape Letters – #4
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – #5
Only the Paranoid Survive – #6
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold – #7
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – #8
Truman – #9
Shantaram – #10
The Maltese Falcon – #11
The Shadow of the Wind – #12
Survey of the New Testament – #13
Calvin & Hobbes – #14
Celtic Daily Prayer – #15
Managing the Nonprofit Organization – #16
A Wrinkle in Time – #17
The Practice of the Presence of God – #18
Catch 22 – #19
The Tortilla Curtain – #20
The Kingdom of God is a Party – #21
Earthkeeping – #22
Reviving Ophelia – #23
The Grapes of Wrath – #24
Peanuts – #25