2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

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⭐⭐⭐

A sci-fi comedy classic, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy remains as barbed and sprightly as ever. Still relevant in some ways, a bit quaint in others, and remarkably prescient in a few, it always benefits from a re-read.

Relevant? Douglas Adams’ snark and wit has rarely been matched. He makes it easy to believe all life in the cosmos would remain hung up on the same trifling distractions, no matter where they come from, or how many heads they have. Our reliance on computers, obsession with comfort, and need to avoid bad poetry remain fresh. The Guide’s interjections on the various oddities encountered in the story keep it bouncy and electric.

Quaint? Six pints of beer costs less than five pounds? Are you kidding? Also, maybe bypasses were a concern in 1979, but these days, it’s more believable that Arthur Dent’s house would be demolished to make room for HS2. Further, are we still that obsessed with digital watches? Surely we’ve moved onto smartwatches.

Remarkably prescient? Who expected a scene where ACAB gives it a hilarious new context?

It must be said that, reading this again, it sometimes feels a touch jumbled. Adams was a master at diversions and interjections that stick in our consciousness, but a handful of them feel a bit vestigial. They all contribute to the book’s uproarious humour, but as the series went on, Adams gained a more steady hand over the chaos. I remember far more things from the third book, Life, the Universe and Everything , than this one.

Even with the amount of things occurring in this book, it doesn’t feel like all that much really happens. Arthur and Ford, after a bumpy start, coast through the rest of this adventure. Maybe that made more sense as a radio show, or it doesn’t benefit the humour if the plot gets in the way, but it does feel a bit more leisurely than I remember.

Nonetheless, it’s still a rip-snorter of a book, and I may move straight onto The Restaurant at the End of the Universe . I hear they make a good rigatoni.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Okay, I have to say that while I didn't love all 5 of these books, I lived this one! Here's what I wrote, although it wasn't this month but (I can't believe it) the second time I read it was 3 years ago this month, so I guess I'm closer to rereading it that I realized!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have read the book, and its successors, a long time ago. After that I listened to the audible version, and I remember that I picked up a lot of jokes better in the spoken version. So a shout out to Stephen Fry!

Just like Leonardo da Vinci, Jules Verne, and Marshall McLuhan, Douglas Adams was way ahead of his time.. The way Zaphod Beeblebrox III communicated comes close to the way we use Whatsapp, TikTok and Snapshat: ROTFLMAO!
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I’m in the minority on this one. This book was not written for me. I enjoyed some of the satire but the absurdist humor is just not something I personally find funny. I will not be continuing with the series. 2.5 stars

Megan wrote: "I’m in the minority on this one. This book was not written for me. I enjoyed some of the satire but the absurdist humor is just not something I personally find funny. I will not be continuing with ..."

I'm with you Megan. I've read this book three times plus listened to it once on audio and I get that same "meh" feeling each time. Adams takes a mildly amusing joke then beats it to oblivion over the course of several chapters. His Dirk Gently books are even worse.

I am glad I read this book as it’s not something I would have picked up on my own. It did not resonate with me personally but I kept thinking, dang this would have been fun to aloud to my son when he was little. I did find myself laughing a few times but all in all not something I would likely re-read or continue with the series. At least I have some context to the inside jokes now though! 😊

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one- all I really knew was that it was a bit of a cult classic. It was not my favourite sci-fi/humour (Andy Weir in my mind can't be beat) but I did find myself quite amused by times. I think, for me, there were just too many made up words, terms, and places. That being said, I will likely try to read the rest of the series

I wasn't sure about this book because I don't like to read sci fi because my mind isn't able to picture the characters and other items that are described in books. Sometimes I'm okay with that, but sometimes it makes a book very hard to read. This book was a blast to read! I loved that my edition (even on Kindle) had pictures of the characters. It made it so much easier to read the book. Plus the story itself was great! I want to read all the others in this series now!