Book #6: "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"

This is the first book of the series I ever read, and still my favorite. I have decided this time through that the series builds to this point and then jumps off the cliff of quality, which is not unlike the Cliffs of Insanity (more on that in the next entry.)

I always have a special fondness for a book that teaches me a new word, and this is where I learned "subcutaneous" (look it up and impress your friends!) Also, if you are under the impression that the world is still a sane place, I beg of you, do NOT read the instructions on a box of toothpicks. Trust me.

Author: Douglas Adams

Potentially objectionable content: Maybe slightly more here than in previous volumes; language, sex, etc.

Book #5 (or: Non-Alphabetical Interlude): "Graduates in Wonderland"

One of the best things about working in a bookstore is Advance Reader Copies. For the uninitiated, these are exactly what they sound like: soon-to-be-published books sent out to generate buzz (and sales, of course). Over the last three years and nine months, I have picked up many of these things because they looked interesting, and they are largely responsible for the growth my library experienced while it was still boxed up.

When I started this project, I knew I would acquire more books, and I decided that I would fit them in thusly: if I'd not yet reached that point alphabetically, it would get shelved for future reading; if I'd already passed it, I'd read it immediately. And since I'm still on Adams, that meant everything so far has been shelved. (Yes, everything, meaning...maybe eight or nine new ones? I'm an addict. Sue me.)

That is until I a) misplaced my current book (found it in my laundry basket, of all places) and 2) picked up this one and became fascinated. Two recent Brown graduates vow to stay in touch with weekly emails as their journeys take them through jobs, graduate school and love in several different countries. Their exchange is funny, EXTREMELY frank and occasionally profound, and I loved it. Totally worth breaking my own rules for!

Authors: Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Potentially objectionable content: Uh...lots and lots. Seriously. Language, sex, etc.

Book #4: "Life, the Universe and Everything"

The world's most comprehensive title! I don't have a lot to say about this book that I haven't said about the rest of the series, except that it's where I got an expression I use all the time: "Excitement and adventure and really wild things."

Author: Douglas Adams

Potentially objectionable content: See above.

Book #3: "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

I feel that this series gets better up until the fifth book, at which point it takes a sharp nosedive, which we'll get back to then. Some of my favorite quotes are in this book, such as:

"...it invariably produced a plastic cup filled with a liquid which was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."

"Uglier things have been spotted in the skies, but not by reliable witnesses."

"Zaphod felt he was teetering on the edge of madness and wondered if he shouldn't just jump over and have done with it."

"One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not that of accidentally becoming your own father or mother. There is no problem involved in becoming your own father or mother that a broad-minded and well-adjusted family can't cope with."

" '...and...' said Ford again, wondering what would be a good word to say after 'and.' The large man came up with a whole sentence to go after 'and.' He said it."

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will immediately disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another which states that this has already happened."

I have, of course, read this book many many times, but I don't know if I ever realized the impact it has had on my own writing and even speech.

Author: Douglas Adams

Potentially objectionable content: Innuendo, language, etc.