1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
OK, so this is technically a trilogy in five parts, meaning it would have to be all of my top five books, although it was originally a radio series maybe it shouldn’t be any of them, but I am glad that it is now available in a series of other formats, including (so Wikipedia tells me) two series of towels. I have been a fan since listening to the radio series, courtesy of my step-dad’s possibly illegal home taping of them, as a smallish child to keep me entertained on long car journeys. I consider it to be one of the most influential introductions made in my life, because it instilled in me a life-long (so far) love of Douglas Adams and hours and hours worth of conversation with my brother which few others can understand.
To me, there are few things more satisfying than calling someone a ‘hoopy’ or a ‘frood’ and them understanding it, not least because it’s quite a compliment and if you have gone to the effort of complimenting someone in a language you hope they will understand, it’s gratifying to be met with enthusiasm rather than a slightly askance look and an attempt to disengage from the conversation altogether.
There is something joyful about these books – there are not only no rules, but the ones made up to fit the story don’t apply when the plot makes them inconvenient, yet Douglas Adams avoids falling into the trap so many ‘sci-fi’ (I’m using the term broadly) books do of either making everything so completely ‘other’ that I can’t really get into it, or of creating such fantastic scenarios that it all ends up being contrived and complicated in an attempt to come up with a meaningful ending to the storyline.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide, however, combines the confused curmudgeonliness of Arthur Dent with the worldly optimism of Ford Prefect. Then in case they weren’t polar enough for you, you also get Marvin the Paranoid Android, who out-curmudgeons Arthur Dent without any of the confusion, and Zaphod Beeblebrox who out everythings everyone pretty much.
The thing I love most about the Hitchhiker’s Guide books though is the fact that having done some basic fact-checking whilst writing this, I have been inspired to read the books all again as soon as I have finished Robinson Crusoe…
