Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Classic Meh on the Reread

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

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I’m pretty sure the first time I read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I was probably in my teens and reading it on my father’s recommendation. Dad seemed to want to introduce his kids to at least basic classic sci-fi, although I still don’t get his appreciation for William Gibson. So I figured since there’s a book club coming up where this is an option, it might be time for a re-read. My basic impression is that I can see why this is the classic […]

Excitement and Adventure and Really Wild Things

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams

Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams

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I just turned 42, so I figured a Hitchhiker’s Guide reread would be appropriate. Except I skipped the first book, because I feel like that is already kind of imprinted in my brain, and because teenage me found Restaurant at the End of the Universe first, in the small but wondrous YA Science Fiction section at my library. It’s weird to revisit a series you read and loved as a teen. It’s wonderful to hang out with Ford and Arthur again (now firmly Mos Def […]

“Reality is frequently inaccurate.”

Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

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I continue my foray back into the world of the Hitchhiker’s Guide with the second in the series. It’s good! But really isn’t as good as the first, which is not at all what I remember from when I read this in high school. The plot line with the impossible engine is straight up still one of the most original, creative things I’ve ever read. The concert they nearly died at was absolutely spectacular. The way they sacrificed Marvin without a second thought made me […]

And another thing, I couldn’t even finish this book

And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer

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Not long ago on Facebook, someone posed the question, “When do you give up on a book and stop reading?” I thought about this and determined that, if I look at how many pages I have left in a book and I’m actively dreading it, that’s when I quit. I had 188 pages left in And Another Thing when I just couldn’t stand it anymore. God knows I don’t quit a book likely. I’ve slogged through my share of banality and dreck just to give […]

Glitter wrote a book

Space opera by Catherynne M. Valente

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I need to preface this by saying I liked it, but not as much as the tags might suggest. That said, I don’t think anything could live up to the premise – in the near future, aliens visit Earth and select an unlikely candidate for the singing competition that determines our fate as last place in the galactic showdown gets obliterated. As Yoko Ono is deceased, they settle for their only available choice – Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, only two of the three […]

“Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.”

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

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So recently I got on this masochist kick where I find stuff I used to love as a kid and watch it with adult eyes, knowing it will almost certainly ruin it. Essentially, what happened is that a few years ago I did a rewatch of Xena and a rewatch of Pinky and the Brain and both were so much better than I remembered that I decided my entire childhood was worth ruining for a the few pearls of proof that it was possible for […]



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