Greetings readers! This selection was inspired by Kris' husband Chip, who is a big fan of the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
All the group members were encouraged to wear PJs, bathrobe and bring their towel, because you should always know where your towel is when hitchhiking the galaxy.
As always we enjoyed amazing food. Peggy Ann brought out the French onion soup, one of my favorites I like to get from Applebee's. A lovely charcuterie board was presented by Kris. Others brought loaded Deviled eggs, bacon cheddar muffins, orange muffins, twice baked potatoes, chips and salsa and hummus, eclairs, fruit cocktail cake, cream cheese with pepper jelly and crackers. We love to have yummy food, it is a main draw for our discussions.
As we have over the years had book group members come and go, one will be leaving us in a few months but maybe not. She could always come back since she won't be too far away considering we are in a large state and are used to driving a bit, others may consider it too far. With the possible loss of a member, coincidentally we have gained a new member and are very happy to have her join our group. Welcome Nancy! Our group of regulars hovers around 8, give or take a few when the schedules infringe or permit attendance.
Our discussion seemed to be a mix of 'you really liked the book' or 'you weren't too crazy about it'. I had seen the movie before reading the book, but it had been a while since I had watched the movie. For me the names created by the writer were a little difficult to keep straight, but even a Charles Dickens novel gives me the same problem. The British humor also may have missed the target. We learned that a Ford Prefect was a car. Who would know that unless they were British?
It was interesting how the idea of the book title came long before the actual writing of the book and that there was a series before the book. And even more twisted, the movie is great but still quite different from the book in ways. So, if you are one who tends to get tired of the same thing over and over then you should be fine reading the book after you see the movie.
One of the many things I didn't know was that there were multiple books. After some guidance from Chip we figured that just reading book one of the five or so books would be sufficient and leave reading the rest up to us individually.
I was a little heart broken to learn that the author passed away relatively young, I am sure he had a few more interesting things to do with his career. Apparently, writing books wasn't his number one interest.
The characters in the book are interesting and creative all seem to be equally yoked in importance to the story and are highlighted with their own story.
Forgive me if I forget something of interest group members, you can always add a comment about something you found interesting.
At this book discussion we had our postponed gift exchange since several of our members were not going to be able to attend our book group Christmas party. It was a $15.00 max and themed 'favorite things'.
For our next book it was suggested by Lorraine, since she accidentally read Around the World in Eighty Day by Jules Verne instead of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. She then had to hustle to finish HGG in time for the book discussion.
I don't have a problem with it since I have been lobbying for a Jules Verne for quite a while. This will be a quick read so we will have a discussion very soon. Feb 15th?
Thanks for reading the classics with us.
Sincerely,
Sharon
