Attn: Wanna be wiseguys, yes I already know what the sensible answer should be:

Ha ha.

But the real point of this question is to determine what is your favorite book, the one you could read over and over again, which you need to do if it were your only form of entertainment available. And, for me, that’s an easy question: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams I first read that novel when I was a kid, I don’t know how old exactly, but I’m sure it was pre-teen, and I’ve loved it ever since. It is just so jam-packed with information and details, writing in a humorous tone, that I can (and have) read it multiple times without getting bored. There was also a live-action TV miniseries by the BBC, which I loved, and a theatrical film, which was okay, but neither of them match the charm of the original novel.

It’s the story of Arthur Dent, a British “everyman” character who, thanks to the intervention of his good friend Ford Prefect, who turns out to be an alien, shoot away from Earth on a spaceship just before the planet is destroyed. And that’s when the fun starts.

If I could cheat, this is the version I’d really want to have on me:

It’s multiple novels collected, so it counts as “one book,” right?

This has the original novel that Adams wrote, plus the 4 sequels, THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE, LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING, SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH, MOSTLY HARMLESS, and a short story called YOUNG ZAPHOD PLAYS IT SAFE.

It is the first three that are the best, and therefor the ones I’ve re-read the most often. I’ll need to give the last two another look, and if I was stranded on a desert island, I’d certainly have time to do that!

There’s a 6th book out there, which was licensed by Adams’ estate after he died. It’s AND ANOTHER THING. . . by Eoin Colfer. I never planned to get it or read it myself, but mother ended up getting me a copy for my birthday some years ago. Since I now had it, I tried to read it, but gave up after the first couple of chapters. Colfer just couldn’t quite catch Adams’ “voice.”

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