The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

  

Readers of this blog will know that I recently set myself the challenge of reading some of the books that I was, almost, ashamed not to have read before. You know the sort of novels; the ones that come up in conversations when you mention you write a book blog or the books that come up in pub quiz tie-breaks where you are expected to know the answer.

Honestly I was afraid of being caught out, scared of being revealed as a fraud, so I set out to fill in the gaps in my library rather than blunder on as a blagger. First up was Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale followed by Philip Roth's American Pastoral and Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The truth is that the experience of picking up a much anticipated novel is always kind of flawed. For me, its the discovery of a new book that delivers the thrill but that same thrill is lost when you read a book that you feel like you've already read anyway. Take The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; there's no doubt that this is a good read but the trouble is that the story has taken on a life of its own in popular culture to the extent that either through film, TV, music videos or other books from the post Hitchhiker genre you've already 'read' the novel it seems.

Likewise the thrill of 'discovering' Philip Roth's Indignation at Newark airport was far more momentous that reading the 'seminal' American Pastoral. Of course, I love Roth's writing for his epic sweeping narratives and characters that literally breath life into the prose. American Pastoral is like an America History lesson in 450 or so pages; to Roth's supreme credit he makes the historical commentary resonate through iconic characters like The Swede. Yes, this novel is fully deserving of its 'modern American classic' moniker.

So, am I a better person for having read two classics missing from my library; am I a more credible book blogger for filling in the literary gaps? Probably not, I'm glad I've read American Pastoral in particular but going forward I won't shy away from the books I haven't read and I'll continue to dig out the lesser known on my own voyage of bookish discovery!!

I read these novels mostly on a short break in Valencia. Check out my bookish photo tour here.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams published by Pan, 133 pages.    

American Pastoral by Philip Roth published by Vintage, 436 pages.    

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