by Marisa Demarco
Daily Lobo
When I was a kid, I got in trouble for reading too much.
At night, I would read by flashlight under my covers so my mom couldn't see the light seeping out under my door. I spent my allowance on contraband - C batteries.
And for about two years, the novel smuggled under the blanket with me was most likely written by Douglas Adams.
I checked The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy out of my neighborhood library because of its cover. A green smiley face with no eyes sticks its tongue out and floats over a hitchhiking thumb.
And though I'd heard the old adage about books and their covers, I never gave it a second thought after devouring the first chapter of the guide.
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
That's perfect humor for a kid facing the turmoil, loneliness and cynicism of adolescence.
At age 11, I knew it was funny, but I didn't really know why. I didn't understand the nuances of the jokes about bureaucracy. But I knew it was funny that a man was going about his normal morning routine hungover without registering that all the bulldozers outside are about to mow down his house.
Pain is comedy when you're in middle school.
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That's the genius of Adams. Even if you haven't picked up on all the philosophical jokes and social commentary in his books, the writing is so clean and imaginative, you'll laugh loud and long, even if you're on a crowded airplane surrounded by fat, frowning adults. I know I did.
The library didn't have all the novels in the five-booked series, so I read them out of order. It was missing book three, Life, The Universe and Everything. I read the others at least four times apiece before I got to that one. I read it four times in a row just to be fair.
The library also had some lesser-known Adams works, which are my favorites.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul did not gain the cult following that the guide did. But these novels embody Adams at his best. The writing is tight. The characters are bizarre and yet somehow believable.
And in typical Adams fashion, some previously unobserved truth lurks between the lines.
Every year or so, I break out my bible-bound edition of the fabled trilogy and reread it.
Then I peruse all of Adams' other books. My copies are tattered and beaten more than any other books I own. They are certainly more worn than any of the traditional literature on my shelf.
That's the thing. Adams' novels are known as cult favorites, as pop fiction, because they're sci-fi and they've gained such a large following.
What makes him a good writer is what makes any author of literature great: a keen eye for observation and the ability to spin a yarn.
