Reading Wednesday

[troisoiseaux]

Recently read

Finished my re-read of The Once and Future King, which I wrote about here.

Read Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy, his memoir of founding the Equal Justice Initiative and his work as a lawyer for "the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system," as the blurb puts it. The main narrative thread follows his efforts to save a wrongfully convicted man from the death penalty in Alabama in the early 1990s. This was an absolutely heart-wrenching read, but an incredibly valuable one. (And timely— I start law school on Monday!!)

Currently reading

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams, the fourth book in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I read and enjoyed the first three books in high school, but I'd never gotten around to this one until now.

I've also started Agatha Christie's memoir, An Autobiography, which is incredibly charming so far. I'm particularly charmed by her young self's elaborate imaginary narrative "games"; she doesn't characterize this as an early attempt at writing stories, but it obviously was! In terms of insights gleaned into her work, apparently she based the house that Tommy and Tuppence purchase in The Postern of Fate off of her childhood home, down to Mathilde the rocking horse in the garden shed. Her mother's childhood may also be why Christie is so weird about adoption in her novels?

Comments

[auroracloud]

Good luck with law school!

I never got around to reading So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish either. I've lately been thinking I could give the series a reread and try to read that one as well this time. Are you enjoying it?

[troisoiseaux]

Are you enjoying it?

Yeah! I finished it last night.

I re-read the first three books earlier this summer and they were a much-needed comfort read, although some of the jokes have held up too well— in this one, someone named their dog Know-Nothing-Bozo the Non-Wonder Dog because (to paraphrase) his hair stuck up and made him look like the American president. (Which would have been a reference to Ronald Regan, but like, oof.)

[kore]

....AUGH, that's horribly recyclable (if that's a word).

[kore]

Law school! !!!

I remember liking So Long a lot, although I think it flopped with most of my friends. The one I really didn't like was Mostly Harmless.

[troisoiseaux]

It did feel like it had a slightly different vibe to the first three books, although I can't exactly put my finger on why. Maybe it was just the shakeup of the characters? (Parallel narratives for Arthur and Ford, with Zaphod and Trillian out of the picture?) Arthur's storyline taking place on earth? Idk. I liked it overall, although I found myself raising my eyebrows over the mysteriously unacknowledged-until-the-end replacement of Trillian with manic pixie dream girl-type Fenny.

I loved the running bit about the truck driver who was a Rain God.

[kore]

I think the switch from Trillian to Fenny was paralleled in "DNA"'s own life, fucking LOL. (Men. Gotta love 'em.) (You do not want to know what happens to Fenchurch in the next book.) She does seem a little ahhh receptive to Arthur, shall we say, and we don't really get her story despite the intro. I do agree with you it has a different kind of vibe -- I thought it was more celebratory? of Earth, as a home, and more informed by Adams's conservation work obvs (the title alone), not just in "disappearing animals how sad" but how precious this world actually is. It's grounded (LOL sorry) and more gentle, less zany and filled with those wild one-offs like the Dish of the Day and the superintelligent shade of the colour blue (which phrase just reduced me to tears the first time I read it, I laughed so hard). I do like it, even though Fenny is like a nerd's Penthouse letter and he killed off Marvin?? and the Message itself is a flop. It's kind of tender and sweet.

[troisoiseaux]

You do not want to know what happens to Fenchurch in the next book.

Oh nooooo. (Okay, I just checked wikipedia and— oh NO. Why?!)

I thought it was more celebratory? of Earth, as a home, and more informed by Adams's conservation work obvs (the title alone), not just in "disappearing animals how sad" but how precious this world actually is.

That's a good point!

I actually really liked the message, which might be a particularly 2020 mood.

[kore]

I KNOW. BOY I WAS PISSED WHEN I READ THAT. I had bought the book in hardcover! Online spoilers were not a thing!

-- Hah, it is a very 2020 mood, isn't it!

[troisoiseaux]

The one I really didn't like was Mostly Harmless.

It's probably terribly gauche to respond to a comment THREE YEARS later but I finally read Mostly Harmless! It's definitely not my favorite in the series, but I didn't hate it. (Honestly, I kind of have to admire the sheer chutzpah of ending a series like that.) I actually quite liked the thing with the two divergent-timeline Tricia McMillians who both regretted their choice re: going/not going to space.

If I had a nickel for every British sci-fi/fantasy novel from the early 90s with a scene that was a convoluted set-up for a joke riffing on the conspiracy theory that Elvis faked his death/was abducted by aliens/etc., I'd have ten cents, but it's weird it happened twice. (There was actually at least one other joke that reminded me of Good Omens but now I'm blanking on what it was...?)

You do not want to know what happens to Fenchurch in the next book.

I'm not going to lie, I completely forgot about Fenny's existence in the time between reading So Long and Mostly Harmless.

[evelyn_b]

Oh wow! Congratulations and good luck in law school!

[troisoiseaux]

Thank you!!!

[marginaliana]

Congrats on law school!

[troisoiseaux]

Thank you! It's going to be 100% online for at least the fall semester, so we'll see how this goes. 👀

[sovay]

I start law school (!!) on Monday (!!)

Mazel tov!

[troisoiseaux]

Thank you!

[osprey_archer]

Good luck with law school!

Isn't Just Mercy amazing? I read it a few years ago, and I keep trying to work up the nerve to see the 2019 film based on it, but as you say, the book is heart-wrenching and I can only imagine the movie is even more so, so I haven't managed it yet.

[troisoiseaux]

It was SO good, in a "furious and devastating" way. I was Aware of the movie but I haven't seen it. I also hadn't realized that Bryan Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative!