The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #2), by Douglas Adams

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: ★★★★

Published: 1980

Publisher: Pocket Books

Pages: 250

I was first introduced to Douglas Adams's series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, last summer. I read the first book, loved it, bought the rest of the series, and promptly forgot to pick it up again until last week.

Considering I read the last book almost a year ago, I experienced little difficulty getting back into the plot or characters. There were, of course, details I had forgotten — like Zaphod's third arm — but I was grateful to slide back into was Adams's terrific sense of humor and style of writing. However, I would add that I definitely recommend reading the first book (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) before picking this one up because there is a very important subplot that Restaurant spends little to no time recapping. Good news, I would say that this book and the previous one are excellent series installations in the respect that they do not end on an obnoxiously terrible cliffhanger. (I'm looking at you Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins.)

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe picks up where The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy left off, with ex-Galactic President Zaphod, depressive robot Marvin, Betelgeusian hitchhiker Ford Prefect, and Earthlings Arthur Dent and Tricia McMillan ("Trillian") bound for space exploration on the precisely Improbable Heart of Gold spaceship.

A lot happens: time travel, rock concerts, tax evasion, and The End of the Universe, for starters. Adams reflects on the Universe (its infinite size and horrific end, to be specific), the nature of civilization (namely, what happens when a bunch of midlevel nitwits are in charge of establishing a society and "culture"), and continues to ask just what the deal with the number forty-two is.

I found this book to be immensely enjoyable. Adams's humor is a treat; his absurdity (or is it improbability?) is at the top of its game. The book's lighthearted attitude doesn't stray away from asking the serious questions (chiefly, the meaning of life, questions of civilization, etc.), which I think just adds to the "trilogy's" depth and insight. The last bit of the book was definitely more somber (or at least introspective) in tone, but I enjoyed it. I appreciated the character development that I witnessed between Arthur and Ford over the course of the book (most notably the last chapters), and am interested in seeing how they continue to change in the series's next installment (Life, the Universe, and Everything). While my first impression of this book wasn't "It changed my life! Give it five stars!" I could see my opinion changing in the near future.

If you're even remotely interested in checking out The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (based on this or any other review), I would urge you to immediately pick it up, along with the other books to the series.

When you're finished, I'll see you at Milliways.

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

It's been a long time since I've written a review! If any of y'all follow me on Goodreads, you'll notice that I've finished some books that I've neglected to review properly on here. Starting with this post, I'll be attempting to play catch-up. 

Genre: Nonfiction, U.S. History, Crime, Urban Studies

Rating: ★★★★

Published: February 10, 2004

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday

Pages: 464

I've been interested in reading Erik Larson's Devil in the White City for a while now; I'm interested in crime, the Columbia Exposition (aka, the Chicago World's Fair), and Chicago in general, so this book seemed like a good match for me. I was further intrigued by the connection that Larson set out to depict in the book between the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer, H. H. Holmes. Larson's intentions in White City were very clear to me: to describe the cycle of creation and destruction that two men, Daniel Burnham (the leading architect and planner for the Chicago World's Fair) and H. H. Holmes influenced during the fair, and how the fair changed the course of American architecture, culture, and history.

The Devil in the White City is, first and foremost, a history book that chronicles the buildup to and the execution of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas in 1492, the fair was also a chance for the city of Chicago to announce that it had "arrived" on the world's stage. In total, over 27 million people ended up visiting "the White City."

The Devil in the White City operates along two parallel story lines: the first chronicling the entirety of the fair, from its inception to its end; the second tells the story of H. H. Holmes, the serial killer operating under the protection of the fair, from his childhood to his eventual incarceration.

Despite the title, I didn't find Holmes or his crimes to be the real focus of this book; while Holmes was certainly an ominous force that Larson alluded to repeatedly, I feel like the majority of this book's action and splendor came in the descriptions of the fair.

I thought that this book was really interesting in examining American society, Chicago's history, and how the fair changed them both immediately and later on. (And example of "further down the line": Walt Disney's dad was part of the construction team; he applied what his dad told him about constructing the White City when creating the Magic Kingdom.) I think this book is good for anyone who doesn't mind sorting through multiple characters and plot lines, while also being interested in American/Chicagoan history. 

However, since there is so much exposition regarding the fair, I'd say that any other reader would have to be pretty tolerant due to the fact that there is a lot of material regarding architecture and construction. So, yeah, the book gets dry at times. But I'd say that Larson deftly deals with the unglamorous parts of the fair, crafting a narrative that is both enticing and intriguing. 

brb drowning

Believe it or not, this is "clean."

Hey, peaches. Sorry for the total radio silence for the past months, but things on my end have been so busy it isn't even funny. I joined two new organizations on campus, and one of them requires me to not only be responsible for myself, but also other people (and writing. That too.). I've been reading a lot (not necessarily books, unfortunately), and I'm writing a ton (as is fitting for a liberal arts/humanities student). Because things are winding down, I'm having to look forward to studying abroad, what I'm going to do this summer, etc. I'm ready to be gone, but I have to put a little bit more time in first.

I haven't been treating myself very well, so that's one of my main priorities right now.

I hope you are staying safe and healthy and are loving whatever it is you're doing now. Hopefully I'll have some new reviews up soon(ish).