Steve Cottrell wrote:
On 14/2/15, Bob W-PDML, discombobulated, unleashed:
I'm about to be heretical. I read the HGTTG when it was fairly recently
published, and was deeply underwhelmed. I think it's badly written and
unfunny. The basic idea is a good one, badly executed, and I've never
understood the Douglas Adams worship.
I heard the radio series when it was first broadcast back in the 1970s.
I think I read the original book. I thought the radio series was very
funny, but as an advanced sci-fi fan with many books under my belt
already, I took it as just a bit of fun - a lampoon of the SF genre.
When I was in college, the books were being released in the states, and
as they were passed along to each one of my circle of friends, we would
read the best parts aloud as we came to them. By the time we had all
read the original trilogy we pretty much had the best parts memorized.
Many years later I was given a copy of Good Omens, and shortly
thereafter discovered diskworld and realized that what Adams was pretty
good at, Pratchett was a master of.
I always thought Asimov was overrated. I was a big fan of Larry Niven,
Clarke, Farmer, Heinlein, and a good dozen more.
I've gone back and reread some classic SF. It doesn't always age well.
I started reading SF when I was about 6, so 66 or 67. In some ways, I
have become a bit more critical of a reader since then, and in other
ways the bar has been raised on the sheer quality of writing.
I plan to dig out my (boxed up) SF library when I retire and re-read the
lot. After a lifetime's experiences, I think it will be a whole new
ballgame :-)
I'll say that Stranger in a Strange Land was a very different book to
read at 17 than it was when I was 10. A few years back I reread the
lensman series and it was very different to read it in 2005 than it was
in 1975. I expect that you will find rereading them to be a very
interesting experience.
--
Larry Colen [email protected] (postbox on min4est)
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