The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

 John Paul are in the midst of a book exchange: I read one of his favorite books, and he reads one of mine.  He's nearly done with Slaughterhouse Five, and I've just completed Hitchhiker's.  Yes, I'm behind the trend with reading this book, but I've seen the movie!  Surely that counts for something?
For those of you who haven't caught the plot of this enormously entertaining novel, Arthur Dent is rescued from Earth's demise by Ford Prefect, his alien neighbor.  Ford has been posing as an out-of-work actor for fifteen years while researching Earth for the new edition of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the most popular book in the galaxy.  They first face down the dreaded Vogons and their universally hated poetry, then are picked up by a passing stolen, state-of-the-art spaceship containing a depressed robot, the president of the galaxy, and the woman Arthur failed to pick up at a recent party.  Then they find themselves in the orbit of the legendary planet of Magrathea, which is known for making planets for the universe's most wealthy.  Will Arthur ever drink tea again?  How exactly does an Improbability Drive work?  And where are our lost ballpoints escaping to?
I found this book completely absurd and goofy, in a wonderful way.  It's clear that Douglas Adams has a very dry, quirky sense of humor, and you do have to let go of any seriousness while reading through these pages.  While the book is quite funny, I would prefer to listen to the following four novels; some of the humor seems to beg for a narrator's intonations and expert pauses to really hit the mark.  It's a quick read, less than 220 pages in paperback, and a great way to pass a couple of afternoons or lunch breaks.  Pick it up!  Can't we all use something light?