The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams

Upon completing "Last Chance to See" by Douglas Adams, I picked up "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" (H2G2). At first, I thought I was too grown up to read the novel as the utter nonsense and adventure were almost too unrealistic. But the book grew on me, and the comedy was just top-notch. In a book that is merely 210 pages long, I am astonished by how much Douglas Adams could pack in and moreover, how well he was able to connect the various events.

One of my favorite moments: Mice on Earth, were in actuality "hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings" that were putting on an act in order to conduct an experiment to answer the ultimate question of "Life, the Universe, and Everything". However, they failed to do so as planet Earth was destroyed just before the experiment ended. Two mice that escaped the destruction met Arthur Dent, a human, on another planet called Magrathea. Instead of rebuilding Earth and undertaking another 10 million year experiment, the two mice attempt to buy Arthur Dent's brain from him. The exchange was hilarious as Arthur is surprised when the mice offer to replace his brain with a simple electronic brain. During this exchange, Zaphod Beeblebrox blurts out, "you’d just have to program it to say What? and I don’t understand and Where’s the tea? – who’d know the difference?" to which Arthur responds "WHAT?".

I would consider H2G2 a philosophical novel, one that portrays Absurdism.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
by Douglas Adams

From Magrathea, the world-building planet, to Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe, Douglas Adams is able to bring bizarre situations and ideas into his novels seamlessly, making it hard to predict the events to come. 

One of my favorite moments: Milliways is interesting as it's not a restaurant that is actually close to the end of the universe in space. While on Frogstar World B (a planet dedicated to dooming a prisoner to madness by showing him the infiniteness of the universe), Zaphod Beeblebrox asks the Heart of Gold (a spaceship) to take him to the nearest restaurant. It so happens the nearest restaurant is actually "five hundred and seventy-six million years" away on the same planet. Among other things, Milliways offers its guests views of the end of the universe while they get to eat meat that wants to be eaten. To pay for the experience one must simply deposit 1 cent in the present time, which will then compound over the millions of years to pay for the extremely high bill.

The adventure continues after Milliways, with Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian on a mission to find the ruler of the universe while Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect unexpectedly find themselves 2 million years back in time on Earth. As usual, Douglas Adams is great at intertwining comedy and nonsense to show the absurdity of life, the universe, and everything. 

Life, The Universe, and Everything
by Douglas Adams