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Does anyone remember the details of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

FaithManor

By FaithManor,
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FaithManor

FaithManor

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We are looking to download some audio books for the long trip with the team tomorrow. I thought of that one because it used to be one that I loved, so funny and witty, and there is a version of it being read by the guy that played "Gordon Gordon" on Bones so his voice would be perfect.

 

But here's the deal. I don't remember the finer details. We have two moms that are REALLY tight with literature and movie rules. Though their kids are 17 and 15, there can be no F bombs and otherwise must be pretty limited in profanity, no sex - a mild kissing would be okay but nothing beyond that - and no homoesexuality.

 

Ya...so for kids in that age range that don't want to listen to Narnia, Wrinkle in Time, and other late elementary to middle school material, this isn't going to be easy. Dh loves to listen to the Martian when he is on the road, but that is an F bomb extravaganza so won't be happening. Oh, and one mom is totally against the mention of witchcraft too.

 

HELP!

 

If HGTTG doesn't meet this criteria, any idea what books I could download that do, and also have decent narration? I've got a kindle so we are talking audible or amazon for downloading.

 

I should have thought of this sooner, not when I've got only 14 hours before blast off. Sigh....

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maize

maize

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It's been a long time since I read that but I read it as a young teen and was pretty sensitive to language and sexual stuff--it tended to stand out to me if I did encounter it and I don't remember it in that book. But hopefully someone who has read it more recently will chime in.

 

On my last long car trip I really enjoyed Physics for Future Presidents if you think there is a chance your gang would go for non fiction.

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Spryte

Spryte

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Hmmmm.  Well, I've got a newly turned 13 year old listening to the 5 book dramatized version that's available on audible.  I'm not super strict but generally don't go for anything with overt sex or f bombs.  I'm good with it.  If there's an occasional f bomb, I trust my kid, though, so some things might not hit my radar like your super strict mom.  

 

And, to be fair, I'm not screening the entire time for those things.  We've all seen the movie, I was good with it.  DS loves the audiobook.  

 

ETA: it's been way too long since I've read the actual book to remember anything more specific. I'm not much help, but wanted to let you know I'm okay with it for a 13 year old, but probably my standards are slightly less than the mom in question.

 

 

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maize

maize

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If somewhat juvenile but new to them would appeal, my family enjoys the Ascendance trilogy (The False Prince, The Runaway King, the Shadow Throne)--as with many trilogies the first book is the best-- and The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (great narration on that one).

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Dmmetler

Dmmetler

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There is one bad word, in about book 3. I remember because one of my classmates in high school saw me reading book 1 and warned me about it-he knew I was from a pretty conservative family, and he didn't want me to get into trouble. I don't think there is anything objectionable in the original radio play, which IMO is the way the story SHOULD be heard.

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Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

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There is some sex stuff.

 

There is the triple-breasted whore and in "So Long and Thanks for All The Fish," which is one of the later books in the five-book trilogy, a character has sex on the wing of an airplane. It isn't described graphically but it would be hard to miss. There isn't a sex scene in the first book.

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Ravin

Ravin

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How about Lloyd Alexander?

 

I don't remember any of those things in Hitchhiker's, though. No F bombs that I recall. No sex either. However, if you're going to listen to Hitchhiker's, the original BBC radio show is probably the better listen vs. an audiobook.

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LucyStoner

LucyStoner

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I don't think Book 1 necessarily violates the letter of what you laid out. It might well be a book the moms would have a content issue with. I guess that even without the triple breasted whore, it is a book that they would have a content objection to.

 

That said, you can't please all the people all the time.

 

You've worked your butt off to give their kids a team and you are driving them 12 hours. That bears repeating. Twelve hours. I say yours are the rules that prevail here. It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

Edited by LucyStoner
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Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

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There is some innuendo but not absolute sex (except in that later book) I think the triple breasted whore is the most graphic bit.

 

I do think it is fairly irreverent though, there are some religious jokes which might not go over well. It can be really hard to tell about that sort of thing...some people get really excited about it.

 

I don't think they are anti-religion but just a bit cynical.

 

I would let a kid read it at thirteen but some people have different rules than I do.

Edited by Slartibartfast
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Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

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Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.

 

He hoped and prayed that there wasn’t an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn’t an afterlife.

And then one day, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl, sitting on her own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth suddenly realised what it was that had been going wrong all this time and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place.

I think those are the bits they would get most excited about if they noticed them.

 

There are also some jokes about hiding fake dinosaur bones while building the earth but I don't remember if that bit is in the first book or Life, The Universe, and Everything.

 

I did rename myself after the character who was talking about fake dinosaur bones during a thread about Satan putting fake dinosaur bones in the earth. :lol:

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Garga

Garga

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I come from a conservative Christian background and am still a Christian, though much (much) less conservative. I adore the books and have read them all many times over.

 

From my background and as someone who loves them, I would not recommend them to someone who doesn't want to have f-bombs and sex scenes as I would assume those people are probably conservative Christians (?). Just assuming here.

 

I have found that through a conservative Christian lens, the books are clearly anti-God and clearly written by an atheist who enjoys poking fun at Christians. I was 19 when I first read them and cringed through parts of the book.

 

I think the moms would NOT appreciate that part of the books. Sorry to say.

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Garga

Garga

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My dh and ds's enjoyed listening to The Martian Chronicles (short sci-fi stories by Ray Bradbury.).

 

Last road trip we went on, we got some audio versions of The Twilight Zone--they're made for radio, so there are sound effects and different actors doing the parts. That was fun.

 

 

ETA: we've found that short stories work well for a car full of people. If you start getting tired of a book, then you're stuck with it for 8 solid hours. Or if only a few people like it, then there's some tension in the car. But everyone can put up with a half hour story at a time.

 

 

I'm going back in time here, but maybe some James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small) or Asimov short stories? Those are usually engaging across the board to many kinds of people. Asimov's stories are very character driven, which I like.

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Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

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I have found that through a conservative Christian lens, the books are clearly anti-God and clearly written by an atheist who enjoys poking fun at Christians. I was 19 when I first read them and cringed through parts of the book.

That would be my concern as well.

 

I am a Christian and I also love the books, I have always seen the author as light-hearted rather than mean-spirited but I am not sure everyone would see it that way. Some people DO NOT have a sense of humor about such things.

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Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

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https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/15058.Clean_teen_fiction_Christian_

 

Here is a "clean teen fiction," list from Good Reads. I think the only ones on this list that I have read were the Ember books and the Narnia books. It looks like some of them have magic so you would probably have to check.

 

I dunno...I don't have any audio books without magic and dirty words except some Prairie Home Companion and the kids probably don't want that sort of thing. :lol:

 

You might check your library.

Edited by Slartibartfast
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Lori D.

Lori D.

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The film definitely excised questionable bits and is a gentle PG. ;)

 

I have no idea about what all is in the audio versions, but the book does contain  a few quick sexual crudities -- just 1-2 sentences in 2-3 places in the overall book. One that I remember showing up in the first chapters is referring to Erotica Gallumbits the triple-bre*sted wh*re who is described as the "best b*ng since the Big B*ng".

 

There is a lot of drinking or references to drinking to excess: the Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster, which is said to have an effect like that of getting hit in the head with a gold brick with a slice of lemon wrapped around it.

 

There is a fundamental belief in Evolution and humans evolving from apes that is mentioned numerous times, often phrased to be funny.

 

There is an overall flippant/irreverent attitude toward God and His existence -- BUT, that is also equally applied to science/scientists and philosophers, as well as beauocrats, so no one being singled out as a target for satire. ;)

 

As a Christian, I take the book in stride and in the spirit in which it was written, and bear in mind the secular/absurdist worldview of the author, and so I find it quite funny. However, very conservative Christian families will likely not connect with it or enjoy it, or may be offended by it.

 

 

I also like the idea further up-thread of going with short radio plays of different types. Then you have a variety of things to choose from, and can eventually find something fun for everyone, and you're not locked in to one long book. :) Here are links to some free downloadable ones:

 

Final Rune Productions

Old Radio World

Old Time Radio

 

My dad recorded some of the Christmas shows of the Jack Benny radio shows, which features Mel Blanc (voice of many Looney Tune cartoon characters) in a re-occurring role of a sales clerk repeatedly pushed over the edge by Jack Benny's penny-pinching Christmas shopping. While our DSs were young at the time (around 9-10 years old), they thought it was hilarious on car trips.

 

You might also enjoy some of the classic Mysteries.

 

Or, check out the made-for-radio dramas for Doctor Who by Big Finnish Productions, if most of your folk like the show. Some of the stories are quite fun, and feature the voice talents of past Doctor actors, so you can choose your Doctor. ;)

Edited by Lori D.
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Garga

Garga

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Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett?

Conn Iggulden's series about Genghis Khan?

 

 

I like Ken Follett books, but aren't there sex scenes in those?  And perhaps some violence?  I've read various stories of his and I remember one had a teenaged girl being raped in front of her little brother--the brother whose ear had just been chopped off by the man raping the girl, so that the girl would comply to the rape.  I seem to remember his books being peppered with that sort of thing in general. 

 

I remember reading some criticism of Follett's book because there were too many scenes of violence against women in them and people thought it was crossing a line.  (I think it was on a thread here long ago that I read that.)

 

I'd be wary of Follett books without reading them ahead of time.  They're pretty action packed, but not so sure appropriate for the group in the OPs car.  

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marbel

marbel

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I like Ken Follett books, but aren't there sex scenes in those?  And perhaps some violence?  I've read various stories of his and I remember one had a teenaged girl being raped in front of her little brother--the brother whose ear had just been chopped off by the man raping the girl, so that the girl would comply to the rape.  I seem to remember his books being peppered with that sort of thing in general. 

 

I remember reading some criticism of Follett's book because there were too many scenes of violence against women in them and people thought it was crossing a line.  (I think it was on a thread here long ago that I read that.)

 

I'd be wary of Follett books without reading them ahead of time.  They're pretty action packed, but not so sure appropriate for the group in the OPs car.  

 

I've only read part of one Follett book; unnecessary sex was the reason I stopped reading.  (It was also very cliche, master of the house with maidservant, gah.)  After reading some reviews I came to realize that I would probably never read another book by him, for that reason.  

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foxbridgeacademy

foxbridgeacademy

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There is some sex stuff.

 

There is the triple-breasted whore and in "So Long and Thanks for All The Fish," which is one of the later books in the five-book trilogy, a character has sex on the wing of an airplane. It isn't described graphically but it would be hard to miss. There isn't a sex scene in the first book.

lol, I have read all 6 (don't forget Eoin Colfer wrote one on the 30th anniversary, and it's pretty good, IMO) and while the first one is pretty tame later ones, not so much. Maybe your group does #1 and then your family listens to the rest on your own?

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FaithManor

FaithManor

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We have downloaded CS Lewis Out od the Dilent Planet, Rise of the Rocket Girls, Narnia, Hobbit, Star Wars Shakespeare (LOL that should be fun), an Asimov book (can't remember which book dh got), and Edgar Allen Poe for fun, and the Martian Chronicles.

 

Thanks everyone!

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Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

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lol, I have read all 6 (don't forget Eoin Colfer wrote one on the 30th anniversary, and it's pretty good, IMO) and while the first one is pretty tame later ones, not so much. Maybe your group does #1 and then your family listens to the rest on your own?

I don't count that one since it wasn't entirely finished by Adams.

 

I do own it.

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justasque

justasque

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If you need suggestions for the way back, consider some non-fiction, perhaps relating to rockets.  I am thinking about BBC podcasts of original radio shows.  Desert Island Discs includes interviews with various famous/accomplished people about their lives (along with the songs they'd take to a desert island); there are tons going back decades available from the web site.  There are a wide variety of other BBC shows as well; Excess Baggage is my favorite (now archived).  Sometimes I will search the iTunes store using our destination as a keyword, which can bring up a variety of podcasts that feature something about the area.

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