The gentle comedy of Douglas Adams

Sorry, I can't seem to find my towel....

Fancy some deep thought?

I over-read him and now I'm ordering Red Dwarf novels. MMmmmmmmm... I'll be seen on the bus with anything.

I wouldn't do that, Ann. I really, really wouldn't...

Try, instead, practically anything by Robert Rankin [except the Armageddon trilogy, which doesn't quite work, 'The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse', which in no way lives up to its title, and the allegedly autobiographical 'Sprout Mask Replica', which is bloody marvellous, but not really one for newbies]or, if you want something a little more serious, but still gentle and witty and beatiful, have a go at the 'Doctor Who' novels of Kate Orman or Lloyd Rose.

[Adams, incidentally, used to script edit 'Who', and his stories 'City of Death' and 'The Pirate Planet' are available on VHS and DVD respectively. 'City' provided some of the source material for 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency', incidentally, along with 'Shada', which is occasionally available on the BBC site. But I digress.]

On no account go anywhere near Tom Holt. Although Tom _Rolt_ wrote a very nice book about canals, which you might like if you're feeling bucolic.

Enjoy.

One HUGE WHOPPING CAVEAT about the Doctor Who novels of Kate Orman: they tend to be super-heavy on continuity with little explanation or leeway given for newbie readers; if (for example) you happentrack down _Return Of The Living Dad_, it will make no sense unless you track down a good number of the 50+ books that preceed it and read those first. Also, the book is really not good.

Good Orman books (if you can find them):

The Left-Handed Hummingbird
Set Piece
SLEEPY
Seeing I

Okay Orman books:

Vampire Science
The Year Of Intelligent Tigers

Stay away from:
Return Of The Living Dad
Unnatural History

Lloyd Rose's _The City Of The Dead_ was also bad, at least in its treatment of the recurring characters (ESPECIALLY The Doctor). Haven't read _Camera Obscura_ yet.

"The City of the Dead", bad? What'chou talkin' 'bout, Willis? It's an absolutely gorgeous slice of American gothic, is what it is.

"Camera Obscura" is fabulous, by the way.

And, Kate-wise, there's also "Blue Box". I'd be inclined to rank "Tigers" a little higher, too. You're right about "Dad", though.

The odd thing with Douglas Adams is, I read absolutely everything of his that I could when I was, like, ten or something, and I adored them and understood them fully. But I recently went back to the Dirk Gently books and I found them so turgid, so boring, so unamusing that I nearly cried. I read the 'Red Dwarf' books, and that 'Good Omens' effort by Gaiman and Pratchett at the same time, and those are pretty horrible now too.