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Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. 

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the story of Arthur Dent, an ordinary man whose ordinary life changes in an instant when his best friend turns out to be a galactic explorer who plucks Arthur off of Earth seconds before it is destroyed. Arthur and his friend Ford embark on a journey through the galaxy where they encounter aliens and all sorts of fantastical creatures and people. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version starring Martin Freeman and Sam Rockwell. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the movie. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the movie and not reading the book.

We’ll read the first twelve chapters for next week, so make sure to check those out before reading the next blog post. Our comments section is currently experiencing some technical difficulties, so make sure to leave comments on our Facebook page, so I can know your thoughts about the book!

Welcome to the final discussion of Message in A Bottle.

Were you emotionally prepared for the ending of the book? I wasn’t. I understand that Nicholas Sparks likes to write bittersweet stories, but this was almost too much!

When the section starts, everything seems to be going right for them. They spend time together, Garrett meets Kevin, Garrett and Theresa express their love to each other. Garrett even says he wants to marry her. But, he wants her to move to him, and he wants her to give up her life and job in Boston. 

Then, Garrett finds out about the letters. I think he reacted in an appropriate way. He was justified in thinking that those letters would not be published in a newspaper for the world to see. I felt, throughout the book, that Garrett got unfair treatment from everyone in his life. His dad criticizes the way Garrett reacts to the news of the letters, and he questions, several times, whether or not Garrett was really over Catherine. I feel like Garrett was surprisingly open to love throughout the book, and I didn’t think it was inappropriate that he still thought about Catherine. And, I didn’t think it was inappropriate for Garrett to feel like Theresa betrayed him and built their whole relationship on a lie. What did you think? Did you feel like Garrett had an understandable reaction to Theresa’s actions? 

I totally understood why the pair had to break up. Neither one was in a place where they were willing to leave their houses or jobs and start somewhere new. I questioned from the beginning whether or not they would be able to stay together for the long haul. If you’d like to see how their breakup scene played out on the big screen, check out the movie clip below. 

How did you feel when Theresa got the fateful call from Jeb telling her that there had been an accident? I was disappointed, obviously, with Sparks’s choice for Garrett’s character, but I was most disappointed that they were unable to have any sort of closure with each other. I believed that their relationship should have ended, but I wished they could have had one more conversation with each other to tie up loose ends. How did you feel? What did you think about the way that Garrett died? I felt his death went back to the unfair treatment he received by everyone throughout the book. He was so desperate to move on and show everyone that he had moved on, that he was willing to go out to sea when there was a possibility for a storm.

How surprised were you when Theresa received the last letter from Garrett? I guess the letter provided some closure, but I think it made things harder. Instead of trusting that she had made the right decision ending their relationship, Theresa now had to deal with the thought that Garrett was going to make nice and come back to her. Now, Theresa has to deal with the pain of losing someone she loved so much. Maybe now, after feeling those feelings, she would have been more patient with Garrett when he was struggling with his feelings for Catherine. 

How would you have changed the book? What do you wish would have been different about the story? 

When I was researching this book, I searched Sparks’s website and discovered that he tells the inspiration behind each of his books. Apparently, for this book, he was inspired by his father’s love stories. You can check out more about the inspiration for the story here. 

If you enjoyed this book and would like to read or watch similar titles, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list!

Thanks for following along this month! I hope the comments section will be back next month. Make sure to check out next month’s title, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if you’d like to join us again next month!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Message in A Bottle.

How was the reading for you this week? Were you able to stop reading after chapter 8, or did you want to keep going? I had a hard time stopping!

This section starts with Garrett and Theresa actually meeting each other. I was surprised by how quickly they made a connection. Garrett seemed to be open to speaking with her right from the get-to. I thought he would be more reserved, and I definitely didn’t expect them to go sailing together right away. I felt like Theresa made a lot of deceitful choices at the beginning of the book. She chose not to tell Garrett about the letters and why she was trying to track him down, and she wasn’t honest when she left her jacket on the boat. I know she left the jacket so that she would have a reason to see him again, but it still felt deceitful. 

In this section, we realize that Catherine died by getting hit by a car. She stepped off of a curb without looking and was run over. That was a shocking death to me. I expected her to be ill or something. Do you think having her die from such a senseless accident made it even harder for Garrett to move on? It was so sudden, so I think he had a hard time processing it. 

Were you surprised by how quickly Garrett and Theresa became serious with each other? People keep implying that Garrett hasn’t moved on from Catherine, and I think that’s true, but at least he’s open to the idea of having another relationship. He doesn’t close Theresa out, and he seems excited to see how their relationship can progress. Do you think Theresa will come visit and bring her son? Do you think the son will like being with Garrett? 

What is going to happen with their relationship? I don’t know how well it will go since they live so far apart. I can’t imagine that either one of them will want to give up the places they live. I’m just not sure how long their relationship can last. 

Do you have any guesses about what will happen in the last section? Garrett will definitely be upset once he realizes that Theresa has letters he wrote to Catherine. Don’t you think that will be a big obstacle in their relationship? Theresa should have brought it up right away. 

Before you go, check out this article about the movie set design for Garrett’s house. Isn’t it beautiful? I love how everything looks worn in and comfortable. Then, check out the video below to learn more about author, Nicholas Sparks, and his writing process!

I hope you’re excited to finish the book for next week! 

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Message in A Bottle.

What did you think of the beginning of story? I always love the setting and scenery in a Nicholas Sparks novel. I love all of the descriptions of water, and I love reading about the slower pace of life that many of the characters have. 

At the beginning of the story, one of the things that surprised me the most was the fact that Theresa was so comfortable reading all of Garrett’s really personal letters. I think I would feel comfortable reading a letter if it was obviously old and antique, but reading one that could belong to a contemporary of mine would be awkward, I think. His letters were so vulnerable–I almost felt uncomfortable reading them in the book! It’s just hard because readers know that Garrett didn’t intend for anyone else to read them. I was also surprised how quickly everyone decided to publish the letters in the newspaper. It felt like a huge invasion of privacy to me, even though Theresa didn’t include names. What would you have done? 

It made me laugh when Theresa is trying to track down Garrett and it takes her so long. Deanna actually has to get on the phone and call places to see if she can figure out where Garrett lives. Today, it would take seconds to search for Garrett online. It just reminded me how connected we all are compared to how connected we were even 20 years ago. 

Were you surprised that Theresa was able to find more letters pretty easily? I wasn’t really surprised that someone called in and had more information about Garrett, but I was a little surprised that someone else had one of his letters. I just didn’t realize how prevalent messages in a bottle are, I guess! I was really surprised that one of his letters had been published already. Garrett was a really prolific letter writer–I wonder how many more letters he wrote that no one found. I think if I were to find a message in a bottle, I would be like the caller who said she reads the letter but hasn’t shared it with another person. I think, if I found something like that, that I would keep it to myself. 

In the end of this section, Theresa decides that she wants to go see Garrett for herself. What do you think she will do when she sees him? What do you think she’s hoping to accomplish? Do you think she thinks that she already loves Garrett? Do you think she will tell him about the letters? 

Did reading this first section make you want to find a message in a bottle? If you want to read about some real-life messages that were found in bottles, check out this article from Atlas Obscura and this one from the BBC. Check out the video below, too, if you want to see another message in a bottle and hear more about currents and how they could help a bottle travel. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this section this week. Make sure to read chapters five through eight for next week. And, feel free to leave comments on our Facebook page to let me know what you thought about the reading!