Sunday 10 May 2009

Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde



Lost in a Good Book

I just love Fforde, he is the strangest author I have read, and his books are a pure delight. This is then the second Thursday Next novel.

It's some months after the end in The Eyre Affair, and Thursday is happily married to Landen. She is now the Medias darling after having given Jane Eyre a happy ending, and everyone wants to know about her. Life seems to be good.

She is still a literary detective, and when a a new Shakespeare play emerges she is sent to investigate. But the big corporation Goliath still has it in for her, Landen disappears when someone mixes with the timeline and actually he died when he was just a little boy. This together with some strange circumstances shows that someone has it in for her. Can she save Landen? Keep Goliath of her track and see to at that the characters in novels behave?


This is an alternate reality novel that takes place in 1985. Wolly mammoths migrate every year through Britain, The Crimean war has just ended with a small village given to The Russian Empire, Time-line guards can jump in time and Thursday's uncle has invented a way to travel into books. She has a pet dodo, and there are also neanderthals after a failed experiment. the taxes on cheese are enormous and literature is big, I mean big. And Thursday is to be put on trial in Kafka's book because of the alternate ending to Jane Eyre.

This is such a strange book, you have to read it to understand, but once you do you are truly sucked into this weird book. Their alternate world is funny, and they sure take literature serious, all forms of literature. The government even has a special branch that looks into crimes with literature, and they also have branches to do with lawns, and vampires and such.

Thursday is a great heroine and I really like her, and I was happy that she ended up with Landen, whom she served with in the Crimean war. But now he sadly died at the age of 2 and no one but her remembers being married to him. Her dad, a renegade Time Agent is always funny to see, not to mention her uncle Mycroft who is this kind of mad scientist in a way. There are a bunch of great side characters that make up the book, and Fforde is sure great at creating them.

He is also great at creating funny and strange stories that seems to make perfect sense in the world were they are taking place.

This is actually the 3rd book I read, I happened to read the 4th book after the 1st, and that worked too. But it is of course much better to read them in the right order cos the story line continues and isn't always resolved. There will always be big bad guys, its not a sweet story where she takes them down in one book and continues on the next bad guy. Now this book needs it's big corporation.

Read them, they are funny and I hope you will like the strangeness in them.


17 comments:

  1. What is the first book called? I would love to look into it:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This book sounds surreal, but very interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Blodeuedd!
    Just the cover art sold me!!

    And the story sounds like a hoot!

    I'll be looking for them (I'm trying not to buy, so it will have to be a library find...but if I can't find it there.... $$$$

    ((hugs))

    Dottie :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mandi,
    It's The Eyre Affair :) Jane Eyre gets kidnapped.

    Scrap girl,
    Yes, very surreal indeed, but it's just fun.

    Hi Dottie,
    Very nice cover, at least the UK version. Dunno about the others.

    Check the library, that is always best. And perhaps you'll enjoy them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds intriguing. I'll have to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I skimmed your review, since this book is coming up shortly on my TBR pile. I read the first one and liked it, but didn't love it, so I held off on reading the next (no pun intended ;)) I'm reading to read more now, looking forward to it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Hon, I haven't seen you in awhile...I didn't have your e addie so forgive that I'm doing this here, but I think you wanted to enter the free book contest I'm having this week. So, I'm dropping in as a reminder!

    BTW Love your blog and that book's cover - very nice!

    Hawk

    ReplyDelete
  8. Loooooove Jasper Fforde -- I think he gets better with every book!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sweet new banner!

    Too cool!

    Dottie :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Linda,
    He is a hoot, perhaps you'll enjoy him.

    Julie,
    So you read the first one, nice, now it so long since I read the first so i can't say if I liked this one more..hm, perhaps the first one since he was so weird and now I am used to it, lol.

    Houston,
    thanks for stopping by. Yes I have been busy, and then internet problems. Makes a girl go insane.

    Sumthinblue,
    Lol, yes he does, I just loooove him too. So funny, so weird. I wanna write like that.

    Dottie,
    Thanks, wanted something new again :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. I haven't read anything by this author. There is a shelf in the train station where you can take and leave books, and there was one by this author...something about over easy, but I didn't check it out.

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anna,
    That shelf sounds fun :)
    Hm, dunno about that title since I haven't read them all. But then again it's perhaps at least with these that to start with book 1. Though you can always see if it's still there ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have had a couple of his books on my bookshelf for a year or so, I keep meaning to read them, but I think I will have too add them to my ever increasing TBR pile!
    hugs, Bethxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love Fforde. He has so many layers to his plot and characters. I feel like I don't always "get" everything, but I love trying to figure it all out. And i feel so smart when I do "get" it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Scattie,
    Hehe, oh yes I sure know about the increasing TBR pile, mine is mile high and I know that I will just keep on putting more and more there ;)

    Melanie,
    I know, many times I am lost, but the fun part really is to figure it all our, or getting it at once. I would sure love to meet him in person

    ReplyDelete
  16. I just finished reading this and I'm very impressed. I liked this one even better than The Eyre Affair!

    Amanda
    The Zen Leaf

    ReplyDelete