Lost in a Good Book - Review

Lost in a Good book
By Jasper Fforde
Published by Hodder & Stoughton 2002
Website Jasper Fforde

All I can say is that Jasper Fforde is a GENIUS!!! This is the second book in the Thursday Next series (I reviewed the first book - The Eyre Affair - a few weeks ago), and I LOVE it, Simply LOVE it. As the back cover quote says - "Douglas Adams would be proud".



This book (as I said) is the second book in the series. It involves Thursday Next, who (at the end of the first book) had just gotten married to her long time beau Landen Parker-Laine. Within one month Landen has been eradicated (not eliminated). Purely for the purpose of blackmailing Thursday into doing what the government wants. And that is to release Jack Schitt from the pages of Raven (Edgar Allen Poe). This happened at the end of The Eyre Affair.

While Thursday keeps refusing, she tries to find a way to release Landen by herself, and ends up finding a lost & unknown Shakespeare play, saving the world from total annihilation. Along the way Thursday meets Miss Havisham who teachers Thursday how to travel through books, becomes a police officer in the pages of books, deals with Neanderthals, discovers that she is pregnant and tries to tell herself that the baby is indeed Landen's, (because noone else knows anything about Landen since all knowledge of him, except Thursday's memories, have been eradicated) and takes a few trips through time, courtesy of her chronoguard father. Thursday also meets the Red Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat (at least he used to be the Cheshire cat until the county borders were moved).

This series is crazy, but Thursday is a thoroughly likeable character. She's in her thirties, smart, well read, knows how to look after herself, married late and will have one child. Exactly as I have done. I think thats why I like her so much. There are 5 books so far in the series. The 5th and latest was just published this year.

If you are looking for a wild, crazy and hilarious ride, something like Alice in Wonderland or the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, you have to read these books.

Here's the Wikipedia Article.

An interview with Jasper Fforde