the Thursday Next series (Fforde, Jasper)

I actually tore through Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" novels, starting with the "Eyre Affair", last year, but never posted anything. This must be rectified!  The following are my notes on each book:


The Eyre affair : a novel  (Fforde, Jasper)  2001  4/17/2008 

It's sort of a Sue Grafton meets the Bronte sisters meets Terry Pratchett meets Lemony Snicket in an alternate history Britain. I wouldn't say he's a great writer, but very good and very funny with a lot of good literary references that delight the book snob in me.  The eventual "solution" to defeating Acheron's supernatural protections is weak, and there are certain sections of the book where the narrative drags, but Fforde otherwise delivers an incredibly enjoyable read full of "high culture becomes pop culture".

Lost in a Good Book (Fforde, Jasper)  2002  5/21/2008  
More of the same from Fforde's heroine Thursday Next; it's all about the journey and not the destination, but the material remains fresh and it's a fun ride.



The Well of Lost Plots (Fforde, Jasper)  2003  5/27/2008   
The third novel in the Thursday Next series is the payoff on being patient with all the changes introduced in book 2.  Fforde has given Thursday entirely new worlds to explore, and he does a fantastic job in certain chapters of writing in the style of the "type" of book in which the action is taking place.  I'm coming to believe that the purpose of a good western liberal arts education is to be able to read and enjoy the Thursday Next novels without referring to Wikipedia.  Reasonable grounding in popular culture doesn't hurt, either.  


Something Rotten (Fforde, Jasper)  2004  6/9/2008  
My favorite in the series so far.  The purpose of the first three Thursday Next novels is to get to this one.


First Among Sequels (Fforde, Jasper)  2007  6/15/2008  
The Thursday Next series has now reached a point where it's distracting to have to read numerous passages that were written for earlier books but are included here for morons who decide to read the series out of order... or perhaps for the senile, who can't remember a few years later what the Chronoguard is.  With all such redundancies removed, the book might not top 300 pages, but what there is of the new stuff is great, as usual.