Jasper Gets Lost

(Don’t Get…) Lost in the Woods

At others, it's still confusing me. But I focus on the little parts surrounding the realities of the characters and what they are doing. It can't be a normal one without it going on for pages about what is actually going on. All you need to know is if you have a huge imagination, don't need structure, and love books About Me For those new to me or my reviews I read A LOT. I write A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https: Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators. View all 6 comments.

Jul 10, Phrynne rated it it was amazing Shelves: This was a reread and I still loved it just as much as the first time around. Pickwick the dodo gets so many mentions in the early books.

A Thursday Next Novel

It turns out that there is a police force within literature both fiction and non-fiction , Jurisfiction, which employs both fictional characters and real people ranging from the Cheshire cat and the Red Queen to Ambrose Bierce and Voltaire , and ensures that literature continues in an orderly fashion. I liked the first book in this series but I thought this one was incredible. Miss Havisham is interesting. And go to THE library. Pickwick the dodo gets so many mentions in the early books. After its legendary 76 rejections, The Eyre Affair went on to become a cult bestseller.

The way she looks after her egg and makes "plock plock" noises is delightful. And of course this is the book where something happens to poor Landon. Disappointing because he is one of my favourite characters but still very typical of Fforde's clever, funny and crazy ideas. Thursday is developing her skills at book jumping and we start to meet all the wonderful This was a reread and I still loved it just as much as the first time around. Thursday is developing her skills at book jumping and we start to meet all the wonderful characters at Jurisfiction.

I always love a book about books and this one is brilliant: View all 5 comments. Jul 05, Megan Baxter rated it really liked it. I love the sheer inventiveness of Jasper Fforde's books, and in this series, the madcap way that he messes with literature, with both love and a childlike glee, and it makes me happy to have spent some time rereading this book. The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement.

Lost in a Good Book

You can read why I came to this decision here. In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook. View all 7 comments. Maybe only a 3. I sometimes wonder if the author knows. He writes the way Mrs. Haversham Yes, the lady f Maybe only a 3.

If it's Thursday it must be the valley of death

Haversham Yes, the lady from Great Expectations. Oh, oh, Lola Thursday It was a bit uneven, but I put that down to the high points striking me as so funny. There's a great scene at a book sale, for instance. I didn't quit chuckling for several minutes. Reminded me of the time I stood in line at 5am in 20 degree darkness to get Ghost Buster backpacks for the boys for Xmas. That was 30 years ago, so I can laugh about it now. Very well narrated which added to the atmosphere.

I'm definitely up for another at some point. View all 4 comments. Sep 11, Sandi rated it really liked it Shelves: Even worse, I got sucked up into it and had to keep going. To say that Thursday's life is complicated is an understatement. I'm not going to get into the plot or characters of this book. To do so would spoil this book, the preceding book, an Curses! To do so would spoil this book, the preceding book, and the following book.

You must have read the first book to understand it. Then, you will have to read the next book to get any resolution. I rather suspect that there won't be any resolution in the next book either. Now, I rarely read series. It's even more rare for me to read books in a series back to back.

But, Jasper Fford is such a compelling writer with such a weird imagination, that I'm breaking my usual rules. If you like weirdness and literature, and don't mind spending a lot of time on a series, go ahead and read the Thursday Next series. They are a lot of fun. View all 3 comments. Nov 17, colleen the convivial curmudgeon rated it it was ok Shelves: This is one of those books that I wanted to like so much more than I did. Hell, it's one of those books that I feel like I should like more than I do. I mean, with the little literary cameos and the wry humor and occasionally groan-inducing puns , with the jumping through books and really just the whole thing - it should be right up my alley.

But it just doesn't work for me. Part of it is that I feel it has a little bit of the Un Lun Dun problem - it seems more a showcase for all the nifty ideas This is one of those books that I wanted to like so much more than I did. And part of it is that while I really like the idea of Jurisfiction and it seems like a really cool premise, I'm less enthralled with the execution. Parts of it just don't make sense. For instance, view spoiler [the characters in the books are limited to their lines and actions in the book, and, when someone is reading their book, they have to be there to say their lines'; however, these same characters often go gallivanting into other books and doing various business for Jurisfiction.

So what happens when someone reads one of their books when they're not there?

LOST IN JASPER - ALBERTA TRAVEL VLOG

I mean, sometimes they have a character exchange program, but that seems to be for more long term things. For short term cases, it just seems like they aren't in their books. So who takes over if they're not there? And I'm unclear on whether the characters that come out of the book are for specific editions, or, since the library at Jurisfiction is sort of an place of archetypes - where the books are alive - if a character is removed from one edition, are they removed from all editions?

Navigation menu

And, if so, how come throwing Jack Schitt into the Raven only seemed to effect the version that Thursday was reading? Or was it all versions, and, if it was all versions, then why was no one mad at her for that when they were mad at her for 'changing' the ending of Jane Eyre? There were some things I liked. As I said, I do enjoy some of the puns and wordplay even if some of it's a bit, erm, low-brow. I mean, I'm ok with low-brow, but it's a little bit said when characters with the names of Schitt-Hause and Mr. Walken are the height of humor. And I did like the bits with Mycroft. He's still my favorite character, I think.

I don't know if I'll continue with the series or not. If I do I'll definitely be getting it from the library. May 14, Jon added it Recommended to Jon by: Feb 14, Dany Burns rated it it was amazing Shelves: I really, really liked this sequel! I liked the first book in this series but I thought this one was incredible. I felt like this one really drove home the bookish element to this series that the first one only touched on. Some of my favorite parts about this book was the book jumping, the conversations in the footnotes, all the bootstrap paradoxes, and this books funny self awareness.

In the last book we got a glimpse of Thursdays power to jump into the events of any book, but it wasn't the mai I really, really liked this sequel! In the last book we got a glimpse of Thursdays power to jump into the events of any book, but it wasn't the main plot line. In this book we really get to see how it all worked and I loved the imagery of a library that contains every book ever written as well as every idea for a book. I would love to just go hang out there for a while.

I really liked the way the characters developed in this book. Last book I found the characters to be interesting but they didn't really grab me and I was way more interested in the alternate world the author created and not so much the characters. In this sequel I loved all the characters just as much as I loved the world building.

I also enjoyed the mystery of this book a little more than the last one and I like seeing the Goliath Corporation take more of a front seat as the villain of these stories. Speaking of Goliath, my book had a little approval rating at the front of the book from Goliath which I thought was really cute and I love when books have those sort of things in them. I also loved how there were parts of this book that tied it to the titles of the previous books and to the sequels. And on top of that any book is made better in my mind with quotes at the beginnings of chapters.

I loved this book a lot and to be honest I was a little surprised at that because the first one to me was good but not great.

  • Grape Seeds and other Stories of a Russian in America.
  • Super Cyclist.
  • Thirty-Three Teeth: A Dr Siri Murder Mystery (Dr Siri Paiboun Mystery Book 2).
  • The Pilgrims Prayers.
  • El reverso de la fortuna (Spanish Edition);
  • The Ghost Who Would Not Die: A Runaway Slave, A Brutal Murder, A Mysterious Haunting;
  • Lazare et sa Bien-Aimée (Lazarus and his beloved) (Enfants du prophete) (French Edition).

This book definitely convinced me to pick up the next book in this serious and I would enchorage anyone who read the the first book and liked the concept but thought some of the delivery was only meh, to definitely try this one because I think this one is a great sequel and a great improvement over the first one and I hope I like the next detective Next book as much as I liked this one!

The Tasmanian tiger looked crestfallen, sat on its blanket by the Aga and stared down at its paws. He smoked forty a day until his escape. I really admire the level of detail and research that Fforde put into this book, but I didn't think it lived up to the enjoyment of the first book, The Eyre Affair, tho. Maybe the novelty of Thursday's world has worn off a bit already, maybe the incessant puns and jokes were just a bit too much.

However, Thursday is still one of the best protagonists out there - kickass and kind. The only real problem I have with this book is that it was so obviously written with the idea to continue the story in book 3 and therefore doesn't even attempt to be a standalone story - which makes me feel somewhat cheated and tricked into having to get the next book to find out what happened to my favourite characters. Seriously, not cool, Mr. But I guess, now I know how Scott's or Dickens' readers must have felt when they had to wait for the next installments of their stories.

And, yeah, I obviously am still in denial that Harry Potter worked the same way - except that I wanted to read the other books for their own sake, not to find out what happened to one particular character. Mar 05, Lena rated it really liked it Shelves: Though I'm not generally a big fan of book series, the Thursday Next books are really growing on me.

This second book picks up shortly after The Eyre Affair ended and follows Thursday as she again tangles with Goliath, tries to figure out why she is experiencing life-threatening coincidences, and begins to learn more about the fine art of book-jumping. Though character development does not seem to be Fforde's priority and the bad guys in particular a little too thinly drawn, the underlying premi Though I'm not generally a big fan of book series, the Thursday Next books are really growing on me.

As someone who has always gotten easily lost in books, I really love the idea of being able to literally enter books and explore the world behind the story on the page. Fforde has created an endlessly interesting world of possibilities with his oddball alternate reality, and I am most curious to see where he will take it next. Anyone who loves books. Read that first, or you might be a bit lost. Thursday Next is now married to Landon. They are so in love. Both veterans of the Crimean War, they have put the past behind them and started a new future together. Thursday is a Special Operative.

She is a LiteraTec, someone who deals with stolen and forged books. The Trial by Kafka. She lives in an alternate universe, one where every average Joe and Jane on the street has vast literary knowledge to rival one of our dimensions English Professors. Parents name their kids after famous authors, so, for example, there might be 2, or so women named Jane Austen in London, each with a tiny number after their name so that the government can keep track of them. Technology is also a bit different. People ride in dirigibles instead of jetliners. Extinct species are brought back to life Thursday has a pet dodo named Pickwick, who is very cute.

Neandrathals have been brought back and are now fighting for their rights the government forced sterilization on all of them.

See a Problem?

Thursday herself is one of my favorite characters in a long time. She dresses frumpy, is a war veteran, is smart, witty, and world-weary. I really enjoy reading about her. She seems like a "real" woman to me. Fforde never even mentions her breasts or her body - ever. And Thursday never wastes her time thinking about men and love, except for her own husband, Landon. And that's a sweet and real relationship, not just a jealousy-fueled-sex fest. I was so, so angry reading this book. I was in a state of rage.

They went back in time and killed him when he was two-years-old! I literally had to take a break from reading. Only she even remembers that she was even married in the first place. She really doesn't want the kid to grow up without a father, so she is determined to get Landon back. They have a great, sweet, father-daughter relationship. And her crazy, genius uncle Mycroft and patient aunt Polly. And her brother, Joff, who in this book is revealed to be a gay man. He doesn't conform to any "gay sterotypes. This book is for people who love books and love literature. If you are not familiar with the classics, a lot of the jokes and references will go right over your head.

That being said, it is funny, witty, fantastical, and smart - like a mixture of Alice in Wonderland and Hitchhiker's Guide. It's more serious than Hitchhiker, though. The stakes are higher, and you actually get very anxious and angry when bad stuff happens to the characters you've come to care about.

Dec 07, Petra rated it really liked it. A helluva lot of fun. I thought I'd scan the first few pages and decide what to do. Then, like Thursday Next, I fell into this book. It was clever, delightful; entertaining with lots of plot twists and turns, including an end-of-the-world scenario. Miss Havisham is interesting. I wonder what Dickens would think of Fforde's rendition of his stern, revengeful character. Fforde has an amazing imagination.

I also want a Dodo. Oct 01, Arnis rated it really liked it. Aug 16, Stephen rated it liked it Shelves: Not quite as enjoyable as Fforde's other novels my favorite being The Big Over Easy but still a good read.

I really like the "world" of Thursday next and will certainly visit it again by reading the next book in the series. May 11, Algernon rated it really liked it Shelves: Super fun for book geeks like me. Even if I am unfamiliar with some of the books and characters mentioned here, as in the first Thursday Next book, I had no problem laughing out loud on occassion and following the plot. Having read this after Christopher Moore's "You Suck! Moore relies rather heavily on teenage angst and sex jokes while Fforde borrows from the English tradition of word play, absurdism is this e Super fun for book geeks like me.

Moore relies rather heavily on teenage angst and sex jokes while Fforde borrows from the English tradition of word play, absurdism is this even a word? Thursday inhabits a in which the Crimean war is still raging. She herself is a veteran of the doomed charge of the Light Brigade into the valley of death. Fforde's other gimmick is that the world of fiction and the real world "outland" run into each other. Thursday's uncle Mycroft occasional interloper into the adventures of Sherlock Holmes has invented a "prose portal" - a kind of literary Tardis. The story so far chronicles an extended duel between Thursday and her Moriarty in fact her former English teacher , Acheron Hades.

Another sworn enemy is Jack Schitt, head honcho of the Goliath Corporation, which owns everything. Thursday resourcefully contrives to trap Schitt in Poe's "The Raven", from whose textual depths he croaks out furious memoranda, all ending "Nevermore! In The Well of Lost Plots, Thursday now pregnant by her husband, who has gone missing and has mysteriously slipped her memory goes on the run from the real world into the magma of fiction, where all its vague primal inspirations reside: The well is under the jurisdiction of Jurisfiction, an agency with the responsibility of keeping the genre shipshape.

The usual jokes are present in over abundance. Among the best is a Jurisfiction Rage Counselling Session in which the characters in Wuthering Heights work, step style, through their hatred of Heathcliff. One of the woes of being a literary critic is that novelists habitually ignore you. Vain as it is, I think that Fforde has noticed me. In my literary puzzle book, Is Heathcliff a Murderer? All is explained in The Eyre Affair.

Get A Copy

Lost in a Good Book is an alternative history fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde. It won the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Dilys Award. It is the . The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with the second installment in what is sure to become a classic.