Thursday Next

In my three weeks or so away from the computer, I've done quite a bit of reading...here follows the first of a few SHORT reviews. (No more 10-part theses I can't finish!)

Out of the Thursday Next series (by Japser Fforde), I read Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots. These are actually books 2 and 3 of the series, not books 1 and 2; I misremembered the titles when I was ordering them over interlibrary loan. But Lost in a Good Book has a solid introduction to the Thursday Next world, so I think I managed all right.

These are absurd, hilarious, enormously enjoyable books. And rather hard to explain. They are set in 1985 in an alternate universe. The Crimean War has been going on for 120 years. The gleefully ruthless Goliath Corporation has a monopoly on pretty much everything, including cloned dodos. The SpecOps organization keeps close tabs on tax fraud, time travel, pasta, and vampires. People are fanatical about classic literature. Thursday next works for SpecOps department 27, which prosecutes "literary fraud."

Thursday can also "book jump," and she thus winds up working for Jurisfiction. Essentially the SpecOps of the literary world, it polices the goings-on in published (and unpublished) books. Duties include eradicating grammasites, regulating the Character Exchange Program, preventing plot-tampering, and making sure the Pro-Catherine faction doesn't kill Heathcliff.

I liked book 2 better than book 3 -- it had a more varied and interesting plot, taking place in both the real world and the book-world. (WoLP is wholly centered in the book world, and some of the humor falls a bit flat after a while). But both were still highly fun to read. Some favorite parts included Thursday’s freelance work with SpecOps-17 (vampire/undead division) to pick up extra cash; Miss Havisham's addiction to horribly written romance novels; Miss Havisham; Thursday's father (who is a rouge time traveler, technically never existed, and keeps having to prevent Armageddon); Thursday’s uncle, Mycroft (an inventor; hides out in the Sherlock Holmes canon after he retires); the ending of Lord Jim; the decision to preserve the endangered "u" by eliminating its use in various words in a certain geographical location (labour/labor...); and the many uses of the footnoterphone.

Some possibly objectionable stuff...the main denomination is the 'Church of the Global Standard Deity'(something of a parody of everybody worshipping whatever sort of god they want to); Thursday’s older brother is in a homosexual relationship; some references to premarital sex Thursday had when she was a teenager. Might be some language, too. I'd rate it PG-13.