One of our Thursdays is missing - Jasper Fforde

I can't tell you how much I enjoy these books!  There are few authors who I keep a close eye on to see when they publish a new book - Jasper Fforde is one.

The Thursday Next series, of which this is the latest, are brilliant.  Set in the BookWorld, with a cast of characters form not just the Thursday Next books themselves (including a Dodo), but also characters from many other well known books.

In this one the BookWorld has undergone a remake, and is now a collection of landmasses on the inside of a sphere - so everything can be seen from a single point......hard to explain.   Thursday has gone missing, just before she was supposed to attend peace talks, and it's up to the written Thursday to try and figure out what's been happening, and where Thursday might be - that might sound confusing, especially since at one point there are lots of Thursdays, but it is easy to follow really (except when the characters themselves get confused!).

I love the characters, the descriptions of the BookWorld (there is a wonderful map in this book), and they way everything works.  The books are full of literary in jokes (many more probably pass me by!), and interesting comments.

The design  of the BookWorld is pure genius, and even the RealWorld in Swindon (where the real Thursday lives) sounds interesting (unlike the real Swindon!).

Anyone wanting to read this really should start with the first in the series, The Eyre Affair - a treat really does await anyone who is discovering Fforde's books for the first time......I hope I don't have to wait long for the next Next in the series!

Oh, and my favourite joke of the moment comes from this book.......

How many Sigmund Freud's does it take to change a lightbulb?

I don't know, how many Sigmund Freud's does it take to change a lightbulb?

Penis!........No, no, Father!

5th - 12th January 2012