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There is another 1985, somewhere in the could-have-been, where Thursday Next is a literary detective without equal, fear, or boyfriend. Thursday is on the trail of the villainous Acheron Hades, who has been kidnapping characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre herself has been plucked from the novel of the same name, and Thursday must find a way into the book to repair the damage.
She also has to find time to halt the ongoing Crimean conflict, persuade the man she loves to marry her, rescue her aunt from inside a Wodsworth poem and figure out who really wrote Shakespear's plays. Aided and abetted by a cast of characters that includes her time-travelling father, Jack Schitt of the all-powerful Goliath Corporation, a pet dodo named Pickwick and Edward Rochester himself, Thursday embarks on adventure that will take your breath away. (from the jacket)
This book is amazing. Simply amazing. Criminals forge first-edition manuscripts, and children collect trading cards of literary characters. Werewolves and vampires lurk in the background, and the Crimean war never really ended. Baconians go door-to-door asking gently if you have ever thought about who must have really written Shakespear. Gene sequencing is almost an art form, and the dodo is only one of many extinct species resurrected by hobbyists reading the New Splicer magazine.
quote:'Home news now, and violence flared again in Chichester as a group of neo-surrealists gathered to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the legalisation of surrealism. n the spot for Toad News Network is Henry Grubb. Henry, how are things going down there?'
'Things are a bit hot down here, Brian. I'm a hundred yards from the riot zone and I can see several cars overturned and on fire. The police have been trying to keep the factions apart all day, but the sheer weight of numbers has been against them. This evening several hundred Raphaelites surrounded the N'est pas une pipe public house where a hundred neo-surrealists have barricaded themselves in. The demonstrators outside chanted Italian Renaissance slogans and then stones and missiles were thrown. The neo-surrealists responded by charging the lines protected by large soft watches and seemed to be winning until the police moved in. Wait, I can just see a man arested by police. I'll try and get an interview.'
The Renaissancite glanced at the camera with an angry scowl.
'People say we're just Renaissancites causing trouble, but I've seen Baroque kids, Raphaelites, Romantics, and Mannerists here tonight. It's a massive show of classical artistic integrity against these frivolous bastards who cower beneath the safety of the word progress. It's not just---'
The police officer intervened and dragged him away. Grubb ducked a flying brick and then wound up his report.
How can you not love a world where riots and crimes are over art and literature, instead of sports, or drugs, or religion? It's a world I'd love to been in, where books and literature are regarded so highly.
And the sequels, too. I'm waiting anxiously for _Something Rotten_ to get cheaper.
I just re-read _Jane Eyre_, too, which deepened my appreciation for Fforde's comic and plotting genius.
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Something Rotten is very satisfying, although one of the big surprises was telegraphed so obviously in the previous book that I was disappointed to learn that it actually was what I feared.
Christy and I have been fans since the first book was released.
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Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorites. A check of my local library's online card catalogue shows that Eyre Affair is checked in. Well, tomorrow, it will be checked out and I'll be reading it this weekend. Thanks for the suggestion.
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By the way, I forgot to thank you earlier, but I really enjoyed Eyre Affair. Thanks for the recommendation. You are officially added to my list of folk whose recommendations are worth pursuing.
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WARNING: I didn't like the book. My review will reflect this. Don't read if that's upsetting.
I read it. I didn't really like it, though. I liked the little literary touches, but the dialogue was only okay and the romantic subplot was DREADFUL.
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It appealed to the same part of my brain that thinks "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is a pretty funny book.
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I read it and loved it, as well as the books that followed. He wrote another book that just came out but I'm not 100% sure if it's part of the Thursday Next storyline.
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I never get offended when people don't like the books I love. I'm always flattered that they read it on my recommendation in the first place. I've haaaaaated a whole variety of books that people have assured me were really very good. Oooh, for example, The Little Friend. And the first book of that eternal Robert Jordan series! Oh, and one that makes me kind of sad, The Troy Game by Sara Douglass, that was recommended to me by someone whose opinion I respect highly. And Eragon, which every one of my students has loved. I always know it's time to abandon a book when I find myself hoping that the main character will die. Soon.
A difference of opinion means you can actually DISCUSS something, instead of just saying, "Hey, remember that part when they were watching Richard the Third . . . heheheh . . . that was really cool."
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Nah, I don't usually get offended, unless I've invested a lot of time an energy in matching what I think is just the right book for just the right person. I really enjoy finding the specific books that will appeal to any given friend. I knwo they won't enjoy everything I enjoy, but finding the right book is an exhilarating experience.
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I don't know if I want Tante Shvester to be my Tante or my Shvester. You are always so wise and so nice! I know this really belongs in another thread . . . but thanks for being the personification of humourous civility.
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Oh Garsh! We can be shvesters, if you like. I really like it when people tell me that they appreciated something that I have done, so I try to make more of that kind of thing go around by telling other people that they are appreciated.
It all increases the total sum of goodness in the world!
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If I can ever learn to spell shvester, anyhoo . . . well, I know we both like pudding and I am off to have some soon.
I am all on your side for spreading goodness and happiness. I am a member/participant in what I perceive as a negative church family right now, so I keep trying to give them effusive compliments and support. I think they need it and haven't been getting it.
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
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"Shvester" is from the Yiddish, which uses a totally different alphabet. So "Shvester" is just how I spell it in our lettering system to make it looks like it sounds.
Right on Liz. You can't go far wrong with being nice.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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And Eaquae Legit, we can be any kind of shvesters that you'd like!
(and it's posting one response right after another that's boosting my post count, I think. That and Begging Questions. I just can't leave those questions alone)
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No offense meant, but I didn't like the book either. I picked it up to read on my trip because I love _Jane Eyre_, but I couldn't even finish it. I guess I just didn't like how the plot that was mentioned on the back cover didn't begin until the book was almost over and it seemed to have a ton of random subplots that began and never finished. But that is just my two cents and I'm glad you liked it.
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I'll admit that the book is not to everyone's taste. I was fortunate that it suited mine. Why in the world would that offend people?
I've had books recommended to me that I disliked so strongly that I was motivated to write a review on Amazon , as well as some internet groups. That I was in the minority opinion didn't bother me. I have as much right to my opinion as anyone else. And as long as I behave myself and am not insulting anyone, I don't see why anyone should get offended.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Funny thing, "The Eyre Affair" is sitting right here next to me, on the top of my pile of library books waiting to be read. I guess I'm going to have to give it a try now. I was thinking of just taking it back to the library because I hadn't gotten around to it yet.
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