The Fourth Bear

I'm a bit over the Nursery Crime series. Don't get me wrong, Jasper Fforde is awesome, but I'm just a much bigger fan of Thursday Next.

These are kind of fun, there are lots of literary allusions (my favourite was Dorian Gray in this one), but that's really where the quality stops. Don't be fooled by the recommendations on the back cover, plot is not high on Fforde's list in these novels. This one is based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with some other random nursery characters. And I mean random! Try the Quangle Wangle, for example. Ever heard of him?

In the end I skimmed through the last few chapters. It got old and I stopped caring about what happened. Skip in favour of a Thursday Next novel.

First Among Sequels - Fforde at his best.

When people ask me if I like Holden or Ford, I always answer - Fforde, of course!

Jasper Fforde is always a favourite, but First Among Sequels is a return to his very best form.

Set fifteen years after Something Rotten, Thursday has quit the defunct Spec Ops, and is making a modest living at Acme Carpets. By the way, Braxton Hicks and Spike work there too. Sounds suspicious? It should! Acme Carpets is a front for Spec Ops – but even Spec Ops is a front for Thursday’s work at Jurisfiction in the Book World.

In a brilliant move, Fforde introduces us to the “fictional” Thursdays who were in the books based upon her life. Thursday 1-4 (from the four books we know) I a course creature, who loves nothing more than sex and violence – and craves revenge on the real Thursday who has been so outspoken against her character.

Then there is the Thursday from The Samuel Pepys Fiasco (a book that doesn’t exist, and is indeed destroyed later in the story) – a tofu eating hippy who seems about as opposite from our Thursday as you can imagine.

So, what challenges does Thursday face in this book? Well for a start, there’s always the end of time. Her son Friday, who is supposed to rise to the highest echelons of the Chronoguard shows no signs of interest, which a parallel version of Friday says will precipitate an end to time travel itself. Then there is a push in the book world to make books interactive that may ultimately destroy the narratives of classics such as Pride and Prejudice. Failing this, there is always the major stupidity surplus that must be expressed somehow.

Throw in a few gun fights, being stuck in a Book World Moral Dilemma, a ghost, a daughter with an IQ approaching 300 and one that never seems to be around, Thursday has plenty on her plate again!

Fforde has lost none of his brilliant literary wit, and I for one cannot wait for more.

If you get the jokes, you will love him!

Lost in Web of Stories

Clearly any story that inspires a title like this, must be a plus for a Jasper Foorde fan like me! (By the way, "First Among Sequels", the new Thursday next novel comes out on July 19th).

So, I have finished "The Ringmaster's Daughter". The main character, Petter (Little Petter Spider) is like a viaduct for the creative unconscious - he is full of story ideas. And if he doesn't write them down, they kind of drive him mad. Fortunately, Petter recognises that he can make some money from this compulsion, and begins selling story ideas to those writers he knows with writer's block. It is a very lucrative business for Petter - but one that the reader knows cannot last long. Petter Spider's web must come crashing down on him one day. It is interesting how this occurs, but unfortunately a little predictable. I would have liked to have seen something a little more original from Gaarder, given his reputation (although I must apologise - I am one of the five people in the world who have NOT read "Sophie's World" - it was a bit of a fad novel when it came out and I stubbornly gave it a miss).

I am now waiting for someone to take up some of the story ideas in the book - much like the Calvino. The novel could act in the very same fashion that Petter did himself. Think of it as an advertisement - Writer's Block, anyone? Just read blah blah and so on.

Anyway, so much to read and so little time.

Catch ya soon.....