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Tuesday 11 March 2014

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

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.

In the second in the series, Thursday no sooner discovers she and her new husband, Landen, will be having a baby, when Landen disappears. No, not just disappears - is eradicated. And a pregnant Thursday has to negotiate trying to uneradicate him, dodge a PR person at work, decide whether or not to help Goliath with their maniacal plans, join Jurisfiction and learn to bookjump, dodge assassination attempts, survive umbrella-wielding ladies at booksales, and stop the world from ending. In a pile of pink sweet goo.

Phew!

This is not a book to go to if you want a straightforward narrative. It twists and bends, in and out of plots and delightful minor characters, and in and out of books, and, perhaps most importantly of all, introduces Miss Havisham. THE Miss Havisham. Except, between the pages, this one wears trainers and likes to drive cars at high speeds.

I adore Miss Havisham. And I thoroughly enjoyed Thursday being recruited into the group that polices inside books, and the flights of fancy about what that might entail. And the way everyone fictional wanted Thursday to bring back her-world treats for them to enjoy between chapters.

On the other hand, the emotional punch of her missing her husband often disappeared for long patches of the book, as she dealt with all the other catastrophes in her life, and this wasn't really a problem, but did make the book a bit scattered at times.

Scattered, but still thoroughly enjoyable.

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