Book-Jumping for Fun and Profit

[vovat]

So, I'm still reading books, and two of the most recent ones I've finished are Jasper Fforde's Lost in a Good Book and Diana Wynne Jones's Archer's Goon. The former was the second book in the Thursday Next series, and the interesting thing about this series is how much is packed into it. Not only are there interactions between the real world (such as it is) and those of books, but also alternate history, time travel, genetic experimentation, and an evil corporation. It still works, though, and we see more hopping between books this time. Miss Havisham from Great Expectations plays a major role, and that's a book I haven't read. On the other hand, we do see appearances by two characters I'm quite familiar with, Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat and Bellman. I'm going to try to find the next book in the series, The Well of Lost Plots, in a library soon.

Archer's Goon is the second Diana Wynne Jones book I've read. It had less of the traditional fairy tale feel than "Howl's Moving Castle," instead bringing fantasy elements into what appears at first to be a realistic setting. There was some nice build-up here, with new details about the family of magicians who run the town being revealed from time to time, and everything eventually tying together. I just checked out Charmed Life from the library, but any other suggestions you might have for DWJ books are welcome. The woman has written a lot, hasn't she?

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Re: Jones: Eight Days of Luke. I totally meant to tell you that a month ago when I read it. It's not the BEST by her I've ever read, but it's one YOU personally need to read just to have in your have-read collection. You'll know what I mean when you read it.

You have Charmed Life and I thoroughly recommend the rest of the Chrestomanci books once you're done with that. I adored them, and they're also some of the few books I would confidently say "If you like Harry Potter, you'll also like..." about. Also, read the other two books that Howl shows up in, too.

Re: Fford: I KNOW I haven't finished the Thursday Next books, and yet I can't remember where I left off. This is frustrating to me.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It looks like there are currently five Thursday Next books out. Do you know how many you've read?

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Ah, maybe that's my problem-- the library (the big one that actually has those books, as opposed to the one I work at) only has four books. And I confused myself by only having the first three on my lists of read books, but every time I looked at the fourth I was like, "but I thought I read that one already," and yet I was CERTAIN I never finished the series, yet I was also convinced the library had all the books. I'll go run and take advantage of ILL before it gets budget-cut, then!