Hi folks,

I'm just starting into the newest volume of the "Thursday Next" series by Jasper Fforde. I'm not too far into the story yet, but already enjoying it vastly.
The book is called "First among Sequels" and is (as usual) funny as hell.

Unfortunately there is no ebook version yet, so I'm reading it in paper :book2: right now, but some of the Fforde books are availaible as ebooks already, so I guess this one should follow soon.


Jasper Fforde is the only author I have found so far that comes pretty close to Terry Pratchett in my personal ranking. The amount of weirdness that his books contain, the interesting stories, unexpected plot-twists and especially the huge amount of humour that he pours into all his books are just great.

The Thursday Next series is something of a "Cops-and-Robbers" story, but set in such a strange and warped reality that it is just totally different. If you don't know Jasper Fforde yet, then I'd recommend starting with the "Eyre Affair" and going through the entire series from there (the first books are all out there as ebooks I think), if you already know him, then you should be reading the newest story right now... :oops2:

For some reason Jasper Fforde is not as popular as Pratchett and Douglas Adams yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time...and the good this is that he's still quite young and might still be writing for quite a few years...:pray:

Hear! Hear! I agree with you 100% Fforde is one of the cleverest authors I've read in a long time. The only caveat is that you should be fairly well read, yourself, in order to understand all the literary allusions.

I read the first one, and I agree that it's well written and a good story (as well as the need for being literarily aware), but it just didn't appeal to me all that greatly. I agree that they're worth taking a look at for those who haven't. :yes:

Hi folks,

I'm just starting into the newest volume of the "Thursday Next" series by Jasper Fforde. I'm not too far into the story yet, but already enjoying it vastly.
The book is called "Best among Sequels" and is (as usual) funny as hell.The "Thursday Next" books are just wonderful. Nice to see another convert.

Jasper Fforde is the only author I have found so far that comes pretty close to Terry Pratchett in my personal ranking. The amount of weirdness that his books contain, the interesting stories, unexpected plot-twists and especially the huge amount of humour that he pours into all his books are just great.I actually like Fforde better than Pratchett. Terry is a lovely chap, but Discworld never connected with me.

For some reason Jasper Fforde is not as popular as Pratchett and Douglas Adams yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time...and the good this is that he's still quite young and might still be writing for quite a few years...:pray:I don't see him becoming more than a cult figure, alas. His stuff is wonderful, but requires you to know various things and love literature to really appreciate it. I fear most readers simply won't get his work.
______
Dennis

What has to happen now is that somebody who's in a position to do so should insert the following sentence - or one much like it - somewhere in a new print edition of Pride & Prejudice:

"At this moment, Thursday Next ran through the crowded drawing room, hoping desperately that she wouldn't be noticed by the readers."

I'm actually thinking about doing this with one of my Austen e-books, hoping I'll forget I did it, and then getting a huge laugh out of it next time I read it....

I read The Eyre Affair a couple of weeks ago. What a great book!
And Fforde's books are available on Sony CONNECT.

I tell my friends that Fforde's books are porn for English majors.

Heh, my wife will like that, she's an english prof. :)

The book is called "Best among Sequels" and is (as usual) funny as hell.

Unfortunately there is no ebook version yet, so I'm reading it in paper :book2:
I guess you meant "First Among Sequels", and it actually is available at Mobipocket for a "modest" price of 25$, while the hardcover edition at Amazon costs 17$.

I'm just reading The Eyre Affair that I bought at Mobipocket, and I like a lot. But it just feels kind of stupid to have to pay 25% more for the eBook version in comparison to the paperback at Amazon.

I guess you meant "First Among Sequels", and it actually is available at Mobipocket for a "modest" price of 25$, while the hardcover edition at Amazon costs 17$.

I'm just reading The Eyre Affair that I bought at Mobipocket, and I like a lot. But it just feels kind of stupid to have to pay 25% more for the eBook version in comparison to the paperback at Amazon.
$19.21 at PaperBackDigital and $19.96 at BooksOnBoard if you'd rather MS Reader format then MobiPocket.

So why is MobiPocket.com so expensive in comparison?

I have learned about PaperBackDigital and BooksOnBoard only recently, and I will certainly be buying some books from them.

But good books, that I will want to reread in next years, I will be still buying from Mobipocket, because I believe(hope) that they have the best chances of not going down in near future. This is enough for me, to pay little more on Mobipocket, and maybe this is why they can afford higher prices than other stores.

I have learned about PaperBackDigital and BooksOnBoard only recently, and I will certainly be buying some books from them.

But good books, that I will want to reread in next years, I will be still buying from Mobipocket, because I believe(hope) that they have the best chances of not going down in near future. This is enough for me, to pay little more on Mobipocket, and maybe this is why they can afford higher prices than other stores.
I'll continue to break the DRM and from there my books will work far into the future.

I'm looking for the 4th book in the series : "Something rotten", but can't seem to find it as an ebook (I don't want to read "First Among Sequels", available at fictionwise for example before reading the 4th ! :))

I bought it in hardcover because I could not find it as ebook at the time, and I just checked my usual sources and could not find it now either although the other books fron the series seem to be there...sad...

I must add something to the things I wrote about the latest Fforde novel "First among Sequels" because although it was nice to read, it lacked the story-drive of the other books. It also hints heavily at more Fforde Thursday Next books to come...and it feels a bit like a "to be continued" story. I hope Fforde gets back into his usual quality of storytelling with the next volume...

Thanks for the answer... Too bad.. I'll try and find the hardcover in my local library, but it will certainly be in french.

So why is MobiPocket.com so expensive in comparison?

I'd guess it's because Mobi are both a wholesaler and a retailer. They deliberately don't "undercut" the stores they supply - it would be bad for business.

Finished the first book in this series. Bought it on the recommendation of this thread. Enjoyed it very much. Thanks for that

I was planning on writing a bit on Jasper Fforde here to recommend his works, but I'm happy to find he has already been praised !

My wife-to-be and I greatly enjoy ourselves when reading the adventures of Thursday Next and every friend that was presented with the opportunity to discover those books also had a great time.

There is also another series of books set in the same universe, the "Nursery Crime Division" books :
- The Big Over Easy
- The Fourth Bear

I haven't read any of the Thursday Next books yet, but greatly enjoyed the Nursery Crimes Division books.

I you liked the NCD books, then I'm pretty sure you'll love the Thursday Next series...the last volume might be a bit weak, but all the others are outstanding!

the NCD books tell a shorter and easier story while the TN series tells a long and complex tale. Both are very well done and I hope we'll see more in time... ;)

Is anyone else not only vastly amused by the TN books - but also the deliciousness of reading about UltraWord(tm) on a DRM'd e-book (The Well of Lost Plots)? Just brilliant. Hats off.