Lost in a Good Book (Book)

Coincidences. Prose Resource Operatives. Eradication. Pink Goo. Armageddon. Neanderthals. Great Expectations. Cardenio. Mammoth Migration. Jurisfiction. Nanomachines.

Reading the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde should be listed alongside running and acupuncture for its ability to produce endorphins. I find myself laughing aloud, smiling, and basically in a very good mood. The second book in the series, Lost in a Good Book, won the 2004 Independent Mystery Book Seller’s Dily Award. Like The Eyre Affair, it is an alternate history, fantasy mystery. The novel is funny, clever, and somewhat intellectual.

Lost in a Good Book continues where The Eyre Affair left off. Thursday Next is a celebrity, after she stopped the evil Hades and accidentally rewrote the ending to Jane Eyre. She is now trying to avoid the publicity and settle into married life with her husband, Landen. Early in the story, Thursday, as part of her responsibilities as a literary detective, is called in to examine a possible manuscript of Shakespeare’s Cardenio. Also, Thursday happily discovers she is expecting. Unfortunately, Thursday begins to have a string of bad luck, her fugitive, time-traveling father informs her that all living things are about to be turned into pink goo, and the evil Goliath Corporation eradicates Landen from Thursday’s time-line as a way to blackmail her into retrieving the evil Jack Schitt from “The Raven”. Because Uncle Mycroft’s Prose Portal has been destroyed, Thursday must find an alternate route to enter literature, and she becomes an apprentice to the book-traveling Miss Havisham. Will Thursday save the world and be reunited with Landen? Who is responsible for all of Thursday’s bad luck? With Landen eradicated, who is the father of Thursday’s baby?

I have a feeling that readers either love the Thursday Next novels or can’t relate to them. So far, I am a huge fan. Lost in a Good Book ends with a bit of a cliff hanger, and I am definitely looking forward to reading the next Thursday Next book.