I actually have had to choose the books to carry out when a bushfire surrounded 2,000 square miles around us. The ones Jodi Taylor had written by then - all six of them- added to the burden. They now live in a bushfire proof bunker which is so bushfire proof it needs two people to open the door as it's VERY airtight, so I have downloaded the books into my phone as I can rarely get to the printed copies. There is a moral to this story but it's nearly midnight so I have no idea what it is. Possibly: if you love paper books and live in a flood/fire/ war zone you never need to lift weights or join a gym
Thursday Next stories are completely bonkers and clever and addictive. This is great for story mad readers, Thursday romps through a world of all your greatest reads and you get to spot them all and it makes you feel so clever. But it doesn’t matter if you don’t because the story is such a great read on its own. Quick wit, very dry humour, and a character you care about and root for. This was the second Jasper Fforde book I read and the one that got me hooked on his work.
I must admit I like the first three or four Thursday Next* novels pretty much equally, but it gets a bit patchy after that, and I'm hoping #8 is back on track late this year.
As for the Sacred Art of Stealing, absolutely brilliant start to a three book series, although you can you need to have a quick synopsis of "A big boy did it and ran away" to help set up the second and third book, but its not vital.
Talking of Chris Brookmyre I'd also recommend the eight Jack Parlabane novels from 'Quite Ugly one Morning' - there's a scene in an anaesthetic room, and I was there in real life when the comment was made as I worked at the RIE many years ago up to Dead Girl Walking which is where I'm at, with the last two books in the series in my TBR pile and #9 coming out later in the year. Be My Enemy is my favourite in the series though, comedy horror suspense, it has it all! In the standalone category 'All fun and games until someone loses an eye' has a very
Dr Bairstow/Max vibe between the two protagonists, and its laugh out loud funny too!
* I did try "The man who was Thursday" and found it rather flat, perhaps it hit harder at the time with the unease in Europe about anarchists/communists/the rise of unions and the perceived threat to the perceived natural order of things by those at the top.
I found The Eyre Affair as a remainder book and made the mistake of reading it on public transport where I had to snort laugh my way through the trip. A few years later I had the opportunity of seeing Mr Fforde speak at the Brisbane Writers Festival and to get his autograph.
I have copies of all his books on my shelves and love to revisit every few years
I loved "The Eyre Affair", as did most of the people I knew and socialised with at the time. The Richard III as Rocky Horror struck a very strong chord. It may interest you to know that an Eastercon (Paragon 2, 2005) did a live action audience participation of Richard III. The script was written/cobbled together by Shakespeare and David Wake, and most of the convention who hadn't been co-opted into being in it, fully launched themselves into the audience participation side. There is a review of it here (https://h2g2.com/entry/A3866259) and you can view the script here (https://web.archive.org/web/20050306222504/https://paragon2.org.uk/r3script.htm). I am presuming anyone wanting to use this script would need to check with David Wake (website: Davidwake.wordpress.com). I don't remember anyone videoing this at the time, but you should bear in mind that (probably) most of us were very very drunk...
I love Jennifer Crusie's earlier books -Faking It is in my audio collection and in my book drawer. Agnes and the Hitman and Bet Me are favorites too. I'm going to have to check out the others. Have you read or listened to Alan Bradley's Flavia De Luce series? They are clever and funny and I can see Max or Lingoss in her as young adults. Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series is great (He said someone dared him to write a quest series based on Roman history with Pokemon and this is what he came up with.) Molly Harper's books are light, clever and funny -McCready's Funeral Home and Bait Shop series (Ain't She A Peach), Nice Girls... (Don't Have Fangs, Don't Bite Their Neighbors, etc). I'm looking forward to checking out this new list.
I actually have had to choose the books to carry out when a bushfire surrounded 2,000 square miles around us. The ones Jodi Taylor had written by then - all six of them- added to the burden. They now live in a bushfire proof bunker which is so bushfire proof it needs two people to open the door as it's VERY airtight, so I have downloaded the books into my phone as I can rarely get to the printed copies. There is a moral to this story but it's nearly midnight so I have no idea what it is. Possibly: if you love paper books and live in a flood/fire/ war zone you never need to lift weights or join a gym
Thursday Next stories are completely bonkers and clever and addictive. This is great for story mad readers, Thursday romps through a world of all your greatest reads and you get to spot them all and it makes you feel so clever. But it doesn’t matter if you don’t because the story is such a great read on its own. Quick wit, very dry humour, and a character you care about and root for. This was the second Jasper Fforde book I read and the one that got me hooked on his work.
7 of those 10 would make it into my "save from a fire" list. I'll have to look out the other 3!
I must admit I like the first three or four Thursday Next* novels pretty much equally, but it gets a bit patchy after that, and I'm hoping #8 is back on track late this year.
As for the Sacred Art of Stealing, absolutely brilliant start to a three book series, although you can you need to have a quick synopsis of "A big boy did it and ran away" to help set up the second and third book, but its not vital.
Talking of Chris Brookmyre I'd also recommend the eight Jack Parlabane novels from 'Quite Ugly one Morning' - there's a scene in an anaesthetic room, and I was there in real life when the comment was made as I worked at the RIE many years ago up to Dead Girl Walking which is where I'm at, with the last two books in the series in my TBR pile and #9 coming out later in the year. Be My Enemy is my favourite in the series though, comedy horror suspense, it has it all! In the standalone category 'All fun and games until someone loses an eye' has a very
Dr Bairstow/Max vibe between the two protagonists, and its laugh out loud funny too!
* I did try "The man who was Thursday" and found it rather flat, perhaps it hit harder at the time with the unease in Europe about anarchists/communists/the rise of unions and the perceived threat to the perceived natural order of things by those at the top.
I love all of Jasper Fordes books.
I found The Eyre Affair as a remainder book and made the mistake of reading it on public transport where I had to snort laugh my way through the trip. A few years later I had the opportunity of seeing Mr Fforde speak at the Brisbane Writers Festival and to get his autograph.
I have copies of all his books on my shelves and love to revisit every few years
I love Thursday Next and Pickwick!
Suddenly, everything makes sense!
It was thanks to you inviting Jasper Fforde to Jodiworld that I was introduced to his excellent books. Thanks for that!
I loved "The Eyre Affair", as did most of the people I knew and socialised with at the time. The Richard III as Rocky Horror struck a very strong chord. It may interest you to know that an Eastercon (Paragon 2, 2005) did a live action audience participation of Richard III. The script was written/cobbled together by Shakespeare and David Wake, and most of the convention who hadn't been co-opted into being in it, fully launched themselves into the audience participation side. There is a review of it here (https://h2g2.com/entry/A3866259) and you can view the script here (https://web.archive.org/web/20050306222504/https://paragon2.org.uk/r3script.htm). I am presuming anyone wanting to use this script would need to check with David Wake (website: Davidwake.wordpress.com). I don't remember anyone videoing this at the time, but you should bear in mind that (probably) most of us were very very drunk...
I love Jennifer Crusie's earlier books -Faking It is in my audio collection and in my book drawer. Agnes and the Hitman and Bet Me are favorites too. I'm going to have to check out the others. Have you read or listened to Alan Bradley's Flavia De Luce series? They are clever and funny and I can see Max or Lingoss in her as young adults. Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series is great (He said someone dared him to write a quest series based on Roman history with Pokemon and this is what he came up with.) Molly Harper's books are light, clever and funny -McCready's Funeral Home and Bait Shop series (Ain't She A Peach), Nice Girls... (Don't Have Fangs, Don't Bite Their Neighbors, etc). I'm looking forward to checking out this new list.