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23rd out of 675 books
—
2,012 voters
Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2)
The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde's magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of J...more
Paperback, 399 pages
Published
February 4th 2004
by Penguin Books
(first published 2002)
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Apr 03, 2013
Jon
added it
Recommended to Jon by:
Alternative World Book Club Summer Series 2009 Thursday Next
3.5 stars
Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book has been relocated to my blog and can be found in its entirety by following this link: http://bit.ly/109wNSR
Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book has been relocated to my blog and can be found in its entirety by following this link: http://bit.ly/109wNSR
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,...more
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,...more
20 likes · like · see review
Though I'm not generally a big fan of book series, the Thursday Next books are really growing on me. This second book picks up shortly after The Eyre Affair ended and follows Thursday as she again tangles with Goliath, tries to figure out why she is experiencing life-threatening coincidences, and begins to learn more about the fine art of book-jumping.
Though character development does not seem to be Fforde's priority and the bad guys in particular a little too thinly drawn, the underlying premi...more
Though character development does not seem to be Fforde's priority and the bad guys in particular a little too thinly drawn, the underlying premi...more
Mar 13, 2012
Tracey
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
mystery readers may be frustrated, but general bibliophiles should have a rollicking good time
Previously read June 2004 - audiobook March 2012.
Checked out Lost in a Good Book after refreshing my memory of Thursday Next by re-reading The Eyre Affair. [later purchased this]
The second book starts with Thursday as a semi-newlywed, continuing her work with SpecOps 27, the Literary Detectives Division. In between giving unwilling interviews, being harassed by Goliath and determining whether a newly-discovered play really was by Shakespeare, she is introduced to the Department of Jursifiction;...more
Checked out Lost in a Good Book after refreshing my memory of Thursday Next by re-reading The Eyre Affair. [later purchased this]
The second book starts with Thursday as a semi-newlywed, continuing her work with SpecOps 27, the Literary Detectives Division. In between giving unwilling interviews, being harassed by Goliath and determining whether a newly-discovered play really was by Shakespeare, she is introduced to the Department of Jursifiction;...more
4 likes · like · see review
A helluva lot of fun. I didn’t mean to read this book right now. Having been rather lukewarm about the first book in this series, I wasn’t sure whether to continue but some have said the series gets better. I thought I'd scan the first few pages and decide what to do.
Then, like Thursday Next, I fell into this book. It was clever, delightful; entertaining with lots of plot twists and turns, including an end-of-the-world scenario.
Miss Havisham is interesting. She’s assertive, in charge, smart and...more
Then, like Thursday Next, I fell into this book. It was clever, delightful; entertaining with lots of plot twists and turns, including an end-of-the-world scenario.
Miss Havisham is interesting. She’s assertive, in charge, smart and...more
7 likes · like · see review
I'm in love with this series although I apear to be reading them out of order. This is the second in the series, and Thursday Next, who works as a Literary Dtective in Special Ops, has just her ground-breaking work in The Eyre Affair (she ended up changing the ending from Jane moving to India to Jane staying in England and marrying Mr. Rochester). Thursday is the talk of the town and Special Ops Public Relations wants her to do everything from television appearances (highly censored) to a possib...more
4 likes · like · see review
Curses! About 40 pages from the end, I had to run out and get the next book in the Thursday Next series, "Well of Lost Plots." This book doesn't have an ending! Even worse, I got sucked up into it and had to keep going.
"Lost in a Good Book" is the sequel to "The Eyre Affair" starring spec ops officer Thursday Next. To say that Thursday's life is complicated is an understatement. I'm not going to get into the plot or characters of this book. To do so would spoil this book, the preceding book, an...more
"Lost in a Good Book" is the sequel to "The Eyre Affair" starring spec ops officer Thursday Next. To say that Thursday's life is complicated is an understatement. I'm not going to get into the plot or characters of this book. To do so would spoil this book, the preceding book, an...more
9 likes · like · see review
The second book in the Thursday Next series provides more literary fun for those who are into that kind of thing.
Thursday's exploits in Jane Eyre have made her a bit of a celebrity, which means she has to make regular appearances on TV. Not everybody likes her, though; a mysterious foe keeps trying to kill her, her husband of one month has been eradicated from history and if that weren't bad enough, her time-travelling father tells her Armageddon is at hand. So not only does Thursday have to ge...more
Thursday's exploits in Jane Eyre have made her a bit of a celebrity, which means she has to make regular appearances on TV. Not everybody likes her, though; a mysterious foe keeps trying to kill her, her husband of one month has been eradicated from history and if that weren't bad enough, her time-travelling father tells her Armageddon is at hand. So not only does Thursday have to ge...more
May 04, 2008
Lisa Vegan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
almost everyone I know who enjoys reading
Shelves:
mystery,
fiction,
time-travel,
reviewed,
novel,
speculative-fiction,
books-about-books,
gr-groups-buddies
While I didn’t feel quite the same extreme sense of glee about the final parts of the book as I did with the end the first book in the series (The Eyre Affair), the events toward the end of the book were, once again, exceedingly clever. And: I think that I enjoyed this book even more than the first one, which is saying a lot. I’m also thrilled because several people have told me that the next/third book in the series is their favorite so far; I believe that there are 5 now. I’m therefore very ea...more
3 likes · like · see review
Although some of the novelty of Thursday Next's world has worn off by the time the reader reaches this sequel to The Eyre Affair, Fforde adds enough new treats to keep the book feeling almost as fresh as its prequel. The humour is as sharp as ever; indeed, Lost in a Good Book may be even funnier than Fforde's previous novel. The book is an easy read and is just fun. It narrates every bibliophile's childlike fantasy--the idea of being able to travel through books. There was one flaw in the work,...more
Dec 01, 2008
Jan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone!
Recommended to Jan by:
Can't remember.
If you like reading, you will love Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. Set in an alternative history of England (and the world in general), where 27 levels of Special-Ops monitor everything and the mega-corporation Goliath is waiting to take over the world, it follows Thursday's adventures as a Litra-Tech apprentice of Miss Havisham of Great Expectations fame.
If you like books, spies and England and fantasy, this is a must read. Be sure to read The Eyre Affair first.
If you like books, spies and England and fantasy, this is a must read. Be sure to read The Eyre Affair first.
5 likes · like · see review
Sequel to The Eyre Affair. Literary Detective Thursday Next is dealing with her sudden fame, pregnancy, the eradication of her husband from the timeline in order to force her to work for megacorp Goliath by going into books, the thing where someone is trying to kill her, her training as a Jurisfiction (hee) agent to ensure the integrity of books, and the impending end of the world.
Weird, fun, metafictional. Thursday slides in and out of books and her brand of reality, and there are some great li...more
Weird, fun, metafictional. Thursday slides in and out of books and her brand of reality, and there are some great li...more
Most book series stay steady or get better as they go along. The odd thing about Lost in a Good Book that I've never seen before is it makes the Eyre Affair look like one of those TV series that have a horrible pilot, but the series is amazing. I know everyone's seen it. Don't get me wrong I liked the Eyre Affair, but it wasn't one of those books that made me think I must read the rest of this series. I gave Lost in a Good Book a try and it is SO much better and now I have to read the rest of th...more
1 like · like · see review
This is one of those books that I wanted to like so much more than I did. Hell, it's one of those books that I feel like I should like more than I do. I mean, with the little literary cameos and the wry humor (and occasionally groan-inducing puns), with the jumping through books and really just the whole thing - it should be right up my alley. But it just doesn't work for me.
Part of it is that I feel it has a little bit of the Un Lun Dun problem - it seems more a showcase for all the nifty ideas...more
Part of it is that I feel it has a little bit of the Un Lun Dun problem - it seems more a showcase for all the nifty ideas...more
Sep 28, 2008
Tim
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
lovers of literary allusion and time travel
Shelves:
fiction
Well, as far as I know, this is the first time I've jumped into a series in its second book, and I can't help but think that this hurt me a little. I wasn't aware the extent to which Fforde's world is in an alternate reality, and I'm sure there are several nuances that would have seemed less "hinky" had I allowed him to bring me in at his own pace. The subtleties of SpecOps and the proliferation of self-allusion made book 2 a place that I was slow to warm up to. However, as fellow readers sugges...more
2 likes · like · see review
This is a great book and deals with a lot of fiction and metafiction issues skillfully without degenerating into a fourth-wall-breaking wankfest. I highly recommend it for light reading, although it deals with a bunch of theoretically complex issues, it doesn't deal with their complexity, and instead builds itself on the model of a suspense novel.
Fforde's skill at writing makes this a real page-turner.
The only issue with the book is that some of the wordplay is tied to the author's native non-rh...more
Fforde's skill at writing makes this a real page-turner.
The only issue with the book is that some of the wordplay is tied to the author's native non-rh...more
Jasper Fforde uses sci-fi/fantasy in an unusual way - if you generally don`t enjoy all that "crazy futuristic stuff" or "elves and wizards" stories but are still willing to give something not-entirely-realistic a try, you may enjoy his writing. The pacing tends to be rapid, and there`s enough of everyday reality that those who aren`t hardboiled fantasy fans will be able to hold their own without too much trouble - in most cases.
In this second Thursday Next book, things go from finally being Pret...more
In this second Thursday Next book, things go from finally being Pret...more
This is a fascinating literary universe created by the wily welshman Fforde. I find the tech he develops in his imagination spefically for Thursday's universe to be most fantastical. The Prose Portal in the first book has many possibilities and Akrid Snell's footnoterphone is the most inventive application of footnotes ever seen. Oftentimes, I find footnotes fairly useless. Pratchett's footnotes are great as funny asides, and Fforde's application of private conversations through foot notes with...more
A small disappointment after "The Eyre Affair". The hook or gimmick, that of an alternative reality where literature has a huge impact on humans' lives, apparently only holds up for one novel. I thought the first book was cute, innovative, and funny. Here the jokes became worn, the hook repetetive, and the characters just boxy and one-noted.
The plot, which apparently is going to go on a la Harry Potter, involves Thursday trying to rescue her loved ones and herself. Just not very good, I'm afrai...more
The plot, which apparently is going to go on a la Harry Potter, involves Thursday trying to rescue her loved ones and herself. Just not very good, I'm afrai...more
2 likes · like · see review
Oh, this is brilliant! Much better than book 1, ( The Eyre Affair), this is nerdy, imaginative and completely insane. There wasn't a chapter that didn't make me giggle, and there wasn't a single person who understood when I tried to explain what was so funny. Fforde knows his stuff, and, being done with awkward character intro, lets the wacky loose. It's a fast, easy read that despite that leaves quite an impression. The only minus is a complete lack of plot resolution, we have to wait for the n...more
Jasper Fforde ci trascina nelle avvincenti avventure dell'agente speciale letterario Thursday Next per il secondo episodio della saga partita con 'The Eyre Affair'. Tra bookjumpers, grammasites( parassiti dei libri che si nutrono di grammatica come gli aggetivovori), i cattivi della Goliath Corporation, la dickensiana Miss Havisham che guida come una squinternata qualsiasi veicolo a motore e vecchi e nuovi personaggi both fictional and non-fictional, la nostra eroina si trova a fronteggiare un'i...more
I dove into this book without having read its predecessor and, although there were times I found myself mildly confused, it's not impossible to do.
The plot is well developed and builds itself upon the intriguing idea (logically presented in the first book) that the characters of the world's written works (both beloved and loathed) lead lives within and betwen their bound homes in "The Great Library." Our protagonist, Thursday Next, works for a branch of the government devoted to the protection o...more
The plot is well developed and builds itself upon the intriguing idea (logically presented in the first book) that the characters of the world's written works (both beloved and loathed) lead lives within and betwen their bound homes in "The Great Library." Our protagonist, Thursday Next, works for a branch of the government devoted to the protection o...more
A nice light-reading fantasy/alternate-history story. The sequel to The Ayre Affir, it follows Tuesday Next as she attempts to solve the mystery of a new Shakespeare play, get her husband back after the evil Goliath corporation has written him out of history, avoid getting killed by someone who's creating massive coincidences, and save the world from being turned into pink slime. She trains with Miss Havisham from Great Expectations as an operative in a hidden group of people and characters who...more
Originally published on my blog here in February 2003.
The second of Fforde's manic Thursday Next stories easily passes the first test of the comedy sequel: it is still funny when read almost immediately after The Eyre Affair. It starts with Next reluctantly allowing herself to be forced into taking part in public relations events; her work documented in The Eyre Affair has made her something of a celebrity, and the Big Brother style Special Operations units are determined to milk every last poss...more
The second of Fforde's manic Thursday Next stories easily passes the first test of the comedy sequel: it is still funny when read almost immediately after The Eyre Affair. It starts with Next reluctantly allowing herself to be forced into taking part in public relations events; her work documented in The Eyre Affair has made her something of a celebrity, and the Big Brother style Special Operations units are determined to milk every last poss...more
"Confused is exactly how all cadets to Jurisfiction should enter their first assignment!" -- Miss Havisham to Thursday Next in Lost in a Good Book
Last summer, I dipped my toe into the weird waters of Jasper Fforde's chronicles of Thursday Next, voyager through fiction, literary detective, time traveler's daughter and hard-working civil servant in an alternate universe in which literature is taken way, way more seriously than it is in our own. And it took me a while to recover from all the crazy-...more
Last summer, I dipped my toe into the weird waters of Jasper Fforde's chronicles of Thursday Next, voyager through fiction, literary detective, time traveler's daughter and hard-working civil servant in an alternate universe in which literature is taken way, way more seriously than it is in our own. And it took me a while to recover from all the crazy-...more
Nachdem ich den ersten Band um Agentin Thursday Next, 'Der Fall Jane Eyre' wirklich verschlungen habe, war ich sehr gespannt auf Band zwei. Tatsächlich beginnt 'In einem anderen Buch' dort, wo 'Der Fall Jane Eyre' geendet hat. Agent Next ist durch die spektakuläre Rettung von Jane Eyre zu einem nationalen Star geworden. Fans des neuen Endes von Jane Eyre belagern sie genauso wie Kritiker der Veränderung. Und die Pressesprecherin von SpecOps, Cordelia, schickt Thursday zu immer neuen Pressetermin...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I read the initial book in this series, "The Eyre Affair" years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it; but also left with the impression that I missed a lot of the fun not having previously read Jane Eyre. Still, I liked it enough to add the second in the series to my wishlist (if not purchase it outright).
Finally received it this past summer and gleefully returned to Fforde's whimsical and weird world that's so literally literary. The second book is just as fun as the first, maybe more so ... and had m...more
Finally received it this past summer and gleefully returned to Fforde's whimsical and weird world that's so literally literary. The second book is just as fun as the first, maybe more so ... and had m...more
Lost in a Good Book by the very talented Jasper Fforde is the second book in the Thursday Next series. It is published by Viking and it is 399 pages long. There are spoilers in this review, so if you do not want to know some details about this book then read the first and work your way through the series just like I am. This series is awesome! I'm so jealous that he has written this series and that I did not think of it. Literary detective Thursday Next stopped a madman in the first book The Eyr...more
•Mlle Alice, pouvez-vous nous raconter votre rencontre avec Délivrez-Moi?
"A la minute où j'ai terminé l'Affaire Jane Eyre, j'ai su qu'il me fallait la suite de toute urgence. Je me suis donc rendue dans ma librairie adorée et j'ai dévalisé le rayon Jasper Fforde en achetant non seulement celui-ci mais tous les tomes suivants et faisant fi du regard dubitatif de la caissière!"
•Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Si Thursday Next a affronté avec succès le groupe Goliath dans le premier...more
"A la minute où j'ai terminé l'Affaire Jane Eyre, j'ai su qu'il me fallait la suite de toute urgence. Je me suis donc rendue dans ma librairie adorée et j'ai dévalisé le rayon Jasper Fforde en achetant non seulement celui-ci mais tous les tomes suivants et faisant fi du regard dubitatif de la caissière!"
•Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Si Thursday Next a affronté avec succès le groupe Goliath dans le premier...more
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Jasper Fforde is a novelist living in Wales. He is the son of John Standish Fforde, the 24th Chief Cashier for the Bank of England, whose signature used to appear on sterling banknotes, and is cousin of Desmond Fforde, married with the author Katie Fforde. His early career was spent as a focus puller in the film industry, where he worked on a number of films including Quills, GoldenEye, and Entrap...more
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