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Showing posts with label Thursday Next. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thursday Next. Show all posts

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Recent Reads - Books - 5 Books To Enjoy This Autumn/Winter By Genre.

Hi!!!

I love reading all year round as I'm sure many of you do. However, I know for lots of people it is an activity best enjoyed at home in autumn and winter, while sat under a blanket with a mug of tea. With that in mind, I've put together a little collection of books that I have read in the last 18 months or so and really enjoyed for you to consider reading. I've organised it into genres and picked one from each - I'm aware there are more genres but I wanted to keep these to things I've read recently so have chosen five. And excuse the fact that there are only three books in the photos - I couldn't locate some of them.


Since Elizabeth Is Missing first came out, I'd been wanting to read it, and never got round to it. My lovely best friend Elf Girl included it in a blog post and when I mentioned it to her, she let me borrow and read her copy.
It is about an elderly woman called Maud, who suffers from dementia, and her efforts to find her friend Elizabeth, who she believes is missing and about her past, and in particular, her sister Sukey.
It is such a beautiful book, and is deserving of all the critical acclaim it has received.
Healey writes in a very descriptive and sometimes poetic way. The book is a character driven piece, which I loved.
It talks about dementia in a very eye-opening and honest way and it is emotional at times to witness through the first person narrative the struggles Maud experiences.
It's a must read.

General Fiction - Funny Girl by Nick Hornby

I read Funny Girl on holiday earlier this year and it was a very enjoyable book.
It follows a team working on a BBC sitcom in the 1960s and explores many themes and social issues within that, as well as having romantic and comical elements. It's very entertaining.
The book also features photographs at certain points which help you create a picture of the world the characters are living in as you go, which is really unique and something that I really liked about it.
 Its a fun read.
I have also reviewed this book in full, and you can  read that here.

Paper Towns was a book that I never thought I would read, and yet it is one of my all time favourites and means a lot a to me.
It follows Q as he tries to find out where the girl he has loved silently for years has disappeared to, as he and his friends leave high school.
It is full of stunning language, it is incredibly meaningful and thought-provoking and yet so much fun.
There are so many elements to this book and so many things to take away and I love it.
I have reviewed it in full, and you can catch that here.

 
Sci-Fi/Fantasy - The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

My most recent post about books was about the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde and The Eyre Affair is the first in the series.
This is the book in which we first meet Thursday, and are introduced to life in the version of the 1980s that she lives in (which features dodos, time travel and literary detectives!)
It is a unique, dynamic, funny and imaginative book that I adore.
Crime - The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling is the first in the Cormoran Strike series.
A supermodel called Lula falls from the balcony of her London apartment and to her death. Her brother asks Strike, a private detective, to look into it because he believes there was more to it than meets the eye.
It is a very good novel. I haven't read the others in the series yet, so can't comment on anything other than this one.
It was written by JK Rowling under a pseudonym, which she has decided to reveal, so if you like her writing then maybe this could be a good read for you.
I thought it was very detailed and descriptive, I liked the characters and thoroughly enjoyed the story. I will say that I wasn't completely keen on the way she writes dialogue sometimes (e.g writing out accents...) but other than that I loved it and have passed it on to several people.

That brings a end to this post, then. Thanks for reading.
What are your favourite books? Have you read any of these? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Speak to you all soon. Oh, and HAPPY BLOOMING NOVEMBER!!!

Have a terrific day!

GingerSnaps xxx

Friday, 14 October 2016

Recent Reads - Books - What's Happening, Thursday Next?

Hi!!!
 
Well, hey there everybody. Happy Friday! Today's post is about some of my favourite books, one of which I finished reading last weekend. This is a bit like a review but not, and you'll soon see why, but if you're looking for some ideas for what to read this weekend, then look no further.
 
 
Let me introduce you to Thursday Next, a smart and brave literary heroine, and the books you can find her in.
 
The Eyre Affair is the first in a series of books that follow Thursday Next and her adventures, and Lost In A Good Book (which I finished last week) is the second. At the time of writing there are seven books.
 
Thursday and co live in 1985, but not as we know it. It is a parallel 1985 in which the Crimean War is still going on, people have pet dodos, Wales is a Republic and the Goliath Corporation hold a scary amount of power and control. Thursday works for SpecOps (who are kind of like MI5) as a literary detective - other SpecOps divisions include the ChronoGuard (time-travelling police) and the Werewolves and Vampires Disposal unit.
 
The first story follows our heroine on the trail for a major player in the literary crime market, Acheron Hades, who has been kidnapping characters from fiction and holding them to ransom - including Jane Eyre. In order to stop him, Thursday must find a way into the books themselves.
 
And then, in the second story, Thursday finds herself jumping into fiction again in order to find the truth when the Goliath Corporation meddle with her personal life, and she finds that lost Shakespeare manuscripts, a few too many coincidences and impending Armageddon are all part of a bigger plan - but whose? With the addition of some wonderful 'new' characters - ever wanted to meet the Cheshire Cat? - as well as all our book one favourites, its an awesome adventure.
 
 The books are an amazing mix of science fiction, fantasy, comedy and references to a bucket load of books. The characters all have such clever, often pun filled, names like Paige Turner, Bowden Cable (like the things on bikes?), as well as a personal favourite, Landen Park-Laine, and of course Thursday Next. The plot is interesting and unique and full of surprises and sub-plots and the world Thursday lives in is so vividly described. I absolutely adore these books and can't wait to read the rest of the series.
 
Jasper Fforde gets two thumbs up and a round of applause from me.
 
I hope you enjoyed today's post - it was a lot of fun to write.
Have you read the Thursday Next books? Do you have any book recomendations for me? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading.
 
I hope your day is brilliant!
 
GingerSnaps xxx