18 February 2008

The Well of Lost Plots


I read Jasper Fforde's The Well of Lost Plots. I was lucky enough to find a Fforde book in my local thrift shop on Friday when specifically looking for one. After posting a list of books I read last year, I got a sudden hankering to read more books like The Eyre Affair (here's a review). Fforde's books are best described as Hitchhiker's Guide's to Bookworld. They are full of imaginative trips into books in which well-known (and sometimes obscure) characters come to life as themselves and as the actors who play the characters. Fforde manages to pack each book with references to mostly classic English literature and gets you thinking that it might not be such a bad idea to read some Dickens next. Summarizing the plot is a bit difficult, but I'll give it a shot.

Main character Thursday Next is taking a break by going on the Character Exchange Program. She'll spend a year living inside a relatively obscure book and the character she's replacing will get to take some time off. When she's not filling in for her character and trying to improve her exchange program book, she's training to join Jurisfiction. Jurisfiction meets in Sense and Sensibility and is charged with maintaining the structural (plot) integrity of books in the Bookwell, a place where books in the making are stored. Murder, intrigue, and a Bookworld power struggle ensue. If your imagination can keep up, you're in for a wonderful ride with this story. Best of all, this book comes with a special features section! I recommend it for an entertaining read.

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