Lost in a Book
I just finished a wonderful book, it took time for me to really get into it and enjoy but as it progressed it became truely great - The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. In this novel Fforde beings his Thursday Next series. Thursday is a LiteraTrac agent Special Operatives division 27. Her job is to find incosistancies in works of literature and find those heinous people that defile liturature.
In her exploits in SO-27 she gets to meet characters for various novels, in this book she encounters many of the characters from Jane Eyre. When she journies into the novel she changes the story (for the better?) and interacts with almost all characters except Jane because the novel is written in the first person from her perspective so she does all she can to avoid encouters with the title character.
While reading this I recalled a book I have read maybe 4 years ago (could have been longer than that) Headhunter by Timothy Findley where characters of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It wasn’t until I moved to Manitoba that I began to appreciate Findley’s writing which is a little strange given that he lived in Stratford right in an appartment I went past most days to get to and from my various jobs. Headhunter is best summed up in by Amazon.com:
When Lilah Kemp, a schizophrenic, unemployed librarian and sometime spiritualist, accidently frees the evil
Kurtz from the pages of Heart of Darkness, she searches desperately for a Marlow to help her return him before
it is too late.
I really enjoyed the concept of characters jumping out of books and being able to interact with them or how they would tamper with our reality. Headhunter gave me my first glips into the conept and Fforde does a lot more with it. I look forward to read others in the series. I have the fourth book sitting on my book shelf signed by Fforde.
Also after reading Headhunter I had a wet appetite for good Canadian lit and have been feeding it ever since. I’ve only read two other books by Findley;
Not Wanted on the Voyage - I think this is my favorite. It’s the story of Noah (of Arc fame) and has a frisky cat. I’m not a huge fan of cats but this one really gets your attention. It’s also one of the selections for this years Canada Reads on CBC.
Spadework - I loved this one because it takes place in my hometown of Stratford Ontario. I loved reading a novel where a street or building was being discribed and I knew exactly where he was. It was truely amazing.
Just a few books from the past that I wouldn’t mind getting lost in again.
In her exploits in SO-27 she gets to meet characters for various novels, in this book she encounters many of the characters from Jane Eyre. When she journies into the novel she changes the story (for the better?) and interacts with almost all characters except Jane because the novel is written in the first person from her perspective so she does all she can to avoid encouters with the title character.
While reading this I recalled a book I have read maybe 4 years ago (could have been longer than that) Headhunter by Timothy Findley where characters of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It wasn’t until I moved to Manitoba that I began to appreciate Findley’s writing which is a little strange given that he lived in Stratford right in an appartment I went past most days to get to and from my various jobs. Headhunter is best summed up in by Amazon.com:
When Lilah Kemp, a schizophrenic, unemployed librarian and sometime spiritualist, accidently frees the evil
Kurtz from the pages of Heart of Darkness, she searches desperately for a Marlow to help her return him before
it is too late.
I really enjoyed the concept of characters jumping out of books and being able to interact with them or how they would tamper with our reality. Headhunter gave me my first glips into the conept and Fforde does a lot more with it. I look forward to read others in the series. I have the fourth book sitting on my book shelf signed by Fforde.
Also after reading Headhunter I had a wet appetite for good Canadian lit and have been feeding it ever since. I’ve only read two other books by Findley;
Not Wanted on the Voyage - I think this is my favorite. It’s the story of Noah (of Arc fame) and has a frisky cat. I’m not a huge fan of cats but this one really gets your attention. It’s also one of the selections for this years Canada Reads on CBC.
Spadework - I loved this one because it takes place in my hometown of Stratford Ontario. I loved reading a novel where a street or building was being discribed and I knew exactly where he was. It was truely amazing.
Just a few books from the past that I wouldn’t mind getting lost in again.
Posted by in 05:05:01
I’ve got that Fforde book on my 2008 TBR challenge list - thanks for the review!
Stephanie
http://www.thewrittenword.wordpress.com
You have a very sucessful blog,i never saw such a nice one before