BookJumper

Shades of Grey is another series altogether, yes; as far as I've understood it's set in a society where your position in life is determined by how wide the spectrum of colours you see is sounds about as mind-bendingly intriguing as usual. My crazy idea was to exhaust all Thursday Next books before Shades of Grey comes out so as to give it my full attention; my even crazier idea was to get through the two Nursery Crime books as well. Jasper, however, has foiled my plans, seeing as Thursday next does not end with FAS... bad Jasper!

First Among Sequel is book five of the Thursday Next series incidentally, I thought it was also the last, but apparently there's a 6th book scheduled for next year or the year after - One of Our Thursdays is Missing, I think it's called. With Shades of Gray book 1 published in December, that means crazy Jasper plans to have two series on the go at the same time... just to confuse us further. Three if he decides to continue with the Nursery Crimes, but at least those are still set in the Thursdayverse.

To further my planned Jasper Fforde binge in preparation for the publication of Shades of Grey in December, I've gone insane and ordered signed copies of all of his books I was missing (First Among Sequels, The Big Over Easy and Fourth Bear). I am vexed that the new edition of FAS (the one with the missing footnotes reinstated) has a cover that will jar with all the other Thursday Next and Nursery Crime books, but what can you do? Evil Hodder didn't reprint it with the original cover so meh. I am also not-so-patiently waiting for my preordered copy of Unseen Academicals (whooo!! new Terry Pratchett!! I am planning to build a proper Discworld library with the 18 leather-bound Unseen Library volumes and all the others in hardback, so I thought I might as well) and The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide from the States. I had to cancel my Amazon.uk order as it had gone out of stock; B&N wouldn't take my dirty UK card so I had to Amazon Marketplace it from a US based seller... I just hope it gets here before HitchCon09 on October 11th or I will be depressed. To cap it all off, tomorrow - an evening with Dacre Stoker, great-grand-nephew of Bram Stoker!

Thank you although I didn't so much find my mojo as kick it into submission. Finishing the above books was a case of training my eyes to go down the page when my mind wanted to go back up and re-read everything to take in every possible nuance, it made my brain hurt!! My guess, though, is that if I keep at it my brain will hurt a little bit less with every book, until I can finally read with pre-uni speed and ease. There's some new books I can't wait to start but I'm going to be good and finish the unfinished ones first, in order of how little I've got left to go: - Generation Dead by Daniel Waters - The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde - The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers Or I might just go on a Jasper binge, as I want to get Shades of Gray when it comes out and if I start reading it halfway through the Thursday Next books I'll just get confuzzled - his books are brain-hurting enough as it is. The illustrations are indeed magnificent, such detail...! I've spotten some of the references but by no means all of them, there's so many! I'm so surprised things like that even work in translation, it all reads so smoothly it's hard to believe it wasn't written in English. Can't wait to get back to this one, it is such a charming book, the idea is such sheer brilliance and it's written so well, not condescending at all - in fact, much more poetic and linguistically challenging than a lot of books for adults. My future kids are getting read this at bedtime, to prepare them for Jasper when they're a bit older.

I'm so sorry you didn't like Harriet the Spy, Kylie - it was one of my favourite books as a child, one of the select few I reread regularly. Oh well . You should, you should! You can read my rather sprawling and gushing review of it here, if you need convincing further .

Having finished being a sarky NY scriptwriter I've resumed being a goth girl harbouring (possibly romantic) feelings for a zombie kid in her class. ETA: I've changed my mind, I'm a badass Jurisfiction agent trying not to forget my non-existent husband while keeping my unborn child safe.

Sounds very Good-Omenish, which is of course a good thing will definitely pick this up!

FINISHED (!!!) The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. Review of that and 84 Charing Cross Road here.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff This is the first book I've finished this year since Jasper Fforde's "Lost in a Good Book" in February. My concentration and free time have been non-existent, which didn't help with my university-ingrained need to close read every. single. full. stop. in. a. book. I think it is very telling that with all the good books I've picked up and drifted away from since February, this is the one I put my foot down about finishing. For, this isn't just a good book - it's a great book. The subject matter (the twenty-year correspondence between Helene Hanff, struggling NY scriptwriter and Frank Doel, poised London bookseller) is as brittle as it is beautiful, so I won't spoil the sparse human events that pepper this tale of literary friendship. Make sure void all blurbs and introductions - which, assuming we are all more informed than we actually are, don't think twice about telling us how the story ends. Just read the thing. I defy you not to have a lump firmly lodged in your throat when you reach the end. I know I did, even though I'd been preparing myself for it from page 1. This isn't a book which will have you in fits of laughter, or bawling your way through wads of Kleenex; it is the kind of book that has you constantly see-sawing between subtle grinning and eye-brimming. I am not one to bandy the word "delightful" around the place (so few things nowadays are), but I think that's possibly the only word capable of encapsulating this book. I am happy that, on a whim, I purchased this in the beautiful textile hardcover Virago edition - I know I'll treasure this slim volume forever. I have found kindred spirits in Helene and Frank, ones that I'm loath to let go. The book, while giving me so much, also took a sizeable chunk out of me - having finished it mere moments ago and rushed to type up my thoughts and impressions, I'm simultaneously euphoric and depressed. I suppose I'll just have to read it again to find that chunk once more. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (sequel to 84 Charing Cross Road) by Helene Hanff It is impossible to review The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street without spoiling the entire 84 Charing Cross Road experience, so I won't bother. If you've already read and loved 84, you don't need my recommendation to decide to pick up this. If you haven't read 84, do yourself a favour: do so, and read Duchess straight after. I cannot begin to describe how grateful you'll be to have lived for a while within their pages. Ten out of ten, both of them.

We'll get along, then cuppa coffe anna hobnob?

... because, let's face it, there just is so many prequels and sequels and diaries and variations out there! I know some of you have read a couple so I was looking to find out which ones you think are well-written and worthwhile, keeping in mind that: - even more so than usual, I'd like little to no steam. More so than usual because these are such favourite characters, it would be like walking in on my sister or something. Ew, no. Jane's books take us back to a day where you waited and sighed your way through a book just to get to an embrace and a kiss, I'd like that preserved. In Susan Kaye's Captain Wentworth books, for example, there's another woman - but the Captain Wentworth I know and love would never have touched another woman if you were poking him with a red-hot poker. That is, er, kinda the whole pint of Captain Wentworth. - I don't mind dead people in my Austen, so long as they're ingeniously written in. But again, the options are so many. Pride & Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith and Mr Darcy, Vampire by Amanda Grange are just the tip of the iceberg, and I've read such mixed review even just of those two that I don't know what to think. Thanking you !

It's ok, I am still keeping an eye on it - one can always hope that the reason they're reissuing is to add the bits that were missing...!

Gyre linked me to that one; I'm keeing a suspicious eye on it. Suspicious because the previous complete works from the Collector's Library isn't (complete).

! Thanks for the warning . Ironic, isn't it, to package the complete works of the archetypal aesthete between ugly covers... .

Today I've read thirty pages of The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street; fifty more to go, I'm trying to read as many as I can before OH comes back from the gym. I'm basically kicking my renegade mojo into submission with a little help from Helene Hanff - I haven't read this much in absolutely forever.

Thank you. Someone has to neologise, I always say; else, how would the English language ever evolve?

Alternatively, they use knife and fork and actually cute the spaghetti up so as to avoid the tricky fork twirling... .

I'll be sticking some stuffed chicken in the oven tonight, with curried pepper & mushroom rice and a few slices of halloumi on the side.

Tea and a custard cream it is I'm quite happy with the new arrangement, as it means more coffee for me! I've been told to cut down on it actually, but who's going to listen? Definitely not my good old Italian genes...

I really want to read this (big Gaiman fan) but am unsure which version to get - the children's and adult's editions are illustrated by entirely different people, and I don't know whose style would suit the story better. Which one did you read, Readwine? May I suggest "Neverwhere" for your next Gaiman fix? By far the favourite amongst the ones I've read. "Stardust" and "Anansi Boys" are also really good.

I was thinking this too, but then with my luck a queue 'round the block would form the minute my back is turned...! Not that I know of, although that would be nice just wish I could have got hold of the hardback for the occasionas the paperback is quite poorly bound, but Amazon didn't have it in stock . Thank you !

That's good to know Ian, as I've got "The Many Coloured Land" patiently waiting on the bookshelf.

You see, the only signing I ever tried going to before wasn't for a book at all - Paul McCartney was visiting Milan to sign copies of his solo collection Wingspan. I asked my parents whether I could skip school in order to camp in front of the record store from the night before; they said no, so I rushed there after school and obviously all tickets had sold out. When I asked what time they went by, I was told that they'd all gone before 7am. Obviously authors are slightly different (unless you're J.R. Rowling), but I was wondering how different? I was aiming to arrive at the bookshop about two hours before the siging, but I'm unsure whether this would be too early or too late.

First one of those is the complete but unattractive Collins, the second is the new Collector's Library edition which (if it's anything like the old Collector's Library edition) is incomplete. I like the sound of this though - authoritative is good. Plus it's pink and has a pretty picture of Oscar on the front, what more could I want? Thanking you , I hope FF does not lie.

Oh, how I share your vexation ! Dont they think of ur poor aesthetically-minded people??