The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

I have to admit that I initially started reading this novel because I thought it was in some way connected to Mister Monday, by Garth Nix. I don’t know, I thought one or the other was a pseudonym or something… To be fair, with the main character of The Eyre Affair called Thursday Next and with the same ideas of breaking down barriers between literature and reality, they are kind of similar. Vaguely. Sort of. Anyway, I’m very glad I did choose this book, even if it was on false pretences.

It’s set in an alternative reality in which there are no computers, but where time travel is simply part of an annoying job for certain types of police. Literature forms the major part of popular culture, and we follow the heroine, Thursday, as she tries to foil the machinations of the literary terrorist, Hades Acheron.

For someone like me, a world in which literature is paramount and receives the celebrity status of our real-life bands or film stars is a bizarre but fantastic idea. Once you’re far enough into the novel to have got used to the alternative history aspects (for instance an ongoing English-Russian Crimean War or the Welsh Republic border skirmishes) it’s very engaging, although I’m on the fence about some of Fforde’s more tongue-in-cheek moments. While he is genuinely very funny – a corporation leader named Jack Schitt actually made me laugh quite loudly in public – aspects that are obviously throw-away jokes do break the fourth wall a bit.

While I personally found the romantic aspect of the ending unsatisfying, the parallels between Jane Eyre’s and Thursday Next’s love lives were drawn pretty deftly and kept subtle until the end. In general, I really enjoyed this novel – fast-paced action, witty dialogue and an amusing narrative voice kept me gripped throughout. I was happy to find out that it’s only the first of a seven-part series, and look forward to reading the rest!


Next up: The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

The Complete Father Brown Stories - G K Chesterton

I can't believe it's actually taken me a month to finish this book, although in my defence I did work a lot, and it is a very long book. Each story varies between about 10-20 pages, but the complete collection weighs in at almost 800 pages.

I'm not normally a fan of short stories (the only collection I've really enjoyed is Michael Marshall Smith's What You Make It). My reason for disliking most is that they lack a sense of depth and continuity, the ability to get lost in them, which is my main motivation for reading fiction in general. The Father Brown Stories, however, obviously have continuity, because they're a set of stories about the same character. Each mini-mystery manages to set the scene so effectively that, even after 15 pages, you feel as though you've lived a full novel in the setting.

G K Chesterton also has a gift for pithy and amusing character description - a good example is:

He saw Dr Simon, a typical French scientist, with glasses, a pointed brown beard, and a forehead barred with those parallel wrinkles which are the penalty of superciliousness, since they come through constantly elevating the eyebrows. (from 'The Secret Garden')

His ability to effectively describe a character or place in one sentence in a way that really evokes them is what, for me, really sets these stories apart. The mysteries themselves vary in their complexity and convincingness, but are always solved with a wonderful sense of humanity and compassion. Most other detectives I remember reading about see the crime as a cold, set puzzle to be solved analytically and the criminal mercilessly packed off to gaol, if they haven't already been killed in some way. Father Brown, however, solves a crime by imagining the type of person who would do such a thing, putting himself in their place, and working from there. When he's discovered the criminal, he often lets them escape rather than dragging them in to face the full force of the law. He even converts a world-reknowned thief to the side of justice and remains fast friends with him throughout the series.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading the entire set of stories back-to-back (unfortunately I feel compelled to read books that way, but I'm not sure it's the way to get the best out of short story collections), but I'd definitely recommend them as something to dip into. Each story is atmospheric and the pervading sense of compassion gives a much more optimistic feel that that found in most detective stories.

Next up: The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

Book Haul: Episode II

I know, I really shouldn't have. But with paperbacks 50p each and hardbacks £1 at a local charity shop, I think it's a testament to my amazing self-restraint (and the fact that most of the selection available were romances or thrillers) that I came home with only 6 books.

Today's additions to my not-so-little family of books are Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, Christopher Priest's The Prestige, Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair, E M Delafield's The Diary of a Provincial Lady, Edward Marston's The Iron Horse, and Stephen Fry in America.

The first two I chose because I'm aware of the films (I've seen and enjoyed the film of The Prestige, but haven't seen The Lovely Bones yet), and I've read another Jasper Fford and loved it. I've heard good things about The Diary of a Provincial Lady, and other two just looked fun. Now to squeeze a little more space out of my bookshelves...