One of Our Thursdays is Missing

Book Cover The Jasper Fforde Thursday Next series is one of the book series that I learned about from the Bitchery, one that I keep meaning to start reading already. Now that there’s another installment coming out 8 March, I think it’s time for me to get on with it already. I definitely have a habit of waiting to start a series until there’s at least a few books for me to read in a row – I did that with Julia Spencer-Fleming and with Ilona Andrews’ books as well. And then, when I know there’s a new one, I can go back and re-read all the prior installments and savor them all over again. I know Angela James is in the middle of a 40-book re-read of the In Death series, with the new one coming out at the end of the month. That’s a LOT of books to read – I’d much rather face down a series of 5 or so, even if it means I’ve missed out on something extraordinary by waiting until there’s a few in hand to enjoy.

I admit, when Viking contacted me about whether I’d review this newest Fforde book, I felt like a toolbag saying that as much as I’d heard that the series is one long fiesta of amazing incidents of literary awesomeness, the written equivalent of the best Bruckheimer explosion coupled with the nuances of a O’Toole performance and the stage craft of that guy in college who could build an entire set with clothesline and a paperclip, no, I hadn’t read them. But I know a lot of you have. So Viking sent over a copy of the latest Thursday Next book, all hardcover and sexy, because I said I bet one of you might like to read it early.

Would you like to win it? Just let me know what series you can’t believe isn’t the most-read series out there, the one that everyone should start reading NOW (including this one), and why we should hop on the readerly wagon, and you’re entered to win. If you would be so kind as to consider reviewing the book, it would be kickawesome. I cannot enforce that, or make you do anything as a consequence of winning (that would be douchey) but I would very much love to know what you think, whether you post it at GoodReads or on your own site or email me or whatever. You can step out on your porch in a bathrobe and deliver a soliloquy if you want, just please let me know in advance so I can

get that working inspiration on film

witness it personally. I’m going to start with the first book soon.

Standard disclaimers apply: I am not being compensated for this giveaway. No shirt, no shoes, no service. Open to international entries. Void where prohibited by law. You can’t kiss your honey when your nose is runny, because you might think it’s funny but it’s snot.

I totally just realized I probably should have run this on a Thursday. Oh well.  Comments are open for 24 hours. Ready, set, series recommendations – go!

 

Comments are Closed

  1. Quill2006 says:

    My favorite series ever: Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books.  They’re YA, and fantasy, and just plain lovely.  I read them as a young teen and am still buying them whenever a new one comes out.  And her writing just keeps getting better!

    If you like fantasy and have never read Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, you’re missing out.  Same goes for Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series.  Great worldbuilding.  Both of them have sort of gotten a bit meh in the last few years, unfortunately.  McCaffrey has an excuse, as she’s getting quite elderly and has passed the series on to her son. 

    Outlander.  Oh my yes.  They look too big to read, but you’ll savor every page.  And they’re hot.  VERY hot. 

    Julia Quinn’s Bridgertons series.  The funniest romance novels I’ve ever read, and they’re not funny because they’re bad, but because they’re so good!

  2. morwen says:

    Gail Carriger’s The Parasol Protectorate

    Souless, Changeless, Blameless – already out
    Heartless -June 28 2011

    It’s hilarious and well written with just the right amount of action and romance. I love this series and have recommended it to everyone I can.

    Although honestly if you’d asked me for a series I can’t believe more people don’t read I would have said Fforde’s Thursday Next. These books make the literature geek that is me squee with joy!

  3. Second to Pamela Clare and Julia Quinn.

  4. Laura (in PA) says:

    I have not read the Thursday series either, but it’s long been on my list. I have the first book, so I need to get to it. Same with the Dresden books.

    I agree with the JS-F and JD Robb recommendations. I would add the following, which are mystery series, but extremely well-written, and have a touch of romance:

    Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny – I’m totally and completely in love with him

    Charles Lenox series by Charles finch – Victorian England and delicious

    Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn

  5. LSUReader says:

    I highly recommend two closed series, especially for those who are frequently disappointed by series that drag on:
    Harper Connelly Mysteries, a 4-book series by Charlaine Harris
    Gardella Vampire Chronicles, a 5-book series by Colleen Gleason

  6. Lara says:

    I want to find all the people who are interested in Sherlock Holmes via the movie or the new BBC series and fling Laurie King’s Mary Russell series at them. The entire series keeps Holmes in perfect character, the mysteries are convoluted and fascinating, there are cameos from real people like Dashiell Hammet and fictional people like Kim (Rudyard Kipling’s character), and one fellow who I’m 99% sure was Lord Peter Wimsey. And Mary Russell, the heroine and narrator, is not a Mary Sue, nor an author insert. She is herself, clever and flawed and doing her very best, and I love her for it.

    For YA readers and vampire lovers, I want to do the flinging with Claudia Gray’s Evernight series. It starts with the cliche of all cliches—the mysterious boarding school with a dark secret—but the secrets are not what you think they are, and the protagonists (Bianca and Lucas) are not at all who they first appear to be. Bianca is also your antidote to Bella Swan; she’s intelligent and capable and rescues Lucas just as often as he rescues her. The fourth and final book in the series is coming in March, and I will be first in line.

    In conclusion—I can haz Jasper Fforde? If I get it, I will review it, my word on it.

  7. Christina says:

    I’m a huge fan of the Soulless/Changeless/Blameless series as mindless fun.

  8. Debbie says:

    I’ll have to also say the Vorkosigan series. I just recently got my roommate hooked on it and he’s taking a breaking before Diplomatic Immunity because that’s the second to last book (so far).

  9. Cat Marsters says:

    Well, I reckon it should be this one, simply because when Thursday gets married her husband’s name becomes Landon Park-Laine-Next. Which, if you haven’t played the British version of Monopoly, probably doesn’t mean much. But trust me, hilarity prevails if you have.

    Or the Discworld series. I genuinely don’t know what to say to people who don’t get Terry Pratchett. It’s like we live in parallel universes, mine where Pratchett is the funniest, smartest, silliest, wisest author around, and theirs, where he’s some guy with a beard and Alzheimers. He can take massive concepts, such as the nature of God vs organised religion, or how important the letter of the law is compared to the spirit of it, or issues of national identity, pride and war and history, and still write a book full of trolls who talk like dis and a two-metre tall man who believes he’s a dwarf and an old lady who likes singing filthy songs about hedgehogs. There’s literally nothing I don’t love about his books.

    Plus, he named a character James What-The-Hell’s-That-Cow-Doing-In-Here Poorchick.

  10. bungluna says:

    I tried the Thursday series and didn’t cotton on to it.  I do have seriesitis in my reading life and have read or tried most of the ones listed above.  Here’s some I didn’t see that are worth a look, (sorry if I missed them!)

    1. Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (sci-fi)
    2. Lord Pete Wimsey by Dorothy L. Sayers (mystery between the Wars)
    3. Rainie Benares by Lisa Shearin (fantasy)
    4. Land of 500 kingdoms by Mercedes Lakey (fantasy)
    5. Blood Series by Tanya Huff (vamps in present-day Canada)

  11. Lizaanne says:

    The Thursday Next series is an excellent one!

    I adore Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell series, beginning with “The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.”  King writes incredible prose, her characters are intelligent and realistic, and her details are so carefully plotted that the novels reward multiple readings, especially as one works one’s way through the series.

  12. Rochelle Smith says:

    I love Wednesday, Thursday, Mycroft, Friday and really everybody.  I have so much fun reading and re-reading each book.  I was just thinking the other day that a re-read would be the perfect cure for winter and ice.
    So new Thrusday makes me super giddy. 
    I also love Mead’s Vampire Acadamy, Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate, Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death and really more than I can possibly go on about.
    So in short, clapping my hands like I was five, choose me!

  13. liz says:

    There have already been a lot of excellent recommendations on this thread, but third/fifth/whatever me for Gail Carringer’s The Parasol Protectorate series, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, Susan Collins’ the Hunger Games, and of course JASPER FFORDE, who I fell in love with after the first Thursday Next book, The Eyre Affair.  I was fortunate enough to attend one of his readings in Cleveland, Ohio, where he performed Hamlet’s monologue backwards for us.  His books are smart, hilarious, with an awesome main character and a willingness to never dumb it down (or sometimes, to slow it down).

  14. Anna Richland says:

    In addition to many already mentioned, I enjoyed the short (4 book) Victorian mystery series featuring Julian Kestrel, dandy detective, and his ex-pickpocket valet, Dipper. Kate Ross passed away while writing the unpublished 5th book in the late 90s, so they may be hard to find. The first two are my favorites: Cut to the Quick and A Broken Vessel. Basically a Regency Bro-Mance. Hope this link to a funny poem about series mystery characters that she also wrote comes through: (essentially, Homicide, quoth the Raven…): http://www.iwillfollow.com/kjr/

  15. booksNyarn says:

    YAY for more THURSDAY!*

    *I would like to point out that as a general rule I really hate Thursdays because they last much, much longer than an average workday due to a bend in the space-time continuum.  But this has nothing to do with that and I digress…

    This is a terrific series, and the wit and humor that Fforde writes with is hysterical.  I am totally on board with the Temeraire series by Naomi Novick too.

  16. Kate says:

    Pretty much everything I’d recommend is already up there!

    Definitely the Parasol Protectorate, the Southern Vampires/True Blood, and the Pern books which have all been mentioned (though, in the latter, the first two trilogies are the best, they start to go downhill after that).

    And for romance, the Bridgertons were mentioned but I also enjoy the earlier Malorys too (the newer ones where the connection to the Malory family gets tenuous are not so great).

    And of course, Thursday Next. I remember feeling so smart when I read the earlier books. 🙂

  17. Jenina Marie says:

    Love your blog – love your posts, Telling all my readers about how great you guys are and reading everyday!!!! You have re-kindled my love of trashy Romance!!!
    Blog’s I’m reading post – 2/7 – you guys top the list!!
    http://intheclotheset.com/?p=3157

    Thank you for being such smart bitches!!!

  18. redgirl says:

    Someone already mentioned it, but it has to be said that the Dresden Files are the BEST books out there…

  19. LEW says:

    I’m going to have to go with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter

    I’m you’ve ever been interested in Fantasy, LotR is where fantasy pretty much got its start.  You can’t read any author out there today without seeing shades of Tolkin.  And HP shows the sheer brilliance of writing a series – intertwining the story though multiple books, growing up with your audience, connecting with audiences of all ages, and keeping the magic alive.  Both series are clearly written as one, long, multi-volume story. Love love love.

  20. Laurel says:

    Throwing in my two cents for Laurie King’s Mary Russell books.

  21. e says:

    Even though the books are for kids, I really love “The Dark is Rising” series by Susan Cooper.

  22. darlynne says:

    The best series you’re not reading (in addition to those mentioned above):

    Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds, a fantasy novel of an ancient China that never was, featuring Master Kao Li and his assistant, Number Ten Ox.

    John Brady’s Matt Minogue mysteries, starting with A Stone of the Heart. The setting is today’s Dublin and his characters are right up there with Louise Penny’s. I would like to be the kind of person Matt Minogue would call “friend.”

    Jamie Harrison’s Jules Clement mysteries, starting with Edge of the Crazies. Blue Deer, Montana’s quotient of off-the-wall inhabitants is pretty high for a small town and they’re reeling from the murder of a local playwright. Intelligently funny. Sadly, out of print.

    Jim Huang, owner of the now-departed Mystery Company bookstore in Carmel, Indiana, compiled a list of under-appreciated mysteries in They Died in Vain: http://neglectedbooks.com/?page_id=83

  23. Emily says:

    My partner and I are super into the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books by Laurie R. King right now.  As in, we’re about to finish the most recent audiobook & are considering starting again immediately from the beginning.

  24. MargaretG says:

    Patricia Briggs “Alpha & Omega” series and, for something lighter, try Emilie Richards “Ministry is Murder” mystery series.

    And yes, I’ve read one of the Thursday Next novels, loved it and look forward to reading more.

  25. Kate Pearce says:

    I should win this because I USED TO LIVE IN SWINDON!! I have driven around the infamous ‘Magic Roundabout’

    Series:
    Harry Potter
    Diana Gabaldon
    Dorothy Dunnet-both
    Sara Donati

  26. I am behind by a couple of books in the Thursday Next cycle, but would certainly enjoy reading/reviewing the newest; I liked the first couple of volumes very well indeed, but thought Fforde lost focus some way in.

    As to other unsung series, two recommendations, both much more obscure than most of those noted above.

    I am badly behind on this series as well, but I was quite intrigued by the first two volumes in Tasha Alexander’s series of Victorian mystery/romances starring Lady Emily Ashton.  The first is And Only to Deceive, and there are five to date.  The plotting here is equal to Elizabeth Peters’ mysteries (and the heroine shares some of Amelia Peabody’s social ideas), but the tone is rather more reserved and the period setting more strongly invoked.

    Another mystery series I’ve been visiting (and revisiting) lately is (are?) the Gil Cunningham mysteries by Pat McIntosh, beginning with The Harper’s Quine.  These are set in early-ish medieval Scotland—specifically Glasgow and its environs—and are notable for strong mystery plots, unusually vivid period detail and atmosphere, and the remarkably nuanced relationship that evolves between Gil, a notary and man at law, and Alys Mason, whom he courts and marries over the course of the series.  While the series sensibility is definitely that of mystery rather than romance, McIntosh has a good eye and ear for character and develops her protagonists well.  Also, this is the only series I’ve ever come across that succeeds in rendering period-Scots dialect effectively without coming across as either unreadable or hilariously over-affected.  (It undoubtedly helps that McIntosh is herself Scottish.)

  27. Mel L says:

    I’m not sure why every person on the planet does not have their own private collection of Douglas Adams. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books continue to blow my mind.

  28. EC Spurlock says:

    A new Thursday Next?? You have just made my entire month!! I adore this series and can’t wait for the new one!!

    As for other series, seconds on Novik and Quinn, as well as the Percy Jackson series, which totally whups HP IMHO. He has just started a second series of five that builds on the original series by mixing Roman mythology with the original Greek and comparing the two; and it looks to whup the original, if that’s possible. Plus a new series on Egyptian mythology that looks equally good. And a big ditto for the Chrestomanci series (I think there are eight of them now) by Diana Wynne Jones.

    Others I recommend are Lori Handeland’s werewolf series starting with Blue Moon, and Robin D Owens’ Heart series, which has some killer worldbuilding and explores what daily life and relationships are like for a race of people gifted with paranormal powers.

  29. Donna says:

    Since this was about series no one seems to be reading, my ten cents are on Meljean Brook’s Guardian books. I’ve managed to get two, count ‘em, TWO people to read these.
    I don’t get it; complex characters, grade A world building and oh, so hot sex.
    As for Thursday Next, he had me when he named her boss Braxton Hicks. I work for one of those myself.

  30. Brandyllyn says:

    As much as I love the Thursday Next series, I think his Nursery Crime series is even better.  The Humpty Dumpty Murder?  Goldilocks Scandal? Aw yeah…

  31. Kristen A. says:

    As much as I love Thursday Next, I have to agree with those who say they can’t believe The Dresden Files isn’t the most read series out there.  It’s got old fashioned PI tropes, it’s got magic, it’s got titles that are all two words with the same number of letters- except for one that was obviously deliberately meant to signal that major shit was going to go down in that book.  (I don’t know why I like the matching number of letters titles so much, but I do.)  It’s got humor, and it’s got serious threats.  Maybe good triumphs over evil in fantasy as a general rule, but here good still gets hurt along the way, and maybe not all the good people are going to make it through.  Yeah, it’s a pretty popular series, but I have no idea why it isn’t the stuff of midnight release parties.

  32. Melissandre says:

    I know this series already has a lot of caché and a major following in fantasy circles, but I can’t ever stop myself from hyping George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.  This series is so complex and nuanced, it almost doesn’t seem like fantasy literature.  It’s sadly lacking in romantic subplots, but I think romance readers will see some of the traits we admire in our Romance Heroes buried (sometimes deeply) in the male protagonists.  And, while they are fewer in number, the female protagonists kick an incredible amount of ass (both literal and figurative).

    Why should you start reading this series NOW?  In just two short months, HBO is airing this series under the title of the first book, Game of Thrones.  Sean Bean is the star, people.  Sean Bean.  If you want to claim that you read the book before you saw the show, your window of opportunity is closing!!

    And, since I’m such a big fantasy geek, let me add my voice to those endorsing the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik and the Kushiel series by Jacquiline Carey

  33. orangehands says:

    I’m far behind on my series-to-be-read list. Thursdays, Vorkosigan, Outlander, etc etc etc.

    Since most people know about the Black Jewel series by Anne Bishop and Discworld and the Heroes by Moira J Moore and the Jax series by Anne Aguirre and…anyway, one not usually mentioned is the mostly golf hustler Eddie Caminetti series, by Troon McAllister. The third book, Scratch, is the best (though also the one with the least amount of golf). He doesn’t seem to write them any more though, which is a shame. 

    I’m very happy about March because I have like ten books by fave authors coming out that month. Yay!

  34. Annebonnie says:

    Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel Series – best books I have ever read and I have read ALL of them – she has a prequel to the first one – Kushiel’s Dart – in George R R. Martin’s new collection of short stories – Songs of Love & Death.

  35. anna says:

    Yes! To the Jasper Fforde. All of his books are great (audio versions are well done, highly recommend).
    Deanna Raybourne’s Julia Grey books
    Sharon Shinn’s Twelve Houses series
    Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion and Sharing Knife books
    Gail Carriger’s Alexia books
    Molly Harper’s Jane the Vampire Librarian / Nice Girls series
    Nicole Peeler’s Jane True series
    So many books to read, the tbr pile is now a minimountain.

  36. Jessica says:

    I guess the first one that comes to mind is the Abhorsen trilogy (do trilogies count as series’?) by Garth Nix. The first one is called Sabriel and OMG SO GOOD.

  37. SusannaG says:

    C.J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake books.  They are the best historical mysteries I have ever read, and are good historical fiction, generally.  Shardlake is a Tudor lawyer (he works in Cromwell’s employ at the start), who keeps stumbling on murder and other crimes.  There are, so far, five books, currently spanning 1537-1542.  The first is Dissolution.

  38. The Thursday Next Series. I’m always amazed at how many book lovers don’t read these books. I recommend them all the time because they’re so clever and a little sly with the references. Plus I saw Jasper Fforde at a booksigning and he was hysterical.

    And, really, nothing beats Hamlet trying to become a MAN OF ACTION!

  39. Susan says:

    I liked the first Thursday Next book, and the last book before this new one the best.  The rest can be a bit…thick to get through, even though they are thin books. 

    As for a series, most of the ones I like have been mentioned (Discworld, …In Death).  An interesting series from Charlaine Harris is the Lily Bard/Shakespeare’s series.  I like them better than the Southern Vampires series, and the heroine is very intriguing.

  40. kytten says:

    Obviously Thursday Next. Obviously.

    But honestly, I think Ffordes other series, The Nursery Crimes range is just as good and even more criminally underead. Not only is it excellent and very funny but it ties into Thursday Next in interesting metafiction ways (like Thursday Next sort of accidentally… creates, the series in one of her books and several of the corporations intersect). And because it contains a pun that should be worthy of nothing more than a vicious beating, but actually is a plot point. The right to Arm Bears.

    I also reccomend reading Shades of Grey, also by Fforde, because it is the most innovative, heartbreaking and hilarious post-apocalyptic fiction I have ever read. Second one comes out soon.

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