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. Ros says:

    Me, me, me! I love Thursday Next, though I couldn’t get on with Shades of Grey, a non-Thursday Jasper Fforde.

    My favourite under-loved series is Antonia Forest’s Marlow series.  There are 4 relatively well-known school stories, 6 non-school stories and 2 related historical books.  They are very difficult to get hold of, but worth every effort.

  2. roobarb says:

    I love these books and definitely they are on my list.  You need to know that Jasper Fforde is so sexy too, I’ve met him a few times at signings and meals and get togethers.  I recommend both 😉

    I also recommend Terry Pratchett’s books, Shanna Swendson’s Enchanted Inc books, Janet Evanovich’s Plum books, Lindsey Davies’ books about Marcus Didius Falco and am at present am enjoying the Seeker books though I forget who writes them.

    I’ll stop there but I’d love this book, pretty please 😉

  3. Carolyn says:

    I have never understood why more people (specifically more women) haven’t read Patrick O’Brian’s epic Aubrey/Maturin series.  Granted, the depth of nautical detail (pun intended) is a bit intimidating, but even those who couldn’t care less about sailor-y things can’t help but fall in love with the relationship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.  I try to re-read the whole series at least once every five years, and every time I just want to run out and tell everyone I know to read these books.

    Bitchery—READ THESE BOOKS!!

  4. Shereen Samuels says:

    The whole of both trilogies by Jacqueline Carey; the Kushiel trilogy and the Naamah trilogy. Steamy hot, with DS/SM, sex with gods, sex with demons, unrepentant sex every which way. Plus really gripping (if occasionally overblown) plotlines and engaging characters. Love.

    As I love Mr. Fforde’s work, but in a whole different way.

  5. Donna 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.

    I love these books, but don’t hype them because he’s almoste 2 years past due on the latest installment!!!!

  6. Donna 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.

    I love these books, but don’t hype them because he’s almost 2 years past due on the latest installment!!!!

  7. Kinsey says:

    Alia beat me to it – Miles Vorkosigan is The Best.

    Also – the Thursday Next series is fabulous. I never finished First Among Sequels so I need to get off my butt.

  8. Laurie says:

    I am torn.

    On the one hand, Deanna Raybourne’s Lady Julia Grey series. It’s like candy. GOOD candy. Small batch champagne truffle candy. With tea.

    On the other, Kate Ross’Julian Kestrel series. So very good, well written with a most excellent protagonist. Unfortunately, the author died altogether too soon (of breast cancer at age 41) and left us with only four books in the series.

    Also, I love the Tuesday Next series and believe that anyone who loves the classics should read it and chortle.

  9. kathleen says:

    OMIGOD I LOVE THURSDAY NEXT!  It’s all the literary references he throws in the makes it for me.  But I also love Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warprize series for doing an alpha male all non-rapey.

  10. Meg says:

    LOVE Thursday Next, though more the earlier books than the last two. I would still love a copy, obviously :).
    Chloe Neill’s Chicagoland Vampires series is great so far, book 4 comes out in May, I think (urban fantasy with a little romance). I love love love Sarah Rees Brennan’s books, the first one is The Demon’s Lexicon, third one comes out this summer (ya fantasy with a little romance). Patrick Rothfuss’s trilogy in progress mentioned above, starting with The Name of the Wind, is beautifully done epic fantasy. Favorite romance series is probably the J.D. Robb books.

  11. Kate says:

    C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series – awesome science fiction with excellent looks at alien culture. Essentially, a human colony ship ends up having to settle on an unknown planet with an indigenous race of aliens known as the atevi.

    A human becomes an interpreter and has to live in their culture and try and make sense of it all.

    My husband disparagingly calls them “The Boring Diplomat Books” but I LOVE them.

  12. Tabs says:

    Louise Rennison’s “Georgia Nicholson” series is some wildly entertaining YA fiction.  Nearly very single man, woman, child, and cat in that series is a certified loon.  I love them all.

  13. Miriam says:

    Laura Anne Gilman’s Vineart War trilogy (Flesh and Fire, Weight of Stone, and Shattered Vine to come).

    Magic made with wine.  How freaking cool is that?  (Very cool, I might add.)

    Or, for those more into urban fantasy and/or longer series, SAG’s Retrievers series (I always want to say Curse the Dark is the first one, but no, first one’s Staying Dead).  Electricity-based magic and a Manhattan that’s alive with various breeds of fatae that no one notices because it’s New York.

  14. Marsha says:

    I have long loved the Thursday Next series and am witlessly excited about the upcoming entry.  Yay!

    Another series I’ve really liked but never found anyone else who had even heard of it, is Marne Davis Kellogg’s Kick Keswick series.  Kick is a jewel-thief with a past, an instinct for fine living, a new love, and a thirst for justice.  Sort of.  She’s also that rarest of heroines:  middle-aged and apologetically so.  Love it and wish Kellogg would write another to add to the four existing.

  15. Susan Reader says:

    Yay!  A new Thursday Next!

    Somebody upstream said that Jasper Fforde’s Nursery Crimes series is also a must-read, as is Shades of Grey (possibly the start of a new series).  I concur! 

    I also agree with those who say the Vorkosigan saga is terrific, and Kate Ross’s Kestrel series of Regency mysteries, and Kage Baker’s Company series, and the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O’Brian, and…

    So many of these are *not* romance. I guess HEAs can get in the way of a continuing series.

    For undeservedly unread, I would propose Jean R. Ewing’s wonderful “Reward” series, written for Zebra’s Regency line back in the 90s.  She got around the HEA problem by writing one book each about the children of the (extremely prolific) Earl of Acton.  Out of print now, of course.  She changed her writing-name to “Julia Ross” and left Zebra, leaving the two youngest Actons unspoken-for, alas!

  16. peggy h says:

    I am a fan of the Thursday Next series, so it’s definitely a series I recommend.  I see a number of people recommending the Nursery Crimes series (same author)—I couldn’t get past the first few chapters of the first book in that series but…maybe I’ll give it another shot…hmmmm….

    My other recommended series is a YA series—the Artemis Fowl series.  Perhaps it was the misfortune of coming out so soon after the Harry Potter series hit the big time that it is overshadowed.  But it is not a mutually exclusive thing—a reader can love both! 

    Also—Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate (though I enjoyed the first book the best, then the second book, then the third…so I’m really hoping the fourth one coming out goes back up in the enjoyment meter…)

    A little off the beaten path—-I’ve been following the manga series “Ooku—the Inner Chambers” since I saw a review on Dear Author for Volumes 1 and 2.  We’re up to Volume 5, and I think it will go on to 10.

    And I’m looking forward to two series where only Book 1 thus far has come out—-Meljean Brook’s Iron Seas series (first book was Iron Duke) and M.K. Hobson’s series that started with The Native Star.

  17. Fig says:

    It’s so hard to choose, but I have to go with The Company series by Kage Baker. It’s so hard not to read them all at once, since she sadly passed away recently and so we’ve got all there are going to be, but In the Garden of Iden was just what I needed (immortal time-traveling cyborgs and romance!), and Sky Coyote was just plain fun. Read them now, and read them how!

  18. ritu says:

    Juliet marillier is a very good author.. Auto-buy for me. her Sevenwater Series is damn good. The female characters are awesome! But her lesser said trilogy The Bridei Chronicles is also awesome. I love the Bridei Chronicles. Especially some of the stuff she wrote on those books. daring!

    I haven’t read many of Fforde’s books. I have the Shades of Grey in my TBR list after the glowing rec from Book Smugglers but haven’t gotten around to reading it though. I have added the Thursday Next to my TBR list.

  19. Lisette says:

    I love Thursday Next – and his newest series, Shades of Grey – can’t wait for the next on either of them.  Shades of Gray: The Road to High Saffron is absolutely hysterical. 
    I’d have to say Yes! to most of the series mentioned above, save that I could not get past the first chapter of Soulless…meh. 
    Another YA series – “So You Want to be a Wizard” by Diane Duane.  I love the characters of Kit and Nita, and how they evolve and expand and things don’t always work out. 
    And – for a good fun Regency type read “Sorcery and Cecelia”/“The Grand Tour” / “The Missing Magician.”  As far as I know, these are not billed as a series… but I keep hoping for more. 
    I SO want the next Thursday Next!

  20. JaneDrew says:

    Tough question! Although I love the many comments and lovely recommendations for stuff which I will now have to make time to read.

    For my own re,, I think I have to say Alan Gordon’s “Fools’ Guild” series (starts with “Thirteenth Night,” then “Jester Leaps In”). Fantastically well-researched medieval mysteries with a firm grounding in Shakespeare (yes, you read that correctly); one of my favorite married detective/secret agent/jester teams (what?); engaging plots; and lots of wonderful humor. Definite win.

    Of course, I also adore the Thursday series, and would jump at the chance to review the latest.

  21. misseli says:

    Squee!

    [Long line of fangirl squees commencing …]

    [Long line of fangirl squees … not quite finishing]

    [Long line of fangirl squees … nearly finished]

    [interrupts the squeeing to say what she needs to say]

    This so needs to be a very, very popular series.  The whole thing is a lovely, charming, goofy, confuzzling paean to reading, readers, literature, the printed word, et al.

    It has bits of everything: romance (but no sex), sci-fi, mystery, history (alt), absurdist satire on pop culture, loving parodies of beloved works and characters of English lit. Dry, witty, warm and sweet.  Get on the ball and read this, already!

    I also agree with the people above who support Fforde’s “Nursery Crimes” and the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger.  And for something COMPLETELY different, I am quite charmed by the Captain Alatriste series by Arturo Perez-Reverte, although I am quite behind and I look forward to catching up!

    [resumes the fangirl squees …]

  22. Jessica says:

    Most under-read series?  Thursday Next first, followed by the Nursery Crimes.  Anyone who likes mysteries and hasn’t read The Big Uneasy or the Fourth Bear is really missing out. 

    After that the series I spend the most time trying to get people to read is the Honor Harrington books by David Weber and the new Safehold series. 

    I would be thrilled to pieces to get to review a Thursday Book – she’s my all time favorite literary hero (except maybe for Honor Harrington).  When a friend wrote a column about which literary character we’d like to be stuck on a desert island with – Thursday was my pick. 

    Jasper Fforde is touring the US in March and he’s coming to Minneapolis, yeah!  I am so going to see him.

  23. shannyr says:

    I picked up the first Thursday Next novel in an independent book store somewhere on the Oregon Coast after the owner likened Thursday to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  She’s not at all like Buffy of course, except that she totally kicks ass.  “Well of Lost Plots” was my favorite, but I thought “First Among Sequels” was a bit gloomy.

    As for a “must-read” series, I think they’re pretty well covered here.  The first series I ever read, and the one that I will probably keep reading until the day I die is The Little House collection by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Her books cover the gamut: action, adventure, tragedy, romance… And a strong female character who, while she may not slay any vampires, can whip out a button hole faster than anyone.

  24. DeeCee says:

    Anything by J. A. Konrath and Tim Dorsey. The person that got me started on TD said “it’s better than crack.” It is. It. Is.

  25. Chris says:

    So many good recommendations! I can’t wait to try out more of these series. I love it when readers are passionate for their books.

    Lately I’ve also been sucked in by the George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. The characters are so complex. Such emotion. So many, Oh No! They didn’t! moments. I can’t wait for the HBO show in April.

  26. meganhwa says:

    ooh ooh ooh *happy dance* finally the next in the next series

    wah sarah you should just read the first four if you are wanting to line them up because they are a mini set but oh my gosh are they good or what!

    as for other good series i’m not sure – the ones i have read are pretty well known and read. my collection at home includes HP, his dark materials, thursday next series and princess diaries.

    i would recommend jasper fforde’s new series – the colour one. The first is “shades of grey” unfortunately that’s the only one out but it was really interesting and once i own a proper full size book shelf it will be definitely going to the physical book collection.

  27. Merideth Smith says:

    I would actually vote for the Thursday Next series as it is my all time favorite series.  It made me laugh so hard I almost peed the first time I read it, and the second time I read it I spent the entire night giggling at all the jokes.  Its a series for book lovers.  Thursday Next is a kick ass tough SO-12 agent.  I also think any series that incorporates footnotes a telephone desires to be named the best series ever.

  28. Rozanne says:

    I can’t believe the Study series from Maria Snyder isn’t flying off the shelves. Not really traditional romance but amazingly well written.

    Also, I am a massive massive Fforde Ffanatic!

  29. Kay Igo says:

    Another vote for the aborsen series by Garth Nix – absolutely wonderful fantasy, wonderful world building.
    A series for those who like Sherlock Holmes – the Barker and Llewelyn books by Will Thomas, starting with “Some Danger Required”.

  30. Liz says:

    The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper. Which is possibly the most read series I have on my bookshelves. It has the magical ability of being just as awesome when I was 13 as it is now at 23. So fabulous.

  31. Grace Heffernan says:

    OK, you have to read Thursday Next.  It’s an awesome series.  My favorite book in the series is The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday hides out in the Well where plots are created…it really does make sense if you read the series.  So, Thursday gets my vote!

  32. SaraC says:

    The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. I don’t know why I I don’t hear more about this fabulous series, but every time I lend one of my books to a friend, it’s a struggle to get it back.

  33. kkw says:

    I only read the first one, but I didn’t care for it at all, so don’t include me in the contest.  I’m not generally much for YA, and I don’t read much sci fi/fantasy anymore, so my taste is different than most of what I’m seeing in this thread.  I mean, I don’t even like the in Death books, and I’m otherwise a Roberts fan (her Chesapeake Bay books are a series contender for me).  I did like the first Carey book, but I thought the rest of them were blah, and I must admit, I tend to get bored of series.  Can’t deal with Anita Blake or Stephanie Plum anymore, alas. Larissa Ione has a funny paranormal romance series, SEP’s Chicago Bears is a favorite of mine (although it’s again really all about the first one), and I like JAK’s Arcane books, but you have to be careful not to read them all at once or the sameness kills the magic.  I’m also totally crushing on a couple of series I found through this site, Tessa Dare’s and Caroline Linden’s oh and Joanne Bourne’s.

  34. LisaM says:

    Love the Thursday Next books and would love to use this opportunity to re-read the series as well as review the newest book. 

    I re-read The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder every year.  They were probably the first “series” books I ever read and I still love them.

  35. Lise says:

    I feel so out of the loop; I can’t believe I didn’t know there was another Thursday book coming.

    Series I can’t believe everyone is reading: Twilight?  or the entire aisle of Twilight copy-cat books that I saw last time I was at Barnes and Noble.

    And I really do think that anyone who enjoys books or reading would love the Thursday books. I resisted reading them for a long time because the first was described to me as a “re-telling of Jane Eyre” (one of my favorite books ever), but once I started reading them, I loved them.

  36. Galadriel says:

    I’m not sure it necessarily counts as a series, but Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is my all-time favourite multi-part work, and that everyone should read it because it’s amazing and wonderful and a milestone of modern fantasy.

    There’s also the Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett, which I’ve fallen behind on, but which is just so witty and incisive and entertaining.

    And then, the one I’m stuck on right now has to be Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate. I love it more than snowflakes and kittens. It’s such fun, and I love the main characters like crazy. <3 Also, the romance between the Alpha male and female (no, not a metaphor *G*) is snarky and wonderful.

  37. HeyT says:

    I 110% vote for Thursday Next as the series everyone should read. I actually read classic literature FOR FUN because of it!!!

  38. StephB says:

    I adore this series and would LOVE to win and review the book.

    One series I love that I wish was more widely read is Lisa Mantchev’s Theatre Illuminata YA fantasy series, starting with Eyes Like Stars. It’s beautifully written, wildly imaginative, romantic and fun. (Also, the third book is due out in September, so now’s a great time to read the first two if you haven’t already!)

  39. blodeuedd says:

    Eeek, I am in! I love Fforde, he is so weird, the writing, genius.

    What should I go with, fantasy, well that is well-known, so let’s go with the Charlie Madigan series by Kelly Gay. Because it’s so good

  40. L says:

    I am a series junkie.  I love getting to know characters and seeing how they evolve.  I am also a fast reader so a series is great because there is more to read!  Thursday Next is definitely one of my favourites.  I also love the S L Viehl’s STARDOC series (a must for sci-fi fans), Stacia Kane’s Unholy Ghosts Downside series (UF and not for the faint of heart), Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels, Jane True, Nalini Singh’s Angels and Changelings … I could go on and on! Although it is not romance I also really enjoyed the Master and Commander – historical naval series (20 volumes!) written by Patrick O’Brian.  I never thought that I would get so caught up in naval sea battles but there you go!

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