Rating: 
Summary: As good as the first
Review: I read the first book a year ago when it came out and was taken. The Eyre Affair was a great read. I was just as pleased with Lost in a Good Book. This novel picks up from where the first when left off and is just as fun as the first. A must read for anyone who enjoys adventure and humor. I can't wait for the next book.
Rating:
Summary: charming, fun and clever literary adventure
Review: Jasper Fforde has done it again, and with a bit more polish, in this engaging sequel to The Eyre Affair, which introduced Thursday Next, LiteraryOps detective in an alternate universe.Fforde slathers lots of plot with tons o' wordlicious fun as he carries us past the events of Thursday's introductory outing, into her first year of marriage and the aftermath of her defeat of archcriminal Acheron Hades and corporate creep Jack Schitt. The Goliath Corporation eradicates Thursday's husband and pressures her to rescue Schitt while she is dodging murder attempts by an unknown enemy, helping her father try to save the world and taking bookjumping lessons from Great Expectations' Miss Havisham. Oh, and battling the occasional Supreme Evil Being to bring in a few extra bucks. Who says a woman can't have it all? The author writes dialogue superbly, and introduces new concepts and slang fluidly. There is lots of wordplay, and more than a few puns, but not so much as to be annoying. We see more of Thursday's father here, which is enjoyable, but her husband Landen is not really fleshed out. We are introduced to some terrific new characters, including Granny Next, condemned to live until she can read the ten most boring books ever written, and Miss Havisham, who loves anything with a gnarly engine. The brief cameo by Uncle Mycroft and Aunt Polly, though, is much much too little. Strangely, Thursday's partner Bowden is used to good effect in the first half of the book and then rather unceremoniously dumped, as are the rather fascinating neanderthals. Fforde adds some unique and wonderfully creative concepts this time around, many concerned with the world of literary characters who inhabit a magnificent library containing all the books that ever have been or ever will be written, on 52 (maybe 53!) floors of shelves stretching 200 miles in every direction.The librarian? The Cat formerly known as Cheshire. Jurisfiction, bookjumping and footnoterphones roll off the tongue and into your consciousness effortlessly as Thursday Next proves once again that she is a superb agent -- intelligent, resourceful, diligent and good -- an admirable heroine and a worthy narrator. Anyway, you should read this book for the lively deconstruction of The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, if nothing else! In keeping with the spirit of things, there is an associated puzzle and contest, and an active web site with BBSs in which the author participates. Really, it's impossible to convey all the creativity, fun and insight found here, but let me say that while I am a confirmed paperback and used book buyer, I got this as soon as the hardcover was available, and I will do the same with the next instalment, The Well of Lost Plots, due out in the Spring of 2004. Hurrah! Can't go wrong, writes Sue Pyrb. Highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Surreal Comedy Delivers Twists
Review: I've just finished reading this novel.It is at least as good as the first Thursday Next book.I would recommend that both books be read.Both have the right combination of the hilarious and the surreal.In "Lost in a Good Book" the literary detective Thursday Next learns "book jumping," from Ms. Havinsham, in order to save her husband from nonexestence.However, the plot also has some interesting twists.I can't wait for the third book in this series.
Rating:
Summary: Visions of literary absurdity
Review: It's a world very like ours, only different: the Crimean War is still going on the 1980s, there are dodos and mammoths, time can be altered and changing a manuscript changes all copies of the book. The surreal sequel to Jasper Fforde's fantastic "Eyre Affair" serves up more of the same, only more polished this time. The newly-wed Thursday Next is drowning in the publicity after her showdown with Acheron Hades and the fateful changing of "Jane Eyre"'s finale. Her consolations are her new husband Landen, her dodo Pickwick, and the fact that she's going to be a mum (yes, you read that correctly). But bizarre things start to happen ("Something's going to happen, and I'm part of it"), including telepathic footnotes from her fictional defense attorney. When Thursday ventures onto a Skyrail, time twists after a Neanderthal pilot steers it in an effort to go to Goliath Corp. and her dad appears long enough to warn her about the impending potential destruction of the world (everything is going to turn into goo --literally). Worse, when Thursday returns home, she finds that Landen isn't there. Even worse, he's not there because of a fatal drowning incident at the age of two. And if she wants to return things to how they should be, she'll have to
encounter the Cheshire Cat (or more correctly, the "Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat"), venture into her memories, and be apprenticed to Miss Havisham... Fforde gives even more dimension to his alternate universe (including a mention of our own), showing that he still has plenty of turf left to cover. First there were dodos, and now there is also a dreamy mammoth and a Tasmanian tiger. Fforde also gives us a race of reanimated Neanderthals, who are treated as more intelligent animals, and gives us an intriguing, delicately-done look at human nature. But it's also extremely funny, including the discovery of a lost Shakespearean play, Molecular Unstable Brie, the condition of Xplkqulkiccasia, the renamed Cheshire Cat, and Thursday's stint on a talk show where nobody lets her talk about the work that made her famous. Thursday is still hard-boiled and tough, but she gets a little more vulnerable now that she's married, so some readers might find her edge a bit gone. Landen is nice enough, although he's in relatively little of the book; Akrid Snell (Acrid Smell?) of an mystery series is entertaining as the footnote-speaking attorney who won't tell Thursday why she's on trial. There are also appearances (some brief, some not) by Acheron Hades (well, sort of), Uncle Myles, Spike, Pickwick the Dodo, and others. Fforde's writing has become a little more polished since "Eyre Affair," and the book flows a little more smoothly (especially when it needs to be weird or surreal). The dialogue is still funny and snappy, full of literary in-jokes and weird twists, but it grows more serious about halfway through. "Lost In A Good Book" is amusing and literate, like "Eyre Affair." And Fforde's literate little world has plenty of promise for future books.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Time Travel Series!
Review: "Lost in a Good Book," the sequel to "The Eyre Affair," by entertaining storyteller, Jasper Fforde, is a terrific addition to "The Thursday Next Series." Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal concidences. This is one fun series you won't want to miss! (Highly Recommended!)
Rating:
Summary: A Delightfully Madcap Literary Dream Come True!
Review: Thursday Next, the LiteraTec, (literary detective), from "The Eyre Affair," returns in "Lost In A Good Book" to ferret out and prevent literary fraud and forgery, protect the integrity of the existing literary tradition, as well as to provide delightful entertainment for the reader astute enough to seek her out. SpecOps officer Next lives and works in the alternate reality of London, 1985, which is a familiar world in many ways. The people look much as they do now, although styles have a retro look. People watch TV, listen to their favorite music, go to work each day to pay the rent, and they still fall in love. However, the computer chip has not been invented nor has the jet engine, but time travel is common, so there is a police force which takes care of time travel-related crime. England and Czarist Russia have been at war, the Crimean, for 131 years. It is England's Vietnam taken to greater depths...or heights. The Russian Revolution never happened, so no Cold War, Lenin, or Stalin...but serfs are still around, I guess. The national economy is dominated by Goliath, a monstrous corporate conglomerate, which prides itself upon its ability to provide the English with every material necessity - "Cots to Coffins: Goliath. All You'll Ever Need." Oddly enough, the nation's favorite pastime is literature. These folks read big time! Many change their names to John Milton, Charles Dickens, George Gordon, Lord Byron, etc., and Shakespeare denialists abound.
Even though she has become a sought after celebrity due to her her recent rescue, revision, (and improvement), of the novel "Jane Eyre," Thursday's superiors are not particularly pleased with her performance. Even more distressing, her husband of one month, Landen Park-Laine, is eradicated - erased from time - by the monolithic Goliath Corporation, and she is the only person who remembers he existed. In order to save him, she must release the villain, she imprisoned in Poe's poem "The Raven." Due to a series of events too bizarre to be merely coincidental, Thursday believes someone related to her old enemy, Acheron Hades, may be out to get her. Oh! Our heroine is newly pregnant and her pet dodo, Pickwick, lays an egg!
Along the way to rescuing Landen, she becomes apprenticed to Miss Havisham, of "Great Expectations" fame, who has agreed to assist her. A limited stint in the Jurisfiction division improves her text-hopping skills nicely. Thursday also appears before the magistrate of Kafka's "Trial," passes through "Sense and Sensibility," encounters the Cheshire Cat, escapes The Questing Beast, is involved in the discovery of Shakespeare's missing play, "Cardenio," and learns the world may end in a fortnight. By the way, Armageddon may be pink!
Jasper Fforde's sense of the absurd is extraordinary. He plots, un-plots and re-plots with almost demented fervor, and his prose is skilled and imaginative. His energy, and his joy in the written word, is contagious. Filled with intelligent puns, word play, and irreverence, "Lost In A Good Book" continuously delights. Fforde's wonderful sense of timing, along with his hallmark satire, makes one want share with whoever is around to listen. Highly recommended!
JANA
Rating: 
Summary: Time travel or waste of time?
Review: Other reviewers have mentioned that you will probably enjoy and appreciate this book more if you have first read "The Eyre Affair." I must confess that I did not read the first novel in the series, but I doubt that was the reason for my disappointment. It did not take me long to catch on and "catch up" with the fantastic goings-on. The first 100 pages or so were somewhat enjoyable, but after that I had to force myself to finish the book -- I was annoyed at the author's cavalier "throw in anything that comes to mind" attitude. But what about all that clever wordplay and puns?! Ho - hum.... there's better verbal horseplay in a typical Preston Sturges screenplay --- with the added dimension of an underlying spark of humane compassion and profundity amidst the antics -- the entire plot of his "Christmas in July" revolves around lack of appreciation of a pun in a contest slogan, culminating in an exuberantly satisfying ending ---the ending of "Lost in a Good Book" is a DUD -- run-amok pink sludge destroying the universe --- a real let-down. After grudgingly finishing this book, I had to refresh my appreciation of truly clever writing by re-reading James McCourt's "Mawrdew Czgowchwz" and dipping into some P.G. Wodehouse, and then viewing "Christmas in July" for the 17th time ["If you can't sleep at night; it's not the coffee, it's the bunk!" -- with that great character actor William Demarest as a slogan-contest judge shouting at his fellow judges -- "Don'tcha get it? It's a PUN!!!"].
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but Disappointing Follow-Up
Review: There is something about these series of novels that are just annoying. I don't know if it is the author's obvious condescension or the fact that the novels lack any sort of serious plot structure; but then, considering these are above all satires maybe I'm missing the point. My main problem with Lost in a Good Book is that there is only a semblance of a plot; in fact, reading each chapter is like watching a television show -- each chapter is like a stand-alone episode. It's not until the last 75 to 100 pages that any semblance of a plot begins to appear -- like the final story arc of television series heading towards its season finale. I will admit that Fforde continues to amaze with this alternate England he's created and I continue to enjoy his ability to use supporting characters from various novels like Alice in Wonderland and Great Expectations -- and keeping them in "character" all the while, while his creation of Jurisfiction is probably one of the most interesting of the novel. That being said, the fact that little no real action or plot development occurs until that 100 pages was a major disappointment for me, but it won't stop me from reading the next book in the series. I mean, how many times have we been disappointed in one book in a series? Lost in a Good Book is not a great book, but it is worth reading just so you can move on to the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Nice effort, not as strong
Review: This book was a nice effort by the writer, but not nearly as strong as the first book. If you're a fan of Thursday Next, this one is not to be missed. If you haven't read any of this series then I recommend reading the Eyre Affair first before deciding on whether or not to read this one.
Rating: 
Summary: if you want to forget the sometimes grave reality ...
Review: The thing about books is that they take you away from reality into a world where no constraints but those of the imagination apply. Now imagine you can literary read yourself into a book... That's reality for Fforde's heroine Thursday Next... she can travel in space and time, chase criminals hiding in old texts, and just maybe save her married life (if she manages to revert the "eradication" of her husband), and did I mention, save the world as she knows it from the pink nano-goo?
The Thursday Next novels are much more than just books, like Tolkien's series they crate an alternative reality, complete with cloned dodos, a "Goliath" corporation owning everything (and everyone?), special operatives fighting for the purity of written texts, etc.
Believe me - you do want to read yourself into this one - it's wild, witty, amusing, thoughtful at times, large-scale metaphorical...
And you might want to check http://www.thursdaynext.com/index2.html
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