Review: ‘The woman who died a lot’ by Jasper Fforde
It’s 2004 and Thursday Next is in semi-retirement after a terrible accident which has left her unable to visit the BookWorld and means she has had to give up her Jurisfiction job. Her old mob SO-27 are back in business, but she’s not getting the job of leading them. Instead she becomes Wessex Chief Librarian.
Unfortunately, Swindon is due to be smote by a pillar of holy fire, unless Thursday’s daughter Tuesday can fin a way to get the anti-smiting shield to work. Then of course there is the additional problem that Friday Next is going to kill Tuesday’s boyfriend Gavin.
Jasper Fforde’s seventh Thursday Next novel is as surreal and entertaining as the first, with the additional bonus that it us internally consistent, so it makes marginally more sense, because I’ve been there before. Thursday as got older and wiser, the characters are developed further and the plot is as unique as ever.
Review: ‘Girl least likely to’ by Liz Jones
4th July 2013
Simon & Schuster UK
Liz Jones is Fashion Editor at the Daily Mail and a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, having worked in the media for the last 30+ years.
Born in 1958 the youngest of seven children to an ex-army captain and a housewife, Liz Jones grew up in a variety of places around Essex wearing handmade and hand me down clothes, but dreaming of working for Vogue. She never quite managed it. Anorexic at 11 and still obsessed with food, having it all and losing it all because she never felt good enough, Ms Jones has considered herself a failure from a young age and has striven to be better.
I think I’ve occasionally read her column, for the simple reason that when I’m at my grandparents flat and I haven’t anything with me to read, it’s the only vaguely honest and interesting piece I can find in the paper. This autobiography is the same; the writing is fluid and moving. I read it in a single sitting.
One review described the book as ‘laugh out loud funny’. I disagree; it’s sad, with odd moments that are funny in hindsight, but must have been embarrassing or painful at the time. A vivid example of how a strong work ethic and success can mask low self-esteem, this is a powerful story.
Rose
Currently reading in the Sun
After reading and reviewing the first Thursday Next novel I found the most recent, last year’s ‘The Woman Who Died A Lot’, in the library this morning.
Set nineteen years after ‘The Eyre Affair’, the now 54 year old Thursday is semi-retired and living in the country with her husband Landon, son Friday and mad scientist daughter Tuesday.
It’s quite enjoyable so far.
Review: ‘The Eyre Affair’ by Jasper Fforde
2001
Hodder
This book was Jasper Fforde’s debut novel, and the first to feature Thursday Next as heroine. A surreal adventure set in a 1985 where literary theft has become a terrible problem, the Crimea is still being fought over by England and Russia, Wales is a secretive Socialist Republic, the mega-corporation Goliath bank roll the economy and the biggest controversy is who really wrote the plays of Shakespeare.
Thursday Next is a LiteraTec in Special Operations 27. Based in London, but originally from Swindon, a veteran of the Crimea and desperately seeking a way out of the Literary Detectives and into a more interesting Spec Op department, she takes a temporary assignment to Spec Op 5 and is thrown against an enemy more deadly than Russian Howitzers, Acheron Hades. Hades has stolen the original Martin Chuzzlewit manuscript but nobody can work out how.
Grievously injured in an operation that sees her losing all her colleagues, Thursday opts to take a job with Swindon’s LiteraTec department, on her own advice. Convinced that Hades is still alive despite everyone believing otherwise, Thursday is up against the Goliath Corporation and their representative Jack Schitt, who’s after a marvellous new weapon that will win the war in the Crimea, as well as Hades.
When Thursday’s eccentric but brilliant uncle Mycroft and her aunt Polly go missing, Hades is the first to be suspected. Thursday must rescue her aunt and uncle, defeat Hades, regain the Chuzzlewit and Jane Eyre manuscripts and outwit Jack Schitt. And all before her former-fiancé gets married at 3pm a week Saturday.
I’ve read one of the later Thursday Next books, and it definitely makes slightly more sense now. As much as anything makes sense in Jasper Fforde’s novels at least. This novel was highly praised when it was first published 12 years ago and it still stands as an excellent piece of literature; full of wit, bibliographic in-jokes, with unique characters and an incredibly inventive plot.
Review: ‘From Codpiece to Three Piece: The History of Fashion’
History Today
Kindle Edition
July 2013
UlinkaRublack, Patrick Little, Christina Walkley, Lois Banner, Quentin Bell, Carol Dyhouse, Stella Mary Pearce and Eileen Ribeiro
£2.05 from Amazon.co.uk
This small e-book contains eight articles spanning 60 years of scholarship and publishing. They focus on fashion, not just what clothes were worn when, but attitudes to clothing, and the things they indicate about the wearer, and also how people viewed the clothing worn by their ancestors, and how it was depicted in art.
Ranging from the changing attitudes to the wearing of fur to how fourteenth century artists depicted classical subjects to the question of precisely how dull Cromwell’s clothes were, this is a fascinating collection of articles. There is nothing new here; in fact I recognised three of the articles as I’ve read History Today regularly for the past eight years. The older articles were interesting, though; sixty years is a long time in academia and the attitudes of the writers to their subject’s is as interesting as the subjects themselves.
I’ve never bought one of these collections before (although it would be more precise to say my oldest friend bought me it since I used the gift card she gave me for my birthday – thanks Fi!) but I think it’s well worth the price. They are great resources, containing the best articles History Today has published on a particular subject. I would have liked a new, original article to go with the collection though; I think it would have made a nice touch.
Review: ‘Bright Young Things; Life in the Roaring Twenties.’ By Alison Maloney
2012
Virgin Books
Described in the blurb as a ‘sweeping look at the changing world of the Jazz Age, as life below stairs vanished forever, loose morals ran riot, and new inventions made it seem anything was possible’, this book gives an entertaining glimpse in to the lives of the Bright Young People, the wealthy young Mayfair set who ran riot in London in the Nineteen Twenties. Presented in a gossipy tone, with first-hand accounts from those who were part of the group of friends dubbed the ‘Bright Young People’ by the popular press, and the generation of ‘Bright Young Things’ they led and inspired. The central cast of aristocrats and artists loom large in a playful narrative of all night dancing, freak parties, treasure hunts through London, immodest fashions and heavy drinking. The more staid members of their age group and class, the debs, and the attitudes of their parents to the antics of the hedonistic set are also covered.
The focus is primarily on London; however there is some reference to the United States and Paris. As Jazz was a large part of the lifestyle of the Bright Young Things, this isn’t surprising. The spread of this form of music from the southern United States across the Atlantic to London and the on into Europe is fascinating, although the author doesn’t go in to a great deal of detail.
Also covered in the book are references to changing sexual attitudes, and the growth of consumer ‘labour –saving’ goods as more people had access to electricity and servants became rarer.
While this book is subtitled ‘Life in the Roaring Twenties’ it doesn’t really give much of an insight in to life for those who weren’t wealthy and educated, and living in London. Bare mention is given to the lives and aspirations of working and lower middle class people, who presumably had ambitions and needs as well. It’s very gossipy in nature, relying on published diaries, letters and autobiographies/biographies for much of the detail. The ‘flapper’, her dress, attitudes and occupations are a recurring feature of the book.
I didn’t feel that the author really put meat on the bones of the subject, although the origin of certain terms originating in, or associated with, the decade are explained and there is a decent bibliography at the back. I’d say this was quite a good book for GCSE students wanting a bit more information about the Twenties, and those wanting an overview of the decade. At the very least it’ll get people started and then they can move on to more detailed studies of the decade.
The first Brit in 77? Right! Not!
Review: ‘The Devil’s Ribbon’ A Hatton and Roumande Mystery by D.E. Meredith
2011
Allison and Busby
In July 1858 a cholera epidemic once again threatens an overheated London. Professor Hatton of St. Barts Hospital and his chief diener Albert Roumande spend their days cutting up cadavers in an effort to learn as much ad they can about the disease. At the same time they are also working in the new science of forensics and as London’s leading experts are called in to help when an Irish MP is murdered a few days before the anniversary of Drogheda, a green ribbon found in the dead man’s mouth.
A series of other murders follow. The victims all seemed to have known each other in Donegal, during the Potato Famine. What happened there and who would want revenge? As Hatton, and Inspector Grey of Scotland Yard, about whom Hatton has grave doubts, investigate they are interrupted by an explosion in a packed shopping arcade. The Inspector, and the widow of the first victim are seriously injured. Hatton has more questions than answers. Is the explosion connected to the murders or is one a cover tor the other? What has Donegal to do with it? Why does all the opium and fly papers keep disappearing? And is the mortuary budget really getting cut?
Using their new method of fingerprinting the Professor and his diener discover the murderers. Using torture Inspector Grey finds the bombers.
I do like a good murder mystery, and this is an excellent example. The characters are engaging even if the set up hasn’t been original since Conan Doyle wrote his Sherlock Holmes stories (skilled amateur investigators/useless professional policeman). The plot is strong, and conclusion unexpected and imaginative. Full of period detail which immerses the reader in the scenario without being overwhelming or too descriptive, and which adds to the plot. The premise, of an early forensic pathologist working in a world that doesn’t understand what he does, is interesting.
This is the second book in the series. I haven’t read the first but I probably will try to at done point. It isn’t necessary though as it is perfectly possible to read the novel as a stand alone story. Previous cases are hinted at throughout, drunken/drugged confessions about their pasts develop the characters, although some of the repeat characters need fleshing out a bit. How did they all end up in London? What secrets, because they all have secrets, do they hide, and why? Presumably we will find out in future novels although somethings can be guessed at.
I really did like this book; the audio book is available soon. It is a beautifully bound and presented article.
I might be easily pleased but I like a well presented hardback book.
I noticed a small number of typos but nothing that took away from the story significantly.
Definitely a must read if you like historical mysteries.
****
Rose
Everything Is Better With Dragons 