Friday, March 07, 2008

One Book Down, Most of a Month Left

I finished my first book, of the ones I'm reading for Oregon Literacy's March read-a-thon, last night. That's right—383 published pages, and it's not even technically the end of week one. Take that, Kate!

But I didn't come here to cheer myself on. Okay, I did, but that's not my primary purpose. Rather, I wanted to share the book I read: The Big Over Easy, a Jack Spratt Investigates book by Jasper Fforde. Now I've read one book from his Thursday Next series and one starring Spratt, and I think I like the latter better. I can't say why exactly yet (it's not a secret; I just don't quite know). But I do like both for their smartness and humor, for their good writing and for being about books, the magic of literature, and yes, sometimes it's clichés. In Fforde's books, fictional characters are alive and well (or not) among us, and no one thinks that's strange at all. In the Spratt books, the literary detectives have to be not only great investigators but also great writers, as they strive to publish their accounts and their accounts are considered real news to the general public.

Consider one of his books when you need something silly to sink your teeth into—or when you just need a reminder that fiction really is important to life.

3 comments:

  1. Is the Spratt book YA or adult? And have you read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell? I know magic in fiction is an interest of yours...I'm keen to know what you thought of it if you have.

    And I'm just about to post my weekly totals too...

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  2. Hey, Kate,

    Both series by Fforde are listed as adult (in addition to reading level, for length), though certainly many YA readers would enjoy them.

    I have read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell—my sweetie and I bought the hardcover we were so excited for what it promised, and it's still on the shelf at home. We both quite liked it, though it definitely is quite the tome to get through over a hot Midwestern summer, which is when and where I read it. Have you read it? What do you think of it?

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  3. I've also got it on my shelf and keep on starting it without getting too far. It requires no distraction for me, and that's hard to come by sometimes. But I keep meaning to read it.

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