Tag Archives: adventure

The Fourth Thursday Next Took Me a While to Appreciate: Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

Posted on August 1, 2022 by jenny

Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde is the fourth book in the Thursday Next series. Thursday and her young son Friday leave their life in the Well of Lost Plots and return to Swindon where Thursday attempts to get her husband … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, British, Contemporary, Fantasy, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel, Speculative Fiction | Tagged adventure, comedy, croquet, greed, Hamlet, Jasper Fforde, prophecy, Shakespeare, single-parent, supernatural, Thursday Next, Wales, witty, Wordplay | Leave a comment

My Favourite Thursday Next Novel: The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

Posted on May 1, 2022 by jenny

The Well of Lost Plots in the third installment of the speculative, absurdist Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde… Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, British, Contemporary, Fantasy, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel, Speculative Fiction | Tagged absurdist, action, adventure, British, bureaucracy, classics, convoluted plot, fantasy, fiction, greed, humour, Jasper Fforde, literature, memory troubles, novel writing, publishing, quirky, rich setting, satire, shady business practices, society, Thursday Next, well written, Wordplay | Leave a comment

Would you like world-ending pink topping with that? Lost is a Good Book is a generous second helping of Thursday Next from Jasper Fforde

Posted on March 24, 2021 by jenny

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde is the second book in the Thursday Next series. Despite a sudden celebrity for saving Jane Eyre and improving the ending, not every one is happy with what Thursday has done. A … Continue reading →

Posted in British, Contemporary, Fantasy, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel, Speculative Fiction | Tagged absurdist, action, adventure, apocalypse, British, bureaucracy, convoluted plot, fantasy, fiction, greed, humour, Jasper Fforde, legal trouble, literature, novel writing, probability, quirky, rich setting, satire, shady business practices, society, supernatural, Thursday Next, vampires, well written, Wordplay | Leave a comment

Wit and wordplay, parody and playfulness, allusion and appropriation: Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair is to classic literature what Hitchhiker’s Guide is to sci-fi and fantasy

Posted on December 24, 2020 by jenny

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is set in an alternate England, where home-cloned dodos are common house pets and the public’s passion for literature occasionally erupts in street violence. Thursday Next is a literary detective, part of a specialised … Continue reading →

Posted in British, Comedy, Contemporary, Crime fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel, Speculative Fiction | Tagged adventure, appropriation, bureaucracy, classics, crime fiction, Jane Eyre, literature, parody, police, Thursday Next, time-travel | Leave a comment

Multifaceted Australian crime fiction: The High Commissioner by Jon Cleary

Posted on April 28, 2020 by jenny

The High Commissioner by Jon Cleary is the first in the Scobie Malone series. Malone, a police detective, is sent to London to bring back the Australian High Commissioner for the decade-old murder of his wife. Malone finds himself in … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th Century, 20th Century Light Fiction, Australian, Crime fiction, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel | Tagged 1960s, 20th Century, adventure, Australian, character-driven, crime, endearing protagonist, fiction, first in a series, Jon Cleary, justice, mild romance, Murder, police, politics, Scobie Malone, terrorism, underworld, violence, wartime | Leave a comment

A nonsensical tale for grown-ups: Once On a Time by A.A. Milne

Posted on August 22, 2018 by jenny

A little known story by A.A. Milne, Once On a Time is an absurd and whimsical fairy story. It starts when one king takes exception to another king taking a morning walk over his battlements during breakfast time while wearing … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th Century, Fantasy, General adult audience | Tagged 20th Century, adventure, British, fantasy, fiction, food and fighting, good out loud, humour, seven league boots, whimsical | Leave a comment

Take themes of bureaucracy and greed, add non-stop word-wit and shellfish-references, throw in the waning of magic and a very old dragon and you have The Last Dragonslayer: teen fantasy Jasper Fforde-style

Posted on June 22, 2018 by jenny

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde is a story about magic, dragons and red tape. After reading it I concluded that my ideal pet would be a quarkbeast (no fur, funny-looking, loyal and affectionate, not exactly huggable but still better … Continue reading →

Posted in 13 years and up, Contemporary YA, Fantasy, Young Adult | Tagged 21st Century, action, adventure, British, bureaucracy, coming-of-age, convoluted plot, fantasy, fiction, humour, Jasper Fforde, magic, mixed motives, there be Dragons, young adult | Leave a comment

Adventure for kids, humour for grown-ups: Dragon Boy by Dick King-Smith

Posted on May 22, 2018 by jenny

Dragon Boy by Dick King-Smith is another classic dragon story from my childhood by one of my favourite children’s authors (he also wrote The Sheep-pig aka Babe). Orphaned John is found crying in the forest by a dragon, Montague Bunsen-Burner. … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's, Fantasy | Tagged 20th Century, 7 and up, action, adventure, animals, British, coming-of-age, courage, Dick King-Smith, drama, fantasy, fiction, food and fighting, good out loud, humour, orphaned hero, parody, there be Dragons, wolves | Leave a comment

Tongue-in-cheek dragonlore: The Discovery of Dragons by Graeme Base

Posted on April 22, 2018 by jenny

The Discovery of Dragons by Graeme Base is another delightful Australian picture book that works on multiple levels. Detailing the unlikely tale of how four unlikely people discovered dragons with beautiful illustrations, funny comic strips along the bottom of each … Continue reading →

Posted in 10 years and up, 20th Century Children's, Australian, Fantasy, Picture Books | Tagged 10 and up, 20th Century, adventure, Australian, epistolary, fantasy, fiction, Graeme Base, humour, illustrated, there be Dragons | Leave a comment

The Dragon of Mith by Kate Walker

Posted on March 22, 2018 by jenny

The Dragon of Mith is an Australian kids book by Kate Walker. It’s the story of a vegetarian dragon, a ridiculous number of dragon-slayers, a community of hermits and a blood-thirsty butcher (amongst others). I have vague memories of the … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Australian, Children's, Children's Classic, Fantasy | Tagged 20th Century, 7 and up, action, adventure, Australian, courage, fantasy, fiction, friendship, good out loud, hermits, humour, there be Dragons, vegetarianism, whimsical | Leave a comment