In order to rescue the love of her life from the corrupt multinational Goliath, Thursday seeks out a believed-vanquished enemy from the pages of The Raven and finds unexpected assistance from Great Expectation's Miss Havisham.

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Product details

Publisher : Viking USA; 1ST edition (April 1 2003)
Language: : English
Hardcover : 416 pages
ISBN-10 : 0670031909
ISBN-13 : 978-0670031900
Item Weight : 635 g
Dimensions : 14.99 x 3.35 x 21.84 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #451,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,449 in Historical Fantasy (Books)
- #13,538 in Women Sleuths
- #27,030 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
407 ratings

Product description

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-In an alternate 1980s England, woolly mammoths migrate through the countryside, Tunbridge Wells has been given to Imperial Russia as Crimean War reparation, and the prevailing culture is based on literature. Due to her adventures in The Eyre Affair (Viking, 2002), newly married Thursday Next has become a media darling, but when an unknown work by Shakespeare surfaces, she is happy to be back to work. However, the megacorporation Goliath hasn't finished bedeviling her: Thursday's husband has been "time-slipped" and exists only in her memory. Further complicating matters, her Uncle Mycroft gives her an entroposcope-a jar of lentils and rice-revealing that the chaos in her life is rapidly escalating. So once again, Thursday jumps into a surreal literary world. This time, she has joined the "Jurisfiction" division and is paired with Charles Dickens's Miss Havesham, who has a penchant for leather jackets and driving recklessly. Absurd and amusing scenes take readers through discussions on theoretical physics, geometry, literature, art, and philosophy. Fforde not only tilts at ideological and insipid corporate windmills and human foibles, but can also make the naming of minor characters hilarious, as in the two unfortunate members of the dangerous SO-5 division, Phodder and Kannon. Reading this novel is like being at a fabulous party of phenomenally funny and wickedly profound guests. Teens will delight in the satire and wit.
Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, IL
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Thursday Next, who literally jumps into books to do her detective work, must locate a surprise enemy in Poe's "The Raven" to save her beloved. The Eyre Affair, Thursday's first outing, was a surprise best seller.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

5 star		73%
4 star		17%
3 star		6%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Dominic

Perfect for guys

Reviewed in Canada on July 4, 2013

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Some may disagree, but men are not reading as much as women. I have read most heavy classics in my younger days, but now I just want to be entertained when I pick a book up. Jasper Fford is simply perfect for us guys who don't want to take ourselves too seriously. His books are smart, funny, and even slighly weird: what's not to love? In my humble opinion, he is right up there with Vunnugut jr and Christopher Moore. Do not hesitate!

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John Tough

Loved it

Reviewed in Canada on January 3, 2018

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Good characters, fun engaging plot, and witty, intelligent writing. A page-turner with a surprising twist at the end. Well done!

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AceofHearts

Fun reading

Reviewed in Canada on June 28, 2012

Thursday Next is happily married and pregnant. But her husband and love of her life, Landen is eradicated by Goliath Corporation to blackmail Thursday into retrieving one of their employees she put in Poe's The Raven.

At the same time Thursday's father has come to warn her of the end of the world. The world will be consumed by pink goo.

Thursday learns all about book jumping from Miss Havisham from Great Expectations.
Anyways she now has to save the world and Landen.

Unlike a lot of other readers I enjoyed this book more than the first, "Eyre Affair". I think I was more receptive to Fforde's puns, witticisms, etc. The only negative is I wish there was more character development.

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Science Fiction/Fantasy Literary Satire and Love Story

Reviewed in Canada on May 30, 2004

Thursday Next is back from her triumphs in The Eyre Affair. If you have not yet read that book, please do so before Lost in a Good Book. You will be totally confused in the first half of this book if you do not.
In The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next had been working on Shakespeare-related literary crimes in London as a Special Operative when she was summoned into a special assignment with a highly classified outfit. It all related to a run-in she had with a professor while in college. The assignment left her literally flat on her back, and after recuperating she returned to her hometown to face her past and her future. She had been trying to escape from both since her unit was decimated in a terrible lost skirmish in the Crimea during which her brother was lost, and her relations with the love of her life were terminated.
While there, important manuscripts began disappearing in unexplained ways and she found herself in the middle of the investigations. Helped by unexpected interventions from outside this time and dimension, she made steady progress towards protecting Dickens and Bronte from unpopular bowlderizations.
As Lost in a Good Book opens, Thursday finds herself happily married and expecting. But dark clouds soon rain on her happiness, and she has to deal with unexpected sadness. Complications from The Eyre Affair create new problems for Thursday. In the process, she has to develop new talents and solve new problems . . . some of which threaten our very existence! Along the way, she has some unexpected help from new friends . . . including Miss Havisham from Great Expectations!
The Eyre Affair focuses on the discontinuities between what readers would like stories to say and what authors have provided.
Lost in a Good Book shifts that focus to how to read fiction in richer and more delightful ways. If you are like me, you will find yourself remembering sleepy afternoons in your childhood as you day dreamed about being a character in a book.
Thursday's personal life also takes a delicate and thoughtful look at what it means to be connected to another person and what a personal loss really is. Anyone who is grieving the loss of a loved one will find understanding and comfort in part of this story.

After you read this book, I strongly encourage you to move on to the brilliant third book in the series, The Well of Lost Plots. Although the books can be easily understood as a stand-alone effort, you will probably be more thrilled by The Well of Lost Plots if you sneak up on it by reading the other two books first.
Ultimately, these books most appeal to those who love literature as readers . . . and for whom classic characters seem like old trusted friends. Those who like science fiction, fantasy, mysteries and adventure stories will be much less pleased. Those aspects are amusing icing on the cake rather than the cake.
To me, Lost in a Good Book most seems like a continuing literary update and enhancement of Alice in Wonderland with Thursday Next as Alice.
As before, the Britain you will read about in this book differs substantially from the current one. Although the reason is never stated, I inferred that this one that has been influenced by time travelers to the detriment of Britain. The Crimean War had continued until recently since the 19th century between Britain and Imperial Russia. Wales is not part of Britain and is a people's republic that is not sympathetic to Britain. Literary debates are more important than political ones. Britain has succumbed to the military-industrial complex in ways that are usually ascribed to the U.S.A. Much technology is primitive (such as air travel by dirigibles) while other technology is very advanced (time travel, cloning of extinct animals as pets, and dimension shifting).
The overall themes of the book involve the classic struggles between the light forces of good and the dark forces of evil, against a backdrop of separated love.
The satire is layered on with a heavy hand. The names give you a sense of this. There are a number of agents who are assassinated. Their names provide clues as to what's coming next such as Kannon and Phodder. One of the new villains has a name that will make you chuckle every time you read it. The overall effect is a lot like Voltaire's Candide and occasionally has an element of Rabelais.
Regardless of any temporary drawbacks in the book to your preferences as a reader, the charming moments will easily carry you forward wondering what marvelous writing innovation next awaits you.
Plan to read this one in one sitting. It's hard to put down.
How does the book compare to The Eyre Affair and The Well of Lost Plots? I found the book to be more of a transition between those two books than a story of its own. Therefore, I thought this was the least strong book in the series to date.

One person found this helpful

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booksforabuck

Clever, laugh out loud, with strong emotional moments

Reviewed in Canada on May 4, 2004

Literary Detective Thursday Next, who has just discovered she is pregnant, is in hot water again when her husband, Landen, is eradicated at age 2 in an evil attempt by the corrupt Goliath Corporation to blackmail Thursday. In her previous adventure, Thursday trapped one of Goliath's key employees inside The Raven, and they want him back. If all this sounds impossibly confusing, it isn't once you get into the swing of Fforde's incredibly complex alternate reality.
Thursday, who has slipped into an alternate alternate reality where she has no husband (but seems to have a mysterious boyfriend named Miles of whom she has no memory), is determined to do whatever it takes to get Landen back. To meet Goliath's demands she has to learn how to jump into books without the help of her uncle's invention, the Prose Portal, which has been destroyed. She seeks out the mysterious Mrs. Nakajima, the only other person Thursday knows who can "book jump." Her search leads her into the shadowy world of Jurisfiction, where a dedicated group of fictional characters police the fictional world from inside the books, just as Thursday's agency, LiteraTec, does from the human side. As an apprentice to Miss Haversham (yes, that Miss Haversham), Thursday undertakes her education while dodging evil Goliath persons, coincidences gone wild, and a corrupt ChronoGuard agent attempting to catch Thursday's time-jumping fugitive father (who often pops in to give Thursday a hand).
And then there's Pickwick, Thursday's genetically engineered dodo, who has laid an egg .
The second Thursday Next installment is every bit as fun as the first. The writing is incredibly clever, filled with literary allusions and amazingly deft wordplay. About 90 percent of it goes straight over my head, but the 10 percent that I do get is plenty to make me laugh out loud. And just when you think it can't get any crazier or funnier, you get socked between the eyes with tender, emotional moments that make me wonder if Thursday could actually "book jump" into my living room.

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Top reviews from other countries

Anne

Absurd but truly enjoyable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 23, 2017

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It helps to know your classic literature when reading this book - not necessarily to have read it all but to know the basics. This book is also enhanced if you have read "Great Expectations" although it has to be said that you will not recognise Fforde's Miss Havisham in Dickens' original (although I think the version here is definitely an improvement !). There is a wealth of puns and wordplay ion this book as well as the literary references - for those of us who like this sort of thing it is a delight.

What the author does, however, within the absurdity of being able to enter the plot of books and the alternative reality in which he sets the story, is to introduce some really powerful writing, mostly based around the character of Thursday Next. Her grief at the "death" of her husband (the beautifully named Landon Park-Laine) is real and touching and her determination to have him returned to the storyline is the driving force of the book. It is the character of Thursday and her real and recognisable emotions and behaviour that grounds the book and stops it becoming silly although the delight for the reader is the increasing amounts of amusement to be gained from the absurdities.

I recommend these books for all those who enjoy words. I think that they woudl be very much enjoyed by fans of Terry Prachett.

6 people found this helpful

Stuart Aken

Too Clever for its Own Good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2019

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Oddly, this book isn’t listed under comedy or humour on Amazon. I think, however, it’s supposed to be funny, perhaps witty? I confess I found it more irritating than amusing.
Written in a style that makes the author appear self-congratulatory and strangely complacent as he waves the flag declaring ‘aren’t I clever?’, the book plays with language, names, and other literature in the way a sixth-form lad might indulge. I found the names too obvious to be funny and the puns sometimes excruciating.
This writer is a popular author with a big following, so my honest review will do him no damage, I hope. But this book wasn’t for me and I won’t bother with any more of his output.
I found it tedious, juvenile, and simply too ‘clever’ for its own good.

2 people found this helpful

Niall Black

Perfidious players abound in another perfect plot

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2020

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An absolute must for Fforde fans and thoroughly required reading for Next-lovers. Delightful, amusing, heartfelt in places and impossible to second guess, just how we like our Thurs.
I'll be tearing right on into the next installment!
For a world that seems so regularly insane enjoy some pleasing insanity in your reading.

One person found this helpful

L. Clarke

Fantastically Farcical

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2013

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Lost in a Good Book picks up the story of literary detective and heroine Thursday Next, from where The Eyre Affair (read my review here) left off. Now married to Landen Parke-Laine and enjoying the fame associated with her spectacular defeat of the villain Acheron Hades, it seems that Thursday is set for a life of relative stability and happiness. But shortly after discovering that she is pregnant, she learns that her husband has been 'eradicated' by the nefarious Goliath Corporation. In an effort to retrieve one of their operatives, Jack Schitt, from his incarceration in Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven, Goliath have removed Landen Parke-Laine from existence, with only Thursday's memories of him intact. By using this as leverage, Goliath force Thursday to find a way of retrieving Schitt from the infamous poem. Recalling her mysterious trip into Jane Eyre as a small girl, Thursday realises an ability to read herself into books and becomes apprenticed to Miss Havisham of Great Expectations - a member of the book security network, Jurisfiction. And so the chase begins, with Thursday determined to find a route into The Raven in order to secure Schitt and guarantee the return of her husband.

I am a big fan of Jasper Fforde's work. His books are enormous fun and intelligently constructed, with great appeal to those who enjoy literary allusion and satire. Lost in a Good Book offers unique perspective on well-known works - with Thursday's secondment to Great Expectations, a brief sojourn into Kafka's The Trial, and a Jursifiction Committee Meeting that takes place in Sense and Sensibility. These are not, however, allusions designed for intellectual consideration. Rather, Fforde's purpose is to bring pure and unadulterated enjoyment to his readers.

Lost in a Good Book employs many of the mechanisms that made The Eyre Affair a literary success, but most of its appeal undoubtedly resides in its protagonist. Thursday Next is the epitome of an independent and uncompromising heroine - defiant, brilliant, and perceived as the greatest threat to the villains of the piece. I believe that it is shockingly rare to find a female heroine presented as such purely on the basis of her personal virtues and vices. Fforde's faithful and consistent delivery of a character worthy of admiration is a large part of the series' brilliance. Combined with a humour that virtually leaps off of the pages, no aspect of this book speaks to anything other than an utter zest for literary entertainment.

So with some fantastically farcical literary crossovers (I mean, who could not love the idea of Miss Havisham saving Heathcliff from assassination?) and the greatest of comical heroines, Lost in a Good Book serves as perfect light escapism for the dedicated bibliophile. This book is the perfect means for reading relaxation!

One person found this helpful

Tweedledum

Stick close to Miss Next as she falls out of time .

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2018

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2nd in the brilliant Thursday Next series. Be prepared for more craziness and impossible scenarios. You need all your wits about you to follow Thursday as she gets thrown out of time and place and continues to find ways to negotiate with characters who reanalysed shouldn’t exist. A great work out for the imagination and a must for bibliophiles.

One person found this helpful

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Lost In A Good Book Hardcover – April 1 2003

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