The Eyre Affair

Hi All!

About a week ago Hubby and I went to Sam's Club to order his contacts (which are much cheaper through Sam's than the eye doctor!) and I, of course, had to browse the book aisle. It seems like there are always good books at Sam's and for a good price. Some of my favorites I have picked up for less than five dollars.

I know, that isn't as good as my Half-Price Books clearance deals but, the books I get at Sam's are usually more recently published.

Anyway, my most recent trip to Sam's resulted in me buying this book:

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I must admit that prior to picking up the book at Sam's, I had never heard of the book or the author. I picked up the second book in the series (I think it is second), Lost in a Good Book and then realized it was a part of a series. Luckily for me the other books in the series were also on the shelf.

Wanting to do things properly, I purchased the first book in the series and resisted my urge to purchase all of the books in the series. After all, the book might have been seriously horrible and then I would have the entire series on my hands. I didn't want to do that!

I am happy to report that the first book in the series ISN'T horrible. In fact, it was quite enjoyable and even edged into the "I couldn't put it down" category.

The premise of the book is that history went a "different way" somewhere along the line and, in the 1980's, England is at War with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula and weird things can happen. The government has Special Operative units to deal with all kinds of things including time abnormalities (and time travel), cloned animals (the Dodo is the most popular), and literary issues. The literary issues unit - called Literatec - is the center of the book with its main character being Thursday Next, a SpecOp agent in SO-27 (Literary Detective Unit).

Thursday ( a charming woman who is very serious about her work), begins the book by attempting to help another Special Ops department (SO-5) capture a master criminal, Acheron Hades. Things go horribly wrong and Thursday ends up being blamed, indirectly, for the deaths of two of her colleagues. She goes back to her hometown to join the Literatec division there. This should be a much quieter assignment and, while Thursday is in the hospital after the botched capture, she tells herself via a time traveling, older self, to take the job.

Sound intriguing? There is more!

This book throws all kinds of literary references into the mix and Jane Eyre becomes endangered when Hades threatens Jane's life.

I won't go much further or I will spoil the book for those of you who might want to read it.

This book was very enjoyable for me. It is supposedly a young adult book but, with the sheer number of literary references, it was perfect for me with my adult knowledge base of literature. There were times when I literally laughed out loud and shared sections with Hubby (who, not being an avid reader, didn't really "get" most of what I read him).

If you have the time, pick up this little book and, possibly, the entire series. As for myself, I will be hunting down the rest of the series as soon as possible.

Trisha

Voice Update: I haven't been talking too much so I am not too positive about how things are going. I know it is still there (my voice) but as to its fitness . . .??? I am having lunch with a friend so I will get in a good voice workout this afternoon!