The Secret Life of Books

What happens when a book is not being read?   Just ask Jasper Fforde author of  One of Our Thurday’s is Missing, the latest installment in the Thursday Next series.

According to Mr. Fforde  your favorite book characters fill in for characters who are on vacation.   For example, when Harry Potter is on vacation, Tom Sawyer covers for him.  Qudditch is a welcome break from painting fences.

Some books, says Mr.  Fforde,  attempt to increase their readership  by  muscling into another  genre’s territory. “Racey” fiction once tried to annex “chick lit” which tried to adjoin itself to feminist literature. Being unread for a prolonged period of time is a precursor to being recycled.

And some characters, reports Mr. Fforde, not being up to the rigors of their plot, just walk away from their books.  Recently Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights” decided he’d had enough and hid himself in a Danielle Steele novel.  Rumor has it that Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan will be taking his place, while Heathcliff is being treated for depression in the self-help section.

It takes a special person to keep books and their characters in line and that is the work of Mr. Fforde’s character Thursday Next.   She is a special agent that can travel between the real world and “book world."   Ms. Next’s charge is to maintain order in the book world.

Thursday Next’s adventures in the book world and the real world are chronicled in six books, beginning with The Eyre Affair.   Each book is a terrific combination of lunacy, satire, and great storytelling.  If you like to laugh and you like literature spend some time with Jasper Fforde and Thursday Next.

The Thursday Next novels , in order are:  The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, Thursday Next: First Among Sequels and One of Our Thursdays Is Missing.

All six of the Thursday Next novels are available at the Jefferson Township Public Library.  You can borrow any of them by visiting the library at 1031 Weldon Road, in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson or by visiting the library’s web-site at http:// www.jeffersonlibrary.net. 

The Jefferson Library is open from 9:30 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday Through Friday, 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. on Sunday.