74/111 - One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde

So I finally got round to reading the last Thursday Next book! I've been putting this one off for quite a while now, because even though I always enjoy reading them, they are very cerebral and quite complex to read. I found that I really needed to fully immerse myself in them to get the best out of them. Some books are easier for dipping in and out of at different times, but this series has required a lot of concentration.

This was a little different from the other books, because Thursday is not the main protagonist of the story. Thursday has gone missing, and it is the written Thursday who has to look for her, and this is a kind of coming-of-age story for her, I guess.

In this volume, the Bookworld has also been remade somewhat, and books are now grouped together in different genres in a physical way - there is designated land for crime, suspense, horror etc. The books themselves can all be moved around if necessary - for example a book from the island of vanity publishing could be moved to published fiction if it gets picked up by a publisher in the real world. In fiction, there is even a section for conspiracy theories - on the rare occasion that a conspiracy theory is proven to be true, they are then moved to non-fiction, which causes somewhat of an identity crisis. I also really liked the idea that comedy is a dangerous genre to go into, and there is a great scene where the written Thursday is attacked by a hoard of mimes.

That's all for now.

Next: Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen