Books

Ok so people who know me know that I read... a lot. For lack of a better way to really start out my blogging, I figured I would take a page out of my sister Windy's book (ha) and start with a book review. My most recent find is the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. Sometimes I read too much and end up running out of books I'm interested in... so one day I was wandering around the internet trying to find something new to read when I found this site. The range of recommendations is fairly limited, but it's fun to play around on and in any case, it led me to Thursday Next. I'm still reading the 5th book, but I can tell you this is a very funy series worth checking out, especially if you love literature! I'd love to try summarizing the books for you - but that just isn't going to happen. The stories are complicated and the many plot lines are so interwoven that any summary would be nearly as long as the books themselves... so instead I will just give you a taste of the books through a favorite excerpt. It won't really make sense without reading the books, but just know this conversation is taking place during a meeting within an agency called Jurisfiction that polices literature from inside books (I dare you to make sense of this on the first read-through):

'Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren't you working on this?'
Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. 'Indeed. The use of had had and that that has to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the ImaginoTransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.'
'Go on.'
'It's mostly an unlicensed usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had sixty-three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim's Progress may also be a problem owing to its had had / that that ratio.'
'So what's the problem in Progress?'
'That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.'
'Hmm,' said the Bellman. 'I thought had had had had TGC's approval for use in Dickens? What's the problem?'
'Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,' explained Lady Cavendish. 'You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had
approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.'
'So the problem with that other that that was that—?'
'That that other-other that that had had approval.'
'Okay,' said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, 'let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, which had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC's approval?'
There was a very long pause.
'Right,' said the Bellman with a sigh. 'That's it for the moment.

I think I read that part at leaste 2 or 3 times slowly to make sure I had it all worked out correctly in my brain. Anyway, I fully recommend these books, they are so good! Also sometimes for a laugh I read the auther's 'The Toad' online fake news page.