Light Fantastic

Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, 241 pages


The Light Fantastic was, well fantastic. It is the first novel in quite some time that has actually made me laugh out loud. It is the continuation of the Discworld series and so again follows the travels of Rincewind, Twoflower and Luggage.

Following their not quite an escape in the last book they strangely end up not dead. This is of course all the spells fault, but really what isn't in Rincewinds life. Actually their not dying is rather important as it turns out the entire discworld's future relies on them not being dead. This is the strange tale of what happens when they are not dead. From the talking trees and rocks to crazy wizards and redcaps it is one heck of an adventure.

If you liked any of Pratchett's other work or like the puns and silliness of Piers Anthony you should most certainly give this a read. Though unless you read Colour of Magic it wont make much sense. Actually even after reading Colour of Magic, it doesnt make that much sense.

Ogres Wife

Ogre's Wife by Ron Koertge, 79 pages

Once again I was lured into reading poetry, this time it was the covers fault. How can you not read a book that has a pipe smoking jellyfish on it?

Ogre's Wife is a collection of short and quite often humorous poems concerning just about everything. There is a poem about Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, another about poking a dead crow, and also about an ogre's wife. Of course there are others, but some of them I am not sure what they are about.

Since so many of the poems were silly in at least one degree, I can't say that I found any poems that were truly bad or that I would say I disliked. But there was also only a couple I would call good.


As a side note I would really like to have this cover art as a poster or painting.

Woman who died a lot

The Woman Who Died a Lot: now with 50% Added Subplot by Jasper Fforde, 366 pages

This is the seventh book in Thursday Next series. A fair number of fellow staffers who saw me reading this all had the same two questions. One "Does she die a lot?" and two "Is that possible?". Well let me say yes she dies a lot and it is possible.

This book is a must read for anyone who works in a library. There are tons of jokes and everyday library problems addressed. Sadly this book takes place entirely in the real world. Not that it looses any of its funniness but it does lose some of the weirdness. This is a great continuation to the series and now I just have to wait on the next one.

One of the highlights of this one are the puns and one liners. The one that comes easily to mind is "Do I have to deal with crazy people?" "Of course your a librarian".

One of our Thursdays is missing

One of our Thursdaysis Missing: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde, 362 pages

 This is the sixth book in the Thursday Next series. Unlike the rest of the series this book is entirely from the perspective of the written Thursday from Thursday's revised book series. This novel again almost entirely takes place in the bookworld.

There are several things that I really enjoyed about this book. First we get a map of how book world is structured. This is both useful and interesting to look at, due to genre placement. Secondly being that the story takes place in fiction, and fiction is a strange world, there was plenty of strange and funny stuff. And lastly everything to do with the hard to place oversize genre.
This book is action packed and quite humorous even without the mime field or the clown army. If you have read the rest of the series read this one too.

Amphigorey Too

Amphigory Too by Edward Gorey, 244 pages

Having read the first book by Gorey I somewhat knew what to expect going into this. But I was still surprised. While the first book had some stories that only made partial sense this one has some that make none at all. The most notable example being a seven or eight page “story” that is a procession of animals all saying random words. There is a rhyming theme to the words but it’s a little too abstract for me. Read at your sanity's peril.

 

Something Rotten

Thursday Next in SomethingRotten by Jasper Fforde, 385 pages

 

Something Rotten is the fourth book in the Thursday Next series and could be my favorite so far. This is due to the appearance and duel by the Cat formerly known as Cheshire. The duel itself is pure silliness with both sides summoning various literary champions to fight for them. There are very few rules with the only notable one being no summoning krakens.

 

This book also has an underworld like place, a company trying to become a religion, the threat of nuclear war, croquet, and some strange after-death stuff. Did I mention the Neanderthals and the possible returning of a prophet? Of course it also still has all the stuff we enjoy like Pickwick, the dodo, and Thursdays various fictional adventures.

 

I know I have enjoyed the series, and through my description of it my brother has also started reading it. This is one of those series that will never get boring or old.

_{This post brought to you by the Toast Marketing Board. Eat More Toast!}

Fables Volume 1

Fables, the Deluxe Edition Volume 1 by Bill Willingham, 248 pages

This book series came highly recommended by fellow blogger Kara K. It was sold to me as storybook characters that have been forced out of their native lands and into modern society. It is a very long series though it is done as a full color graphic novel.

I know that you should never judge a book by its cover but the first time I saw this book I took a small disliking to it. Something about the cover made it seem more childish or cartoony than I was expecting. But since it was recommended and a graphic novel I gave it a try.

It starts off a little weird but quickly builds into a decent story with somewhat likeable and believable characters. There were some that I didn’t recognize which story book they came from though. By the end I wanted to keep reading, if nothing else because it will be interesting to see where the author goes from here.

One Piece volumes 31-45

One Piece Volumes 31-45 by Eiichiro Oda, 3209 pages 15 books


Previously I had only focused on blogging about this series every ten books. But I realized that this tended to be mid story arc and really complicated the blog posts. So I am trying something new and blogging about one complete story arc called Water Seven.

Water Seven is an island famous for it shipwrights. It is here that the best ships get built, which is fortunate as the Going Merry is nearing the end of its usability. Luffy and his crew also realize that then need to find a competent carpenter to sail with them.

The Water Seven story arc reveals a lot of the back story behind Robin Nico and we get to see who Luffy's dad and grandpa are. In this arc we also see both crew members leaving and crew member(s) added. There is of course lots of fighting and action that is a must for all of these books.

I will have to be vague here to not give away any spoilers, so this might not entirely make sense. The one thing I am not sure I like, though it depends on how it is going to be used, is the featuring of new powers in the group.  These powers seem like evolutions of their previous skills. The reason I don't like this is because previously the members to the crew got by on teamwork and their perseverance. This ability to evolve into a stronger fighter seems like a cop out to allow more one on one fights and to permit stronger bad guys. I am not saying however that it is completely unfounded. The crew have been fighting since they began their journey and it does make sense that they should develop new skills for the new tougher people they are going to meet on the Grand Line, but it makes them lose some of that innocence or loveablity the crew has.

Either way I will keep reading to see what happens, the next arc is called Thriller Bark and I think I remember something about them heading for the underwater paradise of Fish-Man island...

Lost in a Good Book

Thursday Next in Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde, 399 pages


This is the second book in the Thursday Next series. If you can take everything I said about the first book and then add dialogue taking place through footnotes, lots of time travel, the Cheshire Cat, famous literary characters, and lots of coincidences and you would get this book.

I absolutely loved reading it and though Thursday is the star of the book I love the appearance of the Cheshire Cat. I always was a fan of his double speaking and sarcastic attitude and it really shows up here. The story is getting more convoluted as it goes but also brings about enough silliness to make you not care.

Since this series is getting better as it goes, I look forward to reading the rest of the series. Though if it keeps going at its current pace, its going to be nothing but puns by the final book!

Eyre Affair

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, 374 pages

This book, and the Thursday Next series it belongs to was recommended by Kara K. The setting is a somewhat futuristic society in which fiction has become the centerpiece of the culture. There are also extinct species brought back to life, werewolves and other supernatural beings, time travel, and more puns, oddities and hilarity then deserves to be in one book.

The book is silly to the point where you are rolling your eyes at the puns and jokes but just crazy enough that it is acceptable. While it did not have me laughing out loud I did have to stifle some chuckles. Despite the length of the book I managed to finish it in one day. Not because I wanted to, but because I couldn't put it down. If you can handle the silliness I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, especially if you work around books.

One Piece Volumes 21-30

One Piece Volumes 21-30 by Eiichiro Oda, 2048 pages

In this ten volume block we see the conclusion of the Baroque Works story line along with the much expected fight between Sir Crocodile and Luffy. We also see the start of a new storyline called Skypiea. Skypiea is a mythical island in the clouds that is only rumored to exist. That of course is plenty for Luffy who makes it his goal to find it.

Throughout this group of manga I see a growing trend. Where before most, if not all of the fighting was left to Luffy, Zolo and Sanji, now we are seeing everyone pull their own weight. This is most noticeable in Baroque Works. Here each character is basically matched with a Baroque Works agent and must fight mostly on their own. Though this we get to see the characters develop and we see their strengths and weaknesses.

As I near the current halfway mark of this manga series it is nice to see that it still continues to be fresh and unique. There are times where you are not sure the heroes of the story are going to triumph or not. The fights that Luffy is getting into are certainly increasing in difficulty, especially vs Sir Crocodile.

I look forward to continuing this series and while I want to see how it ends, hope there are many more books to come.

One Piece Vol 11-20

One Piece Volumes 11-20, by Eiichiro Oda, 2018 pages

One Piece is a manga that has it all. It has pirates, battles, silliness and of course attractive women in skimpy clothing! The story is pretty good too.

In Volume 12 Luffy finally reaches the Grand Line and can start his adventure looking for the One Piece. Of course the Grand Line is where the toughest and most ruthless pirates reside. This of course means more adventures and fights for Luffy and his crew.

Something I found interesting is that Oda uses one page images to keep us aware of and informed about what previous characters are doing. An example was Buggy the clown, the illustrations showed him meeting the guy stuck in a treasure chest and assembling a new crew before his triumphant reappearance. These side stories help you not only remember that a character still exists, but also are normally humorous as well.

I know Eiichiro Oda is still writing more volumes and in some ways I hope this series never ends.