Jasper Fforde?

[Guttersnipe]

I just scanned some summaries by novels written by Jasper Fforde (I forget how I alighted on him) and I think his ideas really sound appealing to me, considering how a lot of them seem to be about alternate histories. Is there a novel of his you find particularly compelling or quintessential to his style that you'd recommend starting with?

 

[BAYLOR]

The Eyre Affair . It's the beginning of the series.

 

[Dave]

The Eyre Affair . It's the beginning of the series.

Probably best to begin at the beginning, but his writing get's better with time, and there is more than one series, not just the Thursday Next series!
(I haven't read his YA books) but I think his stand-alone novels are the best of his books - the most recent being Constant Rabbit, but also Early Riser, and up there amongst my favourite books of all, Shades of Grey.

One problem I can see though, is that since his books do involve current affairs and alternate histories they might age quite rapidly. His books are filled with, often very subtle, jokes, on different levels, that may not be obvious even after several readings. They are extremely clever, maybe too clever for some people who just want to be amused and distracted by a book.

 

[Montero]

I wasn't that keen on Shades of Grey, much prefer the Thursday Next series.
Also rather like the Nursery Crime books but I wouldn't start with them as I initially found it confusing as there is a lot of complexity to the worldbuilding that is better introduced in the Thursday Next series. Nursery Crime are taking the rise out of detective novels and films.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Read only one of his Thursday Next books, but I really enjoyed it, would recommend, especially the running joke about her pet dodo, one day I really must read the whole series.