Fforde Every Stream

I just finished reading The Eyre Affair. It's the first time I've read anything by Jasper Fforde. Why? Because Tiger Boy had a thing against him: a certain internalized rivalry, because he'd had a short story rejected on the grounds that it was "too much like Jasper Fforde" -- specifically the Nursery Crime series, because it was submitted right around the time The Big Over Easy came out, and in all fairness, it actually was (coincidentally) along similar lines, despite the fact that he'd written it well before. So he bore a grudge, and thus I never felt like I ought to read (much less enjoy) anything of Jasper Fforde, because it would be disloyal or something.

... Right. That particular bridge being well washed out, I finally took this one out of the library.

And what do you know, I quite liked it. It's lacking something in terms of absolute brilliance, but it struck a lightness of tone that is in fact in the vein of something I have recently started pondering writing -- a kind of alternate-universe urban-fantasy cleverness, occasionally precious, but not taking itself so seriously that that poses a problem. And the climactic scene literally gave me both chills and grins by turns, which is always a good sign.

But it helps to be really, really well acquainted with Jane Eyre. Probably Shakespeare, too. And a smattering of Lake District poetry for good measure. -- Geez, why did it take me so long to pick this up again?