Has your reading/movie watching habits been influenced by reading Fforde?

I am now starting to watch and read Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett rocks!) for the first time.

I knew nothing about the series so when I found out that Sherlock's brother really is named Mycroft I realised I should read more often (That joke would have been that much better if I had read Holmes before Thursday Next)

And that bit about the "new" Eyre ending being the real one has gotten me interested in Jane Eyre (i've gotten the BBC version but not watched it yet) And I've checked out the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet from the Library......guess why :)

He's the reason I finally broke down & read WATERSHIP DOWN-
had to know what was up with all the rabbits!

Found a copy of a Jane Eyre movie at the dollar store-
haven't watched mine either, so hard to just sit down & watch a whole movie...

My dad's a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, so I was quite familiar with that through the old movies-
has anybody else read SCHLOCK HOLMES, the spoof book?

I found it at the library but haven't heard of it anywhere else-
worth reading it for the comment on bee farming alone...

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For Anton, I recommend the Branagh Hamlet, but if you don't like sitting down and watching a whole movie, this one may not suit you, Z, 'coz it is a magnificent 4 hours long.

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

I think the recent Beeb Jane Eyre series was fab, and very true to the book, although I would have preferred to see a bit more of Jane's childhood, I felt it was kind of skirted over. So I would definitely recommend that if you wanted to watch a screen version of it. But you should read the book, it is probably the most accessible Bronte novel. And on from that, read 'Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys, another recent Beeb series, and another fantastic book - it's about the life of Mr Rochester as a young man in the Caribbean. I think it is mentioned in The Well of Lost Plots.

And have you read Great Expectations, Anton...has Miss Havisham wetted your appetite for Dickensian melodrama?? It's one of my favourite books, I'm glad Jasper Fforde got to redeem her a little bit.

I read kafka because of the Double Consonantly One.
It was weirder even than he made it seem!

Try reading "Great Expextations" by Dickens just after reading Fforde's books : you'll see Miss Havisham with a very different look !

I borrowed my mother's copy of Fairie Queene to see if it was really Top Ten Boring. Yep, it qualified.

I was forced to read Fairie Queene in college, thereby developing a lifelong loathing of its perpetrator-
the reason kids say reading boring is because of stuff like that...

Think I'll skip the Hamlet movie, sounds a bit like a leviathon to me- but speaking of movies:

Has anybody else been reminded of Wayne's World while reading the TN books?

I mean, so far Alice Cooper hasn't shown up, but you never know-
after all, he did manage to Rocky Horror Richard III..

Which leads to my next point:
Fforde has whetted an appetite for all things Shakespeare-
almost enough to make me forget that unfortunate bus crash in high school on the way to see MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING-
pretty ironic title, considering how the day went...

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I read Pride and Prejudice after reading Jasper (and Emma).
I actually meant to read Jane Eyre- still have not!

I think I am one of the few people in the world who has read all of Varney the Vampire.

lol. Well done Robert.

Bottersnikes and Gumbles, anyone? LOVED those books!

This is kinda anti-climatic, after that post I just plain forgot about Jane Eyre and Hamlet.

I did have an excuse, I managed to get half-way through Star Wars: Death Star (been waiting for it since may) and finish The Fourth Bear, Going Postal,Equal Rites, and The Last Hero instead!

Sadly "The Fourth Bear" was the last Jasper Fforde book that I had not read......

No more Fforde.....

<quickly walks away muttering "I said I wouldnt cry">

I have to say Jasper has done something for me no other man could, including my husband! He has actually fostered in me a love of fantasy. Since first reading The Eyre Affair (and I only bought it for the Jane Eyre connection-as I'm a literary Classics anorak) I've tried all the other popular fantasy writers eg Pratchett, Tom Holt, etc but none of them do it for me.
My other half, who is a sci-fi and fantasy addict, just cannot understand how Jasper manages to reach parts of me that other authors can't!!!
TTFN

A lot of fantasy leaves me cold, I must admit. Someone recommended I read 'Chocolate Hollow Bunnies of the Apocalypse' (have I got the title right?) after I was enthusing about Fforde...but it didn't really do it for me. I was thinking that the difference I get from the Thursday Next novels is a feeling of 'warmth' that I don't get from lots of other modern writers.

That was probably me (hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse). I sometimes forget that people can have different tastes to mine.

No it wasn't you 'kitten, it was a friend of mine last year...I did read it, but I didn't think it was as good as JF.

Mrs Majolica

You are absolutely right! I never thought about it before but it is that warm fuzzy feeling you get in the Nextian universe that sets JFf apart from other fantasy writers. How astute!

Having said that my hubbie swears there's nothing to chose between Jasper and Pratchett,and I've tried, I really have, because everybody raves about TP, but I just dont get the warmth.It feels like he tries to be too querky and clever, and I can't fall in love with his characters like I do with Pickwick,Spike (poor,lonely Spike),Commander and Mrs Bradshaw etc.

Bottersnkes! heeehee, I read one of those only two ago (read them when I was small).

I do agree that Jasper's books and characters have something wonderful about them, I like Terry Pratchett, but Jasper has that perfect random unexpectedness about his work. You can never guess what will happen and they are not repeats of themselves.

With some of the early Pratchett's there was a unexpectedness - is that a word?? Some really do come across a maybe TP trying to hard, but lately he seems to have got his Mojo back. But you are right you do have a reasonable idea of where it is all going to end-up, but the twists and references in between are fun! JFf keeps you guessing all the time - and I like Swindon.

Ah, expect the unexpected- love it!

If you like to be kept guessing, then look for anything by John Varley-
you'll find him listed as sci-fi, but he really has stories set in his own universe (that is to say, colonized solar system)...

I always said I love to read books with unexpected twists or funny books-
of course, humor has a way of knocking you off-balance anyway...