Bought at an outlet mall. Plan to read soon.

RELEASE NOTES:

Put in booklady331's cd only bookbox.

Taking out of the CD-only bookbox. Other Jasper Fforde books have interested me, so I'm snagging this one to listen to. Thanks!

Everyone recommended Jasper Fforde. And I had heard such great things about the Tuesday Next series. But I received a copy of The Big Over Easy as a RABCK and grabbed one from an audio bookbox as well. It took me a while to get to this on my TBR shelf, but I'm so glad I did. I absolutely adore nursery rhymes (I think they're a basic cultural base that kids need to have) and I know them so well as to have picked up on all of the wonderful characters and situations used/referenced in this book.

Fforde really does create amazing characters. It was easy to identify with Mary Mary as she was introduced to the NCD (Nursery Crimes Division) and Jack Sprat, the head of that department. She is thrown into the middle of a tough case that seems so many times as though it was closed... but it wasn't! Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Or... was he pushed? The cast of characters is really amazing--they're all quirky and fun, even the ones you don't like. But the mystery in the story is weighted just as much in the story and BOTH the characters and the complex mystery keep the story going. That's a rare thing, and Fforde does it with what feels like no effort at all. There were SO many twists and turns and I kept trying to solve it and failing. The ending was pleasantly surprising and highly entertaining. I kept finding reasons to jump back in the car so I could listen to more and find out whodunit!

Oh, and the world that is created--a world where police officers are celebrities and fictional characters become quite real, a world where the silliest fictional nursery rhymes/myths are converted into real investigative and judicial situations (though stay so faithful to the original)--is just so clever. At the beginning of each chapter, you get a fun clipping/story/report (like the trial of the straw-to-gold spinner who insisted the judge guess his name) that entertains and brings more depth to the world (though the characters do that just fine on their own as well). I also loved the illustration of Humpty in the front of the book. After I finished earreading the book, I went back through and read all the beginnings of chapters again.

The best thing about Fforde is the humor. It is precisely the kind of humor I like the most. It's dry and clever and deadpan. And I couldn't get enough of it. Seriously, this might just be the funniest fiction story I've ever read or earread. (I only say "might" because I can't honestly think of one I thought was funnier, but my memory sucks).

I put the second book on hold at the library and cannot wait to read it!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I was talking about this book with melydia the other day, and she expressed an interest in it. She listens to a lot of audio books, so I'm lending it to her to earread.

I hope she enjoys it as much as I did!

Borrowing this from KateKintail. I like the author, I like the reader - I hope I like the story! :)

Detective Jack Spratt heads the somewhat failing Nursery Crimes Division of the Reading Police Department. Shortly after being assigned Mary Mary as his new partner, Spratt and his team are faced with solving the suspicious death of one Humperdink "Humpty" Dumpty. In a world where police departments get much of their funding from royalties earned publishing the gripping tales of their cases in Amazing Crimes magazine, Friedland Chymes is king, and he wants the Humpty case. Spratt's boss gives him until the budgetary committee meeting to solve the case, so it's a race against time and the laughs are nonstop. This is, quite simply, one of the funniest novels I've ever read. I listened to it on audio, read by the immensely talented Simon Prebble, and on many occasions I laughed out loud or even repeated some of the funnier lines. They come at you from all sides, from hilarious takes on famous nursery rhyme characters to witty business names (my favorite newspaper name was The Daily Eyestrain) to truly bizarre plot twists. Highly recommended, but you might want to brush up on your nursery rhymes first so you can catch more of the jokes. Trust me, you'll enjoy it just that much more.

Thanks so much for loaning this to me, KateKintail!

I'm adding this to booklady311's Audio Bookbox. I hope it finds a new reader who'll enjoy it!

Selecting this from Booklady331's CD ONLY Audio Book Box . I look forward to listening to it at some point, and reporting back.

I think I'm in the minority when it comes to Jasper Fforde. I can see the appeal, and he does a great job with mixing pun and nursery rhymes, or classic lit characters, or whatever his schtick is for that particular book, but it just doesn't appeal to me. I always find myself humming that old Billy Joel song, "Just the way you are". It's not that "I don't want clever conversation. I never want to work that hard." Sometimes clever repartee is phenomenal. It's just I don't want to feel I'm probably missing something horribly clever, simply because I'm a dunderhead, or culturally deprived.

Given to a friend for a road trip. She will wild release it after finished listening.

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