tam Switzerland

Nothing special, no amazement at all.
Nice idea.
In theory.
But the characters are not alive enough. Not to my taste, at least. I didn't feel sympathetic to anyone of them. At the point that I wouldn't have cried, if they have gone all the "long way down". I sort of wished it, at a point...

I first read the fifth book of the Thursday Next's saga, so it's really difficult for me to say if TN's world is an easy one to fit in. I guess yes, because I really enjoyed nr. 5 ("First Among Sequels").
In her first adventure, we meet young and single (sigh!) Thursday Next and we learn about her world - which is ours, if things in history had gone slightly differently.
No spoiling at all here, therefore I only add that she is a fully enjoyable character: a true heroine with a lot of background (and forward...) story and an emotional life.
No idea how Jasper Fforde works, but he's really good at moving backward/forward on the timeline, and inside/outside between reality and books in order to conduct the investigation.
Now I only have to read Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre", at last :)

Da Chen tells us his life in a very fresh, immediate way. He offers us an insight into communist China - and the hard life for the descendants of a landlord's family. Then Mao simply dies, and things slightly change. But the big changes in Da's life are made possible by love and cohesion in his family. A story with a moral, without being moralistic.
Maybe, if I had read this book many years ago, I would have been a better student myself :)

I'm not really sure about what I've just finished reading. It could be just an incredible fantasy novel that takes place in an hospital I will never forget. Or it could be the half oneiric half realistic experience of a dying man in a comatose state. Or something else I cannot see right now.
Fact is, the story is funny, intriguing, compelling. Gruesome at times. Loaded with great characters: they are so many, the Author displays a list at the end of the book. But they are so beautifully characterized, I never mixed them up nor got confused.
I truly enjoyed this book. Which I obviously chose because of its sexy cover: a rule that always works.

I've been reading it for only one day and a half,
but already LOVE it!
Actually, the very beginning was quite painful, because I first opened the book during my acupuncture session. Let's say that the outbursts of laughing didn't really help.
I only pray it goes on like this till the end!

UPDATE:
Yes, it does.