Book Banter -- Something Rotten

Title: Something Rotten
Author: Jasper Fforde
Length: 383 pages
Genre: mystery/comedy
Plot Basics: SPOILER ALERT

Literary detective Thursday Next decides that living in the Book World with her now two-year-old son, Friday, has lost its luster and she wants to return to the real world. She returns to find that her former nemeses, Goliath Corp and Yorrick Kaine, are still up to go good... and unless she can help her hometown croquet team, The Swindon Mallets, win the SuperHoop championship, Goliath and Kaine could bring about the end of the world. It's going to take all of Thursday's craftiness and some help from Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, Thursday's time-traveling dad and some neanderthals to possibly avoid disaster.
Banter Points: Fforde's imagination just keeps getting wilder. One would think that the books where Thursday is working for Jurisfiction inside Book World would be the really odd ones, but Fforde keeps things just as strange in this one in the real world. Time-travel, genetic engineering, Hamlet, croquet... It sounds strange all listed out, but Fforde makes it work together in a good read. Word Nerd especially liked Hamlet's role in the story, since Hamlet is one of Word Nerd's favorite Shakespeare works.
Bummer Points: Again, no chapter 13. Fforde explains why here.
Word Nerd recommendation: Fans of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett should enjoy Fforde. Don't skip ahead in the series though... these books do need to be read in order.