She discovered this author very early in 2007 and in the ensuing year has read his entire back list and his newest book which hit shelves on this side of the pond in July.
The winner of 2007's Best Discovered Author award is, Jasper Fforde!
Fforde is the author of the brilliantly zany Thursday Next series and equally odd-but-wonderful Nursery Crime series, featuring detectives Jack Spratt and Mary Mary.
This series was recommended to Word Nerd by two other bibliophile friends and she didn't hesitate to dive right in to reading them.
Fforde gets the nod this year because his books are so original. Word Nerd's not sure there's anybody else out there writing books quite like this, that blend mystery, science fiction, satire and literary history so well and are such a joy to read. Fforde has a delightful imagination that takes unexpected turns in the stories. He's also got a gift for puns and literary and cultural humor and all three are peppered through his books. (Word Nerd's fav? Probably the special agents Lamb and Slorter or the citing of Triffids in one of the books.)
Just for fun, Word Nerd names Jim Butcher as the runner-up. Butcher writes the Dresden Files series. They are entertaining, but don't quite rise to the level of Fforde's body of work.
Word Nerd earlier this year had a chance to interview Fforde and you can find the Q&A here.
In series order, here are links to all of Word Nerd's reviews of his books.
Thursday Next
The Eyre Affair
Lost in a Good Book
Well of Lost Plots
Something Rotten
First Among Sequels
Nursery Crime
The Big Over Easy
The Fourth Bear
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