Dear Bookworms,
Jasper Fforde’s lighthearted romp through literature continues in Something Rotten, his fourth book in the Thursday Next series. 
Tired out after a two year stint running Jurisfiction within the BookWorld, Thursday Next decides it is time to return to the outside world and reclaim her actual life. Her assignments in fiction, however, are nothing compared with the tasks that await her outside of it.
Getting back to her personal life and work as a Literary Detective is complicated, by the presence of the one and only Hamlet, who is on a mission to research his reputation outside of fiction. Unfortunately for him, and for Thursday, who is responsible for keeping an eye on the wandering prince, England is currently on a vicious and perfectly illogical boycott of all things Danish.
At the same time, she must also attempt to preserve her own life against the repeated attempts of a professional assassin, her sanity against the persistent efforts of her personal stalker, and her strength in order to win a the professional croquet tournament the 1988 World Croquet League SuperHoop, on which the fate of the free world actually hangs.
Because the nature of this series is so literary, many books are mentioned throughout the novel. For those who wish to avoid spoilers, the list below includes the titles to read before Something Rotten.
Please note that this list does not cover all materials mentioned in this book, as that list would be extremely long indeed, but only those that are crucial to the plotline of this novel or have some kind of spoiler mentioned.
Some series consist of novels which contain a common thread but can be read largely independently from one another. This is not one of those series. Fforde’s fantastical imagination builds upon his characters and setting from book to book and consequently, all book recommendations listed for the previous novels are excluded from this list. For those lists, please see The Write Teachers reviews for The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, and The Well of Lost Plots.
What to Read Before Reading Something Rotten
* A healthy knowledge of the works of Shakespeare is recommended for this series. References to many of his works appear throughout. For this book, however, Hamlet takes precedence.
1 = Significant spoilers and/or pertinence to the plot of this book.
- The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
2 = References that reveal something about the classic but do not affect the plot of this book.
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter
- Beowulf
- The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
3 = Minor remarks that probably won’t spoil too much.
- Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
- The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien
Know of any spoilers that I missed? Leave a comment below and let me know!
Keep reading!
Live, Love, Learn
p.s. get your very own copy of Something Rotten here.