Thursday Next reading order

A plan for the whole series

8 volumes, 3,132 pages, about 55 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 3 months.

• From volume 2 on, the number of ratings falls most before volume 3, “The Well of Lost Plots” (by 29%). Plan your break after volume 2, before the series plans it for you.
• The series is still running; the last volume came out in 2026. You will wait for the next one anyway, so no need to rush.

Stages

4 stages, with 3 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around January 31, 2027, 17 days later than in one go.

1. 1
   Stage 114 h19 daysby November 17, 2026

   • 1. The Eyre Affair2001 · 384 pages · 7 h
   • 2. Lost in a Good Book2002 · 399 pages · 7 h
2. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by November 26, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
3. 2
   Stage 215 h19 daysby December 16, 2026

   • 3. The Well of Lost Plots2003 · 381 pages · 7 h
   • 4. Something Rotten2004 · 416 pages · 8 h
4. Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by December 20, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
5. 3
   Stage 315 h20 daysby January 9, 2027

   • 5. First Among Sequels2007 · 416 pages · 8 h
   • 6. One of Our Thursdays Is Missing2011 · 400 pages · 7 h
6. Short breakOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century · Timothy Snyder · 128 pp. · score 8.42 h, by January 13, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
7. 4
   Stage 413 h18 daysby January 31, 2027

   • 7. The Woman Who Died a Lot2012 · 384 pages · 7 h
   • 8. Dark Reading Matter2026 · 352 pages · 6 h
8. The end of the series

   January 31, 2027

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

Does the series hold up

Shape of the series: even. Volume scores differ by at most 0.3 points. You get the same level from the first page to the last.

Best volume: Something Rotten (8.1, 137 ratings). Weakest: The Eyre Affair (7.8). From volume 2 on, the biggest drop in the number of ratings is between volume 2 and 3: 29%. The series is not finished; the last volume came out in 2026. The last volume (8.1) scores close to the series average or above it.