Sigh, just what we need, another revolutionary, unusual fantasy book by an author with a practiced mastery of tone. When will authors like Clarke realize that what the fantasy genre needs are more pseudo-medieval monomyths that sprawl out into fifteen volumes?

Her magic didn't conveniently solve all of the characters' problems, instead, they wasted time thinking through conflicts and then had to solve them by taking action; how dull is that? The magic was weird, anyways. It didn't have a simplist More...

Without a doubt the best book I have read this year. I write that without hesitation and with a beaming smile on my face. Incredible. Enthralling. Amazing. The book was over 800 pages long and it did not seem long enough. When I finished the book, I immediately turned out the light and tried to drift off to sleep, because I knew nothing else I did that night was going to top the feeling I got after blowing through the last 100 pages like a madwoman. I want to start it over again, immediately.

The More...

“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
--William Shakespeare, “Midsummer Night’s Dream”

I summon magic to write this review. How do I convince you to read a thousand-page epic, without revealing its plot? Fairies attend me. “Tree speaks to stone. Stone speaks to water. Speak to me.”

In Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke enchants us with her tale about the restoration of English magic during the Na More...

I so wanted to like this book. The idea is just wonderful. I was so pleased for a while to be in that world, a historical England. I love the dialogue and descriptions. And I love the idea of magic in an otherwise real setting, as though it were a normal part of our actual world. But it was so frustrating to read after a while. The footnotes, auuuugh, the footnotes. They were cute at first, because the book is written sort of like a history book from that period. But after a while they were just More...

If a novel of nearly 900 pages can be summarised in one phrase then Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell may, I think, be described as a stately, sly, witty, intricate, comic retelling of Dracula, with digressions and very little blood.

Count Dracula takes life from beautiful young ladies, enslaves them, enchants them, enraptures them, steals them away, into his own twilight (oops, sorry) vampire world – they become something other than what they were, undead, not alive yet not dead, creatures which More...

the hero of this novel, Mr. Norrell, is in many ways a stranger in a strange land, uncomfortable with base emotions and disappointed with the shabbiness and inadequacies of others... yet always yearning for true companionship. a dignified, erudite, and refined gentleman: quietly soulful and elegantly restrained; commanding in his encyclopedic knowledge of the magical arts.

the other character, a fey and unreliable sort apparently named "Jonathan Strange", offers fleeting friendship that is quick More...

This was written back in January. I'm not sick now!

Books to avoid when you're feverish:

Infinite Jest
Headhunter

And the part of this book when Strange starts to toy with madness - which, of course, was the part I was at when I was stricken down with the flu. I'm recuperating now, but I still can't sit upright under my own steam for more than a couple of minutes, which would explain why I'm trying to write this on my lap on the couch while reclining back so I don't get dizzy. This virus sucks.

Anywa More...

Choupette's review captures the essence and beauty of this book, and you should totally read it.

This book devastated me, which seems out of place given its winking tone and meandering story-telling style. Its always seemed to me that there are two kinds of magic: sleight of hand and magic. Because this book was avowedly about the the latter, I forgot about the former, forgot that storytellers are tricksters and liars, conjuring people out of the air and dancing them about so that your attention More...

Although Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell turns out to be a book I dearly love, I'm afraid I can't recommend it to just anyone. Whether you'll like it or not will truly depend on what you expect it to be. If you wish for a fast-paced excitement then this book is probably not for you. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a blend of meticulously researched historical fiction and imaginative fantasy, sprinkled here and there with biting social comedy, and written in a style similar to Austen's, whic More...

In the beginning was a preface, and then an introduction, followed by some exposition, and then an opening.

Looking through the reviews, it appears many people either adore it or hate it. Frankly, I'm in neither camp, because I can't work up enough emotion to care. It took a long time to become interested, and I finally had to resort to a strategy of reading only a few chapters at a time, setting free any expectation that this was a book that would pull me in and never let me go. It became the p More...

Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my HUGO WINNERS list.

This is the reading list that follows the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I loved reading the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners so I'm going to crack on with the Hugo winners next (but only the post-1980 winners, I'll follow up with More...

Amazing, astounding, supertastical, brilliant. These are all just a handful of the real (and created) adjectives at my disposal to throw at this book. However I believe that were I to get into an adjective war this book would defeat me hands down with the potency of the words inside. And having done so would commence to bury me in a pile of prose so powerful that I would be diabolically destroyed.

I loved this hauntingly beautiful book. It was well written with the careful and clear strokes of a More...

This book represents, for me, everything that makes Goodreads great. I never heard of this book before coming to Goodreads. It was through connections with other people and becoming friends, and perhaps some passive-aggressive bullying (you know who you are!) that I finally found this book; it feels like it was tailor-made for me, and it has made my life feel richer.

I need to remember to maintain composure; I'm a gentleman, after all, and gentlemen must not make fools of themselves. There is a p More...

Neil Gaiman said that this book is "hard to overpraise", I will make an attempt thus:

While I was reading the second half of this book it occurred to me that I don't actually need to read any other novel ever again, I could just read this one book over and over again for the rest of my days and when the Grim Reaper calls I shall have this book clutched possessively in my stiff, unyielding fingers.

Momentary insanity of course, but it is indicative of the devotion I feel toward this book. With in t More...

NOTE: I didn't put the spoiler flag on this review because it technically doesn't give anything big away. Nevertheless it does come pretty close. So, if want to dive into the book completely clean you might consider moving on. You have been warned.

On with the review. First off, this is not Harry Potter for grown ups. I really hate it when people use that lazy comparison not only because it's completely stupid but because it isn't even remotely true.

With that off my chest, I can say that this is More...

Actually a really good book. Loved the detail and all the footnotes. But in case you have no patience to read a long and rambly book, but want to know what happens, here's a recap:

---

Mr Norrell
I've spent all my life studying magic and now I'm going to revive it in England. By which I mean I want everyone to see how good I am and admire me. Fairy, revive Lady Pole so the cabinet ministers will be impressed with me.

The gentleman with thistle-down hair
Ooh, how pretty! (Revives Lady Pole, then encha More...

Note: this review is hopefully only temporary, as I was stuck in a writing slump and found myself unable to come up with anything worthwhile, but they say that the best way to overcome it is to just fucking write.

So, for what it's worth-

Clarke is undoubtedly a talented writer, yet I think to call her simply that wouldn’t do justice to her skill. She’s not just skillful, she’s also devastatingly creative, expertly combining a fully realized Victorian setting with the magical elements of the fant More...

I'd heard for a long time how amazing this book was, and I was decidedly unmoved by it. I did read the whole thing, and at 800 pages, that felt like an accomplishment. Clarke obviously put a lot of work into the back story, creating an entire historical library of magic that is cited in footnotes throughout. That kind of detailed work is, i suppose, admirable. However, I found the two main characters (rich white English men) boring. I couldn't bring myself to really care what happened to them, a More...

Jesus Christ, this book reads like molasses. It's like the author took every book from her Brit Lit class and consciously tried to make it wordier and longer than all of them combined. I get the point she wants to make, but I honestly could not get past the second chapter.

It also was so incredibly pretentious. The whole thing has this superior feel, like having a conversation with someone who is absolutely reassured of how much smarter they are than you. It left me feeling bored, stupid, depres More...

This was extremely well-written and I found the story engaging, BUT:

a. no book needs to be this long
b. it's really irritating when there are so many (fictional and "clever") footnotes, many of which take up more page space than the actual novel.

Didn't finish it for that reason, as I lost my patience after about 200 hundred pages.

Let us start at the beginning, shall we?

I've seen the Jane Austen comparisons, and for a while, that was the truest description of the book. Oh, you had your magic, but it was all very clean cut and bureaucratic and properly filed out in a mix of social gatherings and book references. All very English, is the closest I can get to a suitable description. And so I resigned myself to collecting witty quotes while perusing a charming yet not so remarkable tale of gentlemen magicians.

Lucky for me, th More...

Having just this afternoon finished this book, I am quite stunned by both the narrative, the story, and the world view.

The weave of parody, darkness, comedy of manners, historical context, and a complex fantasy world leaves many questions for the reader to sit with. Not the least of these is how seriously does Susanna Clarke take many of the philosophical questions that many of the characters take quite seriously.

But my uncertainty does not change my feelings that this is an excellent read.

Th More...

Ok, fine, you caught me. I confess. I didn't actually finish this book in time to list it on my 2011 challenge, and I didn't finish it in January either. Sorry. Sorry, everyone.

I first read JS&MN in 2006, while recovering from an appendectomy...although when I say "recovering," I really mean "being lazy." I'd been horribly sick one day and had sharp pains in my right side the next, so I diagnosed myself with appendicitis and went straightaway to the hospital (where the doctor seemed annoyed More...

You have to give Susanna Clarke props for ambition. In itself, her combination of fantasy and well-researched historical fiction isn’t new. Guy Gavriel Kay has made a career out of it, and a very good one, too. (If you haven’t read any Kay, do yourself a favour and rectify that situation as soon as possible. Seriously, the man is brilliant.) However, to write a huge historical fantasy novel in the language of the time in which the story is set is a different feat altogether, and in Jonathan Stra More...

This poor book, it's in rough shape. It has sat on my bookshelf for over a year in perfect condition, but now...it's not pretty. I've lugged it around for weeks on the chance I could sneak in a page or two, the cover's all bent up from when I fell asleep on it, and my can of Diet Dr. Pepper got knocked over and spilled all over the corner. Having spent so much time reading and unwillingly damaging this, it feels strange to be without it now that I'm finished.

I wasn't really sure what to expect f More...

I don't know if it's Stockholm Syndrome (as Jennifer aka EM mentioned in her comments on War and Peace) or if I really did wind up loving this book after the two thousand years it took me to read it. What I do know is, now that it's over, I want to back the whole thing up, make a three point turn and start it all over again.

Note on the audiobook: Simon Prebble is a brilliant narrator!

4 stars

Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book now resides, safe and secure, at my blog. You can read it by following this link: http://bit.ly/11iF4Si

It certainly takes a powerful kind of magic to propel me through a tome like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell at the pace that I went. It had the captivating air of a refreshing new world full of fun insights that kept me interested as I read it. I slowly burned away my free time after school and work with my nose buried in this book. Generally I appreciate the quick and dirty reads that start fast and end fast with lots of nonsensical fluff to keep my brain preoccupied, but Susanna Clarke prov More...

Fantastic story. One of the few that actually lives up to the hype. Be warned though: this is a loooong book and it is true that, from one point of view at least, it can be said that not too much happens in it. The title tells us what the two main sections of the book will cover: the lives of the last two true magicians in an alternate 19th century Britain. They are the bookish, annoying and altogether full of himself Mr. Norrell and the flighty, brilliant and altogether full of himself Jonathan More...

I may love this book. No really, I may be in deep, deep love with this book.

And, look at all the reasons why:

1] The Language
From the very first paragraph I could tell that this book was a wonderful labor of love

“Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians. They met upon the third Wednesday of every month and read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic.”

“He understood for the first time that the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for some More...