Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jan 02, 2010 Paloma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I listened to this on audiobook and the reader, Simon Prebble, was AWESOME. It made the 37 hours (!!) of listening on my commute fly by - he transitions between voices seamlessly and I was always amazed at how consistent he was with the inflections of each character's voice. Also, the book is just lovely. It is a fictitious account of magic in England in the 1800s, and it is written in such a lovely self-aware and slightly humorous manner that makes it totally entertaining. It's dark, whimsical, ...more

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Nov 04, 2014 Jess rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, novel, fairy-tales, england, madness, metafiction, fantasy, romance, history, magic

I really loved this book, and not just because I've been reading it for what seems like half my life. It's a very satisfying, very richly told alternate account of 19th century England. I thought less about Austen (comparisons between this book and Austen abound) while reading it than about Roth, whose Plot Against America similarly answers 'what if?.' Looking forward to the BBC miniseries. ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 Adjrun rated it it was amazing

The book is exceptional. The audiobook - though a daunting 32 hours long - is a MASTERWORK. The narrator is Simon Prebble, and the specificity and character he brings to the immense number of characters in this novel is utterly brilliant (my fave is the Northern soft rasp of Childermass).

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