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A review by bohoautumn
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
5.0
You know those desert island type questions? well, I'm terrible at them. I can never think off the top of my head my most favourite whatevers. The best I've got is...
If I Were to Be Stranded on an Island I Wouldn't Complain If I Had The Following Books to Read List.
Four books that always seem to crop up are;
Don Quixote, Pride & Prejudice, On the Road, I Ching, Wuthering Heights.
Next place is now taken up by Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I can give no higher, or easier, praise.
So you recommend it?
Good heavens no! It's for a most Particular Type of creature. It would give the ordinary person odd and twisted notions about; French armies, enchantment, the questionable state of Portuguese maps, messy necromancy, respectable English magic and it's proper place in the nation, Borgesian footnotes*, the usefulness of faeries, kingship, London, the gentlemanly way to walk through a mirror, libraries, the use of capitalisation, and suspect paths through English country sides, among other things. And holding this 1000+ page tome gives your hand a cramp.
Do you see? You're better off without it. If you visit and ask to borrow it, I dare say you'll witness a most peculiar inability for it to release from my hands. in fact, forget I ever mentioned it. Susanna Clarke who? Never heard of her.
* Please refer to Thou Art the Footnote: History, Theory & Practical Application of a Lost Skill, (2nd Ed), Yves Bookman.
If I Were to Be Stranded on an Island I Wouldn't Complain If I Had The Following Books to Read List.
Four books that always seem to crop up are;
Don Quixote, Pride & Prejudice, On the Road, I Ching, Wuthering Heights.
Next place is now taken up by Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I can give no higher, or easier, praise.
So you recommend it?
Good heavens no! It's for a most Particular Type of creature. It would give the ordinary person odd and twisted notions about; French armies, enchantment, the questionable state of Portuguese maps, messy necromancy, respectable English magic and it's proper place in the nation, Borgesian footnotes*, the usefulness of faeries, kingship, London, the gentlemanly way to walk through a mirror, libraries, the use of capitalisation, and suspect paths through English country sides, among other things. And holding this 1000+ page tome gives your hand a cramp.
Do you see? You're better off without it. If you visit and ask to borrow it, I dare say you'll witness a most peculiar inability for it to release from my hands. in fact, forget I ever mentioned it. Susanna Clarke who? Never heard of her.
* Please refer to Thou Art the Footnote: History, Theory & Practical Application of a Lost Skill, (2nd Ed), Yves Bookman.