(no subject)
I just finished reading Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and I honestly can't think of enough superlatives to describe this book. I loved it, absolutely loved it. I don't tend to love books very often, which sounds strange coming from someone who loves reading as much as I do and does it so often. I mean, I enjoy books, I'm entertained by some, I learn things from others, some are like comfort blankets that I read when I've nothing else to read, some I love the writing style, others I love the characters or the story...
Anyway, I don't find very many books that I absolutely adore, and this...this is one. Even though I've finished it I keep picking it up and carrying it around with me because I don't want to leave it quite yet. I feel like I want to go back to the beginning and read it for the first time all over again, or, failing that, simply read it again. I don't want to start another book, because whatever it will be it won't be as good as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Try, if you can, to imagine a book distilled from the composed essence of JK Rowling, Philip Pullman, JRR Tolkein, Jane Austen and William Makepeace Thackeray, and you might come close to this book. All that, and you get Raven Kings, nameless slaves, magicians, fairies, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Byron and George III! People, you must read this book. And if you don't like it, then I don't know what's wrong with you.