Comments | sleepyworm: I just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

sleepyworm

I just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Apr 09, 2009 11:10

*crossposted from goodreads ( Read more... )

Comments 25

selve April 9 2009, 15:57:56 UTC

I gave this book to my mom for her birthday a few years ago, and I don't think she ever read it. Or, she started it but didn't finish. Anyway, it sounded really awesome at the time, and now it sounds doubly so.

pawsofjustice April 9 2009, 19:34:44 UTC

I loved this book too.

pawsofjustice April 9 2009, 21:03:34 UTC

What else is in your top 5?

sleepyworm April 9 2009, 21:24:54 UTC

Good question! I didn't have a list composed when I said that, but I think I'd say:
Catch-22
The Crying Of Lot 49
The Code Of The Woosters
and a vonnegut book...either Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse 5...I really need to re-read Slaughterhouse to see how it stands up now that I've read a lot of his work.
But basically these are the books that made my brain trip the hardest while reading. The interesting thing to me is that these are all books that really force the structure of the language into new places and new patterns.

pawsofjustice April 10 2009, 02:47:11 UTC

WOW! I was shocked, I mean SHOCKED that the Code of the Woosters is in your top 5!! I mean I didn't expect that, I guess. I've had a couple.

The others - not shocked.

Interesting that making your brain work the hardest is a or the criterion. And the forcing of the structure of language. That is one of the ones for me too I think - but again, I feel those things strongly about Jane Austen. brendan and I were also just talking about how we evaluated books.

sleepyworm April 10 2009, 13:32:28 UTC

I just remember the raw joy I experienced while reading that book...it was like nothing I'd ever felt before. It was just the embodiment of everything I look for when I read.

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