Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke

Ever wanting to be poetic, I felt that I should buy this book while I was in England, but the exchange rate at the time scared me away and I bought the Stepford Wives at a bargain bin price instead.

But I eventually got around to buying it once I got back to Sydney. I'd heard so much praise for it from my preferred literary circles (geeks and snooty intellectual types - the two rarely agreeing!) and now I've finally finished reading it.

And boy, has it lived up to the hype! It's probably the longest book I have ever read (at about 1000 pages) but it was a breeze to read. And not in a Dan Brown kind of way. Actually, I probably went through it a little too quickly and probably missed some little things along the way. But instantly it climbs up my all-time favourites list!

To summarise, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a fantasy of sorts set in England during the Napoleonic Wars. It has been 300+ years since England kinda lost its magical mojo and all that is left of English magic are simply remembered and studied, but never practiced. But this is only until a new magician appears on the scene to revive English magic and bring attention to himself by bringing a girl back from the dead.

And then a second magician appears.

And this is pretty much how it starts.

Yes, it is fantasy. But not Tolkien fantasy. Or even Harry Potter (I must confess that I've never been able to get into the Harry Potter books. I just never found the writing style very agreeable... but that's another story.). This reads more like Jane Austen. In fact it is as much a portrait of the 19th century English idle rich as it is a fantasy novel. The actual magic in the book is bizarre and often clumsy. Like when Mr Strange animates a bunch of sand banks into horses to defeat the French, except that he didn't know how to turn them back into sand banks so they just ran around for a few days and then returned to their sand bank forms, except in really inappropriate places.

Also, the novel is peppered with footnotes that further elaborates on the lore of this version of English history, while at the same time intertwines fiction with real historical figures like Buonaparte, the Duke of Wellington, the mad King George and Lord Byron.

The scope of this novel is just so immense. Its sheer ambitiousness would be praiseworthy enough, except that it actually does what it aims to do. It's a tight story. There won't be moments like in da Vinci Code where you go: 'Why the hell don't they just freeze the damn vinegar and crack the thing open?! It's the bloody 21st century!!!'

I really cannot praise this book enough. I know I'll be spending hours on the internet now looking for stuff to read about it (commentaries, reading guides, etc.). You all really HAVE TO read this book! It's brilliant! It's fantasy, but it's also literary and has oodles of mass market appeal.

If you still won't go and get a copy on my recommendation, then read Amazon's reviews and if that doesn't get you, then eventually the movie (when it's made) will convert you.

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On a separate note, there's a film being made that I'm also really looking forward to. Stardust should be ready sometime this year and this is also based on a (very English) fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman that I love (though on the Jonathan Strange level of love). Read this book too. This one is short.

As usual, I'm happy to lend out my books and... um... OK, I'm going to bed.