Julie was kind enough to let me borrow “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” a few weeks ago, and I assured her that I would be done with it within a week. A week turned in to a fortnight, and yet the 800 page tome still bested me.
It sat on the floor mocking me. It seemed to say, ‘You aren’t man enough to finish me, boy.’ To which I replied, ‘Oh, yeah?!’
I did finish it, and I enjoyed it immensely. Why did it take me so long to finish it? Well, it has been a rather busy few weeks here at Blankbaby headquarters what with the surprise Christmas parties, the awarding of prizes, the treks to far away lands and what have you.
The book itself was a joy. I love footnotes, and this novel was chock full of them, and they were my favorite kind of footnotes, footnotes that told a story that was different than that of the main characters. I suppose one could read this novel and skip the footnotes, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
If you are in the market for an 800 page novel about magic returning to England then look no further than “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell“.
And yes, Hilary, this means I will finally be passing along the book to you.
2 responses to “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”
I am only mildly pacified by the notice we’ve been given that we’re not going to be top priority for a while. The least you could do here is give a link to Becky’s masterful sculpture of Hello Kitty in mistletoe putty.
No, the least I can do is not post at all. 😛
But I would never do that, I enjoy it too much!