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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
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Posted: Tue 29 Aug , 2006 2:53 am
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Yay! I do hope you'll post what you think, Dawn. :)

Tosh, did you ever finish? What did you think?

I am currently rereading it, this time armed with sticky notes! It's just as good the second time 'round. :D

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Dawnnamira
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Posted: Tue 29 Aug , 2006 3:01 am
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I'll do my best when I get to it. :D

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Dawnnamira
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Posted: Wed 30 Aug , 2006 10:02 pm
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Just started the book about 30 minutes ago. I'm at the part where Mr Honeyfoot and Seagus (? however you spell it) are just meeting mr Norrell. I think I'm going to like him. :D


Very interesting book, already! Especially the view among the "respectable magicians" that magic is passé and no longer should be practiced.

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Mummpizz
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Posted: Wed 06 Sep , 2006 7:24 pm
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I found that book tedious and boring in the end, after a very promising start … not that I want to put you off it, dawn, but I think you require a fair warning.

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Dawnnamira
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Posted: Wed 06 Sep , 2006 8:35 pm
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We are different in some ways mummp....lol Thankfully.

Anyways, this has been the week from Mordor....last night I had two hours of homework from one class. Not to mention the paper due in another class and the math.

So, I haven't gotten much farther. :(

I think I'm at the part about Sir Pole.

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vison
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Posted: Wed 06 Sep , 2006 9:52 pm
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I gave it up. I just couldn't take it any more.

Yet, I know people who LOVED it.

We all have differing tastes, thank heaven. :)

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Dindraug
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Posted: Thu 07 Sep , 2006 7:27 am
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It is a tricky read, and has its tedious points.

The language though in beautiful, even if the plotting is way to pedestrian for modern readers.

Worth percevering, and probably picking up again. One you really have to be in the mood for, like reading Dostoyevski or Azimov; you just need to be in the right time and space.

Just out of interest, is there a 'Council of Elrond' point when those who gave up, did so?


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Jude
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Posted: Thu 07 Sep , 2006 1:10 pm
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I'm one of those who loved it. The pacing is leisurely and slow, so I understand how some people could be put off.

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yovargas
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Posted: Thu 07 Sep , 2006 1:15 pm
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Dindraug wrote:
Just out of interest, is there a 'Council of Elrond' point when those who gave up, did so?
I made it all the way through but disliked it almost from the get go and my opinion never changed. A lot of reasons I could list but the one that grabbed me immediately was my near total dislike of almost every character. Spending time with these people was a chore.


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Dawnnamira
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Posted: Thu 12 Oct , 2006 11:23 pm
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I finished it about 40 minutes ago.

:Q :D

I'm still trying to figure out some stuff......but I think I liked it.

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ToshoftheWuffingas
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Posted: Sat 14 Oct , 2006 9:38 pm
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Mossy asked on the 29th of August
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Tosh, did you ever finish? What did you think?
and I have only just read her question :oops:

Sorry!

Yes I did finish it and though the archaic language may have put many off I thought it allowed an irony into the narrative that didn't seem too modern or out of place. The plot unfolded slowly certainly but what I enjoyed was the mood and atmosphere that I hadn't come across in any other story. Too much fantasy merely recycles other authors works (need I mention the Tolkien imitators) but this work is truly original and unsettling. I can imagine it would be the novel that Coleridge might have written. It seemed to tap into that strain of English mysticism so strong in that period that was still vigorous up till just beyond the First World War but which is currently quiescent. I feared the ending would be anti climactic but even if it had been predicted, and she wrong footed me enough times to prevent me guessing, it matched the rest of the story. So, a solid grunt of approval from my direction.
Interestingly I visited Leamington a month ago to buy some boots ( and took the chance to say hello to Mr and Mrs Ber) and visited the art gallery there, an excellent though small collection representing a very wide range of British artists. They had a temporary exhibition of Richard Dadd's minor work there, his large scale famous fairy paintings being in larger collections elsewhere. Dadd was a gifted young artist who was chosen in the early 19th century to go on a grand tour of the Middle East and Mediterranean with a nobleman but who on his return went mad and stabbed his father to death and was incarcerated for the rest of his life. His paintings of fairies and Shakespearean themes have a disturbing feel to them. I ruminated after seeing the work then remarked to the young attendant that I had finished a book a few months ago that Dadd's work reminded me of, Jonathan Strange etc. He said he was in the middle of reading it right then and agreed.

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Jude
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Posted: Fri 15 Dec , 2006 6:42 pm
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There's a new book by Susanna Clarke: The Ladies of Grace Adieu

According to the write-up on Amazon, there are two characters from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell: Mr. Strange himself and the Raven King.

I didn't even know this book was coming until it landed in my amazon recommendations. I guess they do have some uses, besides marketing!

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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
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Posted: Sat 16 Dec , 2006 3:32 am
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Funny you should mention that, Jude. My mother sent me a copy for the first night of Hannukah and it's so, so beautiful.

You ordered a copy, right? :suspicious:

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Jude
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Posted: Sat 16 Dec , 2006 4:58 pm
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Um - not quite yet :oops: I went to two rummage sales recently and came away with a huge pile of books I need to read first.

Glad to hear your five-star recommendation - I look forward to reading it probably sometime in the spring!

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Dawnnamira
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Posted: Sat 16 Dec , 2006 11:56 pm
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Really?!?

I really, really, really need to get another job.

:bawl:

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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
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Posted: Mon 18 Dec , 2006 7:08 pm
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Jude wrote:
Um - not quite yet :oops: I went to two rummage sales recently and came away with a huge pile of books I need to read first.

Glad to hear your five-star recommendation - I look forward to reading it probably sometime in the spring!
Fair enough. I look forward to discussing with you after we've both read it. :)

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Dindraug
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Posted: Sun 31 Dec , 2006 5:39 pm
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yovargas wrote:
Dindraug wrote:
Just out of interest, is there a 'Council of Elrond' point when those who gave up, did so?
I made it all the way through but disliked it almost from the get go and my opinion never changed. A lot of reasons I could list but the one that grabbed me immediately was my near total dislike of almost every character. Spending time with these people was a chore.
Often the best sign of a good book, bad charictors yet everything else works.

It is like reading 'A Handful of Dust' by Waugh or most Dickens, or any Dostoyevski. You just don't like the people but have to read because the book insists on it. I find it harder to read books where you don't care about the charictors at all because there is nothing in them to like or dislike, and it becomes a chore.

I am plodding through 'Olympos' by Dan Simmons at the moment, and it has the same problem. Its the end of the world and the charictors are loathsom. Even the ones you are ment to like. There is one in the book, Orphu of Io, who is the only redeaming charictor in the book even if he is a bit dues et machina at times.

Worth a read though, along with 'Ilium' (the first book in the series) but you will need to have at least read The Tempest, The Iliad and The Odyessy. He also play with Proust, Keats and Blake as well, so be warned.

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Jude
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Posted: Tue 01 May , 2007 5:24 pm
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Check out this book:

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After

The premise seems similar to Susannah Clarke's book; so similar, in fact, that I think they must have consulted each other.

Anybody familiar with this?

P.S. I still plan to get "The Ladies of Grace Adieu" - for the moment I've been sidetracked by "The Children of Húrin"! :banana:

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Crucifer
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Posted: Sun 22 Jul , 2007 9:44 pm
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How did I miss this thread!? This book is what ultimately led me here (thanks to maidenoftheshieldarm, aka ColorofHeartache)

I loved every word of this book. And LoGA

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MaidenOfTheShieldarm
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Posted: Sun 22 Jul , 2007 11:57 pm
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Jude wrote:
Check out this book:

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After

The premise seems similar to Susannah Clarke's book; so similar, in fact, that I think they must have consulted each other.

Anybody familiar with this?

P.S. I still plan to get "The Ladies of Grace Adieu" - for the moment I've been sidetracked by "The Children of Húrin"! :banana:
That sounds interesting, Jude. I see it's recieved a Harry Potter/Jane Austen comparison as opposed to JS&MN LOTR/Austen comparison. What really got me, though, was that the Duke of Wellington appears in that one. He was definitely my favourite historical cameo. :D (I still haven't read Children of Húrin yet. Got sidetracked by, um, Ecuador. Okay, and Harry Potter. It's next though! Really!)

Hey there, Crucifer. Way to join the conversation. :P (There's one on HOF, too, by the way.)

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