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kilroyPrint date: 1973 (20s: 1, 60s: 2, 70s: 3, 80s: 4, 90s: 3, 00s: 7)
I managed to not make my two week goal with this one, but I don't feel too bad about it for three reasons: 1) I lost a weekend helping a friend move 2) I lost an entire week of quiet time at work due to summer classes starting and 3) the book is a thousand fricking pages long. If at the end of the year I have to say "I read a book every two weeks, except for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which took three," I'll still consider it a win.
I remember when this came out and everyone was raving to me about it. I can't recall why I didn't read it at the time, but so it goes.
It's a messy book. That's not insulting-- it's a stylistic choice, not a fault on the part of the author. It's emulating the sort of Jane Austen-era novel, so there are many, many asides that serve no point other than to help create an atmosphere. Even a lot of the central scenes are padded out to lengths that would be entirely unreasonable if the text weren't so entertaining. But the book works and works well because it is phenomenally well-written.
It's also tremendously funny. I don't recall anyone saying that to me when it came out, and I wish someone had. The characters are funny in and of themselves, but the whole book is permeated with a dry, very British humor that keeps you smiling and/or laughing in places where you would absolutely not expect to.
Structurally I wish it had been cleaned up slightly. You spend the first third of the book in the company of Mr. Norrell, who you have no reason at all to like-- and you spend about half of the middle of the book dealing with Stephen Black, whose sections seem redundant if you know a little fairy lore and are still unclear in purpose at the end of the book. And the ending... basically you find out that the whole book, the whole thousand pages, is basically just a prelude to a story that will never be written. Ultimately the story tells you that it isn't important-- more or less explicitly.
Would I recommend it to my friends? Absolutely, but with some qualifications. This is a book that demands patience, and it is not a book for those who desire a razor-sharp, clearly defined plot. If you can just sit back and enjoy yourself it's a good read. A very good read, in fact. But it's a long, long haul.
Verdict: Keep. (12/34 keepers)
Page count: 1006 (7860 total)
Completed: 20 (10 female authors, 10 male authors)
Rejected: 14 (6 male authors, 8 female authors)
Next book due: 7/10
I managed to not make my two week goal with this one, but I don't feel too bad about it for three reasons: 1) I lost a weekend helping a friend move 2) I lost an entire week of quiet time at work due to summer classes starting and 3) the book is a thousand fricking pages long. If at the end of the year I have to say "I read a book every two weeks, except for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which took three," I'll still consider it a win.
I remember when this came out and everyone was raving to me about it. I can't recall why I didn't read it at the time, but so it goes.
It's a messy book. That's not insulting-- it's a stylistic choice, not a fault on the part of the author. It's emulating the sort of Jane Austen-era novel, so there are many, many asides that serve no point other than to help create an atmosphere. Even a lot of the central scenes are padded out to lengths that would be entirely unreasonable if the text weren't so entertaining. But the book works and works well because it is phenomenally well-written.
It's also tremendously funny. I don't recall anyone saying that to me when it came out, and I wish someone had. The characters are funny in and of themselves, but the whole book is permeated with a dry, very British humor that keeps you smiling and/or laughing in places where you would absolutely not expect to.
Structurally I wish it had been cleaned up slightly. You spend the first third of the book in the company of Mr. Norrell, who you have no reason at all to like-- and you spend about half of the middle of the book dealing with Stephen Black, whose sections seem redundant if you know a little fairy lore and are still unclear in purpose at the end of the book. And the ending... basically you find out that the whole book, the whole thousand pages, is basically just a prelude to a story that will never be written. Ultimately the story tells you that it isn't important-- more or less explicitly.
Would I recommend it to my friends? Absolutely, but with some qualifications. This is a book that demands patience, and it is not a book for those who desire a razor-sharp, clearly defined plot. If you can just sit back and enjoy yourself it's a good read. A very good read, in fact. But it's a long, long haul.
Verdict: Keep. (12/34 keepers)
Page count: 1006 (7860 total)
Completed: 20 (10 female authors, 10 male authors)
Rejected: 14 (6 male authors, 8 female authors)
Next book due: 7/10