Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeBloomsbury, 2004

The back cover quotes a review in the Washington Post proclaiming that this book is one of those that “are meant to be lived in for weeks.” It’s true, and not just because the hardcover edition is 800 pages. Clarke’s writing is urbane and beautiful and descriptive, very British and very wonderful. This book has been compared to the Harry Potter books, and to the works of Philip Pullman and Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, but what it’s most like is Sorcery & Cecelia: same time period and a similar historical-fiction-meets-magic premise. But where Sorcery & Cecelia presents magic as mostly matter-of-fact, something that just is done, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is as much concerned with the history and discourse of magic (in the alternate universe Clarke has created) as with magic itself. As such, it takes on some of the trappings of academia: the book has footnotes, all referring to fictional authors/the histories within the text, and it’s pleasing to no end to be so very immersed in this world of magic and manners and fairies and battlefields. (Also contributing to my love of this book: in a humid New York summer, few things are as appealing to me as the idea of London in the wintertime, all wind and rain and lighted windows and tea.)