I'm currently reading 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke. It's huge tome about magic - the eponymous JS and Mr N. are magicians. It's set in a sort of alternative Georgian England in which 'English magic' has been revived. It reads a bit like a fantasy written by Jane Austen. Mr N. is a cantankerous old git who wants to keep English Magic to himself; JS is a sort of 'Young Turk' of a practical magician who uses his craft to help his country win the Napoleonic Wars. Mr N. unleashes forces that he can't really control and then tries to ignore the increasingly sinister consequences.
The plot involves dealings with fairies - who are definitely not cute little things with wings - they are very, very alien and very scary.
This is an extremely ambitious book, which I am enjoying immensely, and contains some very fine writing. So far I'm not sure that it is completely successful but I'll reserve judgement until I've finished it. Neverthless, if you like fantasy, as I do, I've read enough to thoroughly recommend it - and if you're as sick as I am of endless Tolkein clones I'm sure you'll get a lot out of it.