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26 Oct 10 - 02:32 PM (#3016064) Subject: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: McGrath of Harlow I've just finished reading this, all 1006 pages. An amazing book. "A triumph of traditional imaginative storytelling" was how the Irish Times summed it up, and traditional there means the kind of spell shanachies used to spin. Think Eddie Lenihan. And then think "Jane Austin". Strange indeed. |
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26 Oct 10 - 02:33 PM (#3016068) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: McGrath of Harlow Maybe that should be BS. But I'd say it belongs up above the line as folklore. |
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26 Oct 10 - 03:08 PM (#3016101) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: GUEST,nickp (cookieless) Hard going but I'm glad I read it. Not sure I'd read it again though. Clever 'period' style. |
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26 Oct 10 - 04:18 PM (#3016159) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: McGrath of Harlow Hard going? I'd say fairly easy going, but a lot of it. But after all there's no hurry about things like that. One chapter a night and it's a couple of months, takes you through to Christmas. After all, it is what they used to call in the days it's set in "a three-decker" - it's just that the three volumes are bound together as one book. Amusing reading the reviews tucked away somewhere on that link I gave including the Guardian reviewer's rather silly comment: "As for sexual attraction, forget it: Clarke's protagonists are chaste to the bone, and their flesh never intrudes. There are many less crucial but annoying flaws..." |
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27 Oct 10 - 09:10 AM (#3016684) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: McGrath of Harlow Maybe down in BS might have been better... |
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27 Oct 10 - 09:30 AM (#3016698) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: GUEST,Lighter It's a lot of fun, McGrath. Recommended! Now for the latest on Jane Austen (as he steps back out of the way): http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20101023/ten-jane-austen-novels-polished-by-male-a56114e.html |
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27 Oct 10 - 09:55 AM (#3016733) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: GUEST,Shimrod I thought that it was an interesting and original book - but far, far too long though. |
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27 Oct 10 - 12:33 PM (#3016877) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: Ernest Yes, liked it too - funny in a very subtle way. Interesting development of characters, esp. Childermass. And almost modern: nobody cares about the consequences of the technology (wizardry) he uses. |
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27 Oct 10 - 03:09 PM (#3017044) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: McGrath of Harlow Too long? There's no need to keep reading a book past the point it loses your interest. |
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27 Oct 10 - 03:12 PM (#3017047) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: janemick got a third of the way through and started to lose the will to live. Found something else to read |
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27 Oct 10 - 03:34 PM (#3017069) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: Q (Frank Staplin) By my bedside table. May be the next one I read. A bit heavy for the bed, but sounds like one well-worth reading. I have been buying for winter reading. (Alberta, 8 months cold, dark and drear). |
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27 Oct 10 - 05:03 PM (#3017148) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: Desert Dancer I enjoyed it, have it on my list to reread. (I'm not sure this discussion is particularly folklorical, though...) ~ Becky in Tucson |
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27 Oct 10 - 05:44 PM (#3017178) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: Burke I started it once, maybe I should go back to it. |
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28 Oct 10 - 01:10 PM (#3017840) Subject: RE: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell From: McGrath of Harlow The folklore aspect lies in the stories Susanna Clarke slips in as cod-footnotes - and also in some of the episodes. I imagine sometime there may be an edition with a learned folklorist providing genuine footnotes to these, indicating traditional oral stories which Susanna has used. And in rather a good set of ballad verses at one point - Not long, not long my father said Not long shall you be ours The Raven King knows all too well Which are the fairest flowers The priest was all too worldly Though he prayed and rang his bell The Raven King three candles lit The priest said it was well Her arms were all too feeble Though she claimed to love me so The Raven King stretched out his hand She sighed and let me go This land is all too shallow It is painted on the sky And trembles like the wind-shook rain When the Raven King goes by For always and for always I pray remember me Upon the moors, beneath the stars With the King's wild company. (I didn't type that out myself - just put the first verse in Google, and up came - this blog by someone enthusing about the book. Saves the fingers. |