#64 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I was actually looking for more by Arthur C. when I found Susanna.  This was a slow book.  It took me quite a wile to get through it.  It was very interesting, but not exciting.  There is very little action, but it was not dull.  I enjoyed reading it, but was not eager to jump back into it after putting it down.  It is a very different kind of story altogether. Set in the early 1800's, it is based upon the two magicians in the title of the book trying to bring Magic back to England.  

Norrell is a real wizard type.  Very bookish, reserved, quiet.. cowardly and narcissistic too.  He is a real jerk through most of the book.   

Strange is more the Sorcerer type. He has a much better feel for the magic as opposed to Norrell's knowledge.  Since he did start out as Norrell's apprentice (later nemesis), he has plenty of knowledge too.  He is WAY more charismatic and downright dashing at times.  

Stephen and the Fairy are have a great dynamic, as do Childermas and Viniculus.  I think Viniculus is my favorite character, but I wish there was more about him.

It is odd that neither of the main characters in the title of the book are involved in the ultimate climax of the story.  

p469

It may be laid down as a general rule that if a man begins to sing, no one will take any notice of his song except his fellow human beings.  This is true even if the song is surpassingly beautiful.  Other men may be in raptures at his skill, but the rest of creation, by and large, unmoved.  Perhaps a cat or a dog may look at him; his horse, if it is an exceptionally intelligent beast, may pause in cropping the grass, but that is the extent of it.  But when the fairy sang, the whole world listened to him.  Stephen felt the clouds pause in their passing; he felt the sleeping hills shift and murmur; he felt the cold mists dance.  he understood for the first time that the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for someone to speak to it in a language it understands.  In the fairy's song the earth recognized the names by which it called itself.

ooOOooohh... that's good.