I just finished reading "Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke, all 850 pages, give or take. I have to admit that I'm not known for reading long and complicated stories of any kind but for some reason I managed to finish this one.

I first saw mention of the title in an article in a professional journal. The article had to do with a new approach to reader's advisory services in libraries. The authors used this book as an example of how this new approach might work. They charted out the several themes of the book and connected those with a variety of other books that might turn out to be of interest to people who had read "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell". The recommended reader's advisory method looked complicated since the book itself aoppeared complicated.

And it was. It was about early English magic from the twelve, thirteenth and fourteen centuries. It was also about a re-birth in English magic in the early nineteenth century. It was about the death of magic and of magicians. It was historical, fabulous and romantic. And it was all completely made up. I found it fascinating but a bit overwhelming. In fact, the details, the minutia, was so complete that some times I thought it got in the way of the emotion of the story.

But, all in all, I thought it was fun and I recommend it to you.