Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Well, so much for resolving to write more...
Have been a bit busy with college, with my business law exam a few weeks ago, which seemed to go okay, although I wouldn't want to count my chickens before they're whatever. Have now started my first elective module, which is employment law. It's really interesting and my teacher is cool, though learning more about employment rights makes me feel kind of annoyed at my current status as a non-employee, being hired through an agency. It's kind of sucky that any employer can get around paying sick leave, holiday pay, etc by using temps, but it's particularly annoying when the government does it. Anyway, shouldn't complain, don't want to get fired like the civil serf...

Let's stick to less controversial turf like the charming Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

This book was recommended to me by an anglophile american friend (am I an americophile? americanophile? Actually that reminds me of a joke about the EU's kids website being stalked by shady europhiles...), and is about nineteenth century magicians who bring about the restoration of the lost art of practical magic. It's written in the style of the time, which works well, although I did find the archaic spelling (e.g. shewed) a little distracting. I suppose it's a bit of an adult Harry Potter, and as with HP one of the things I liked about it was that it doesn't get too caught up in the mechanics of the magical world it's about. I think most fantasy novels (and also science fiction) spend too much time explaining stuff and going into far too much detail. JS&MR is really about magic as a fictitious intellectual pursuit, which I thought was a nice idea. The characters spend a fair amount of their time in dusty libraries and poring over magical textbooks, although we do also get to see magic in action in battle against Napoleon. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is itself a pretty fat book, but it's really readable* and completely enjoyable, so it doesn't feel as long as it is.

*notwithstanding the large number of footnotes