:: kat :: ([info]_wirehead_) wrote,
@ 2008-04-30 15:00:00
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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
i just finished reading it. i don't have words for the amazingness. best thing i've read in ages.

you should all read it. right now.

and if you don't believe me, how about Mr. Gaiman?
'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years. It's funny, moving, scary, otherworldly, practical and magical, a journey through light and shadow — a delight to read, both for the elegant and precise use of words, which Ms Clarke deploys as wisely and dangerously as Wellington once deployed his troops, and for the vast sweep of the story, as tangled and twisting as old London streets or dark English woods. It is a huge book, filled with people it is a delight to meet, and incidents and places one wishes to revisit, which is, from beginning to end, a perfect pleasure. Closing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell after 800 pages my only regret was that it wasn't twice the length.' NEIL GAIMAN

(can be found, with many other reviews, here.)

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[info]zevhonith
2008-04-30 08:19 pm UTC (link)
This was definitely one of the best books I read last year, maybe the best - (and now I've remembered that I listed all my books last year, that's SO AWESOME) - well, it's certainly in the top three books I read last year (with Galatea 2.2, and House of Leaves, which is oddly enough another book written at least half in footnotes). I'm planning on reading it again in the next couple years, I think it deserves several readings. :)

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[info]_wirehead_
2008-04-30 08:27 pm UTC (link)
House of Leaves is on my list -- i think that once [info]squishyent finishes House of Leaves, he's loaning it to me, and i'm loaning him Strange/Norrell.

i haven't even heard of Galatea 2.2 though. will have to look that one up.

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[info]zevhonith
2008-04-30 08:30 pm UTC (link)
A friend recommended it, I hadn't read it either, but I think it's right up your alley. I really loved it. For some reason I can't put my finger on at ALL, it gave me the same feeling as watching The Fountain (which, if you haven't seen, you should really see).

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[info]_wirehead_
2008-04-30 08:35 pm UTC (link)
i just ordered it from PBS. :)

(also, no, i haven't seen The Fountain either.)

Edited at 2008-04-30 08:36 pm UTC

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[info]zevhonith
2008-04-30 08:39 pm UTC (link)
You ordered the Fountain from PBS? That's surprising to me - are you talking about the Aronofsky movie?

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[info]_wirehead_
2008-04-30 08:45 pm UTC (link)
er, no, i ordered Galatea 2.2 from PBS.

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[info]zevhonith
2008-04-30 08:48 pm UTC (link)
I got that eventually. :P

I hope you like it!

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[info]helixnine
2008-05-01 05:50 am UTC (link)
Re: Fountain... ...pretty, if you're up for about two hours of an artistic expression of pain, that is. Because, let's face it... the Fountain is essentially a very artistic study in how much pain Hugh Jackman can express over the course of two hours. Which is about 1:45 more hours of pain that I can reasonably tolerate from Hugh Jackman... ...wait, maybe it's three hours long, I should check that.

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[info]aleffert
2008-04-30 08:32 pm UTC (link)
Galatea 2.2 is super awesome. I think you will like it.

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[info]intravenousants
2008-04-30 09:38 pm UTC (link)
RE: House of Leaves
Prepare to be disappointed. I was.

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[info]aleffert
2008-04-30 08:23 pm UTC (link)
Allegedly she is working on a sequel, but I haven't heard anything about it in several years. It did take her ten years to write that one so it might just be a long wait.

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[info]_wirehead_
2008-04-30 08:27 pm UTC (link)
the website says she has a short story collection out, and that New Line is making a movie of Strange/Norrell, but nothing about a sequel.

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[info]aleffert
2008-04-30 08:32 pm UTC (link)
http://www.jonathanstrange.com/copy.asp?s=3

See near the bottom.

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[info]_wirehead_
2008-04-30 08:36 pm UTC (link)
yeah... it doesn't sound like she's working on it very actively, but i look forward to it just the same. :)

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[info]helixnine
2008-05-01 05:41 am UTC (link)
Read it in Australia. Excellent book. Keep in mind, though, Gaiman got Clarke started... he's going to be biased!

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[info]_wirehead_
2008-05-02 02:28 am UTC (link)
did he? i didn't know that. well, i still agree with his assessment though. :)

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[info]helixnine
2008-05-02 03:05 am UTC (link)
As do I. An excellently composed book. I hope that my work can, someday, be comparable.
I'm fairly certain that Gaiman's role was referenced in an interview or a review I read. The acknowledgments within the text say only "Neil Gaiman whose generosity to other writers never ceases to amaze me."

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[info]swordborne
2008-05-03 08:28 pm UTC (link)
I'll have to try that one again when my brain is more likely to take in reading material by unfamiliar authours. I just couldn't get into it, but I was having a brain funk when I tried.

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