A few years back I was in the middle of reading books which had wizards and magicians, mostly set in today’s world, in which young boys and girls wielded magic wands and fought with villains who were threatening to destroy the world. Harry Potter was, of course, the most famous one, but there were others whom I loved equally well – like Artemis Fowl, the Djinn Bartimaeus and his magician and Percy Jackson. One of the books that I got during this time was Susanna Clarke’s ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell’. It had magicians and wizardry in it but it seemed to be a novel for grownups with grownup characters. It was different from other novels which purveyed magic in two ways. First, at more than 1000 pages, it rivalled established classics like ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ for the ‘Chunkster’ title. And second, it was a one-volume work, unlike other ‘magic’ novels which were a series of books (Harry Potter was a 7-part series, Bartimaeus was a 3-part series, Artemis Fowl was an 8-part series.) Both these together made me want to get this book. But its size always intimidated me and inspite of the rave reviews it got (Neil Gaiman calls it “unquestionably, the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years” – real high praise, indeed) I postponed reading it. It looked like this book was destined for the ‘tsundoku’ life for a while (‘tsundoku’ (in Japanese) = the act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other such unread books).
When my old friend Delia from Postcards from Asia said that she too had a copy of this book, I was quite excited. We had an excited conversation about it and decided to do a readalong. If you would like to read and discuss this chunky, beautiful book, do grab a copy of this book and join us. The rules of the readalong are as follows :
- The readalong starts on 11th January (this coming Saturday)
- The book is divided into three volumes, so the readalong will take place across three weeks:
· Volume I: Mr Norrell (261 pages) – review to be posted on 18th January
· Volume II: Jonathan Strange (368 pages) – review to be posted on 25th January
· Volume III: John Uskglass (369 pages) – review to be posted on 1st of February
- If you’d like to participate, do mention that in the comments (here or on Delia’s blog, or both if you like) and link back to your blog. This way we can add your review to the weekly post. You can also join at any time during the readalong.
Looking forward to discussing this book during the coming weeks. Happy reading!
I d live to join in but not sure if time to give to the book I loved it the first time I read it Vishy
Wish you had the time to join, Stu. Nice to know that you loved it when you read it the first time.
I wish I could join in – it’s been on my TBR for years – but too many review books piled up at the moment, plus the Christmas presents still to be read. I’ll be looking forward to your reviews though – and Delia’s.
Wish you could have joined, FictionFan. Hope you get to read it sometime – it promises to be a wonderful book.
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Hi Vishy I would definitely like to participate in this read along! My post can be found here:
http://ymulholland.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell-read-along/
I look forward to reading your thoughts on the book in the coming weeks!
Welcome Yasmine. Hope you have a wonderful time participating in the readalong. Will look forward to reading your first post.
I keep starting this book, loving it, but not finishing, so count me in. A schedule might just keep me on track! I’ll be back with a post in a day or two.
Nice to know that you will be joining us for the readalong, Fleur. Looking forward to reading your introductory post.
Thanks for suggesting we do a read-along, Vishy. It looks like an interesting book but the SIZE of it….. I’m glad to see people are joining in.
Looking forward to the start, fingers crossed that I can keep up! 🙂
Thanks Delia 🙂 It is nice that others are also joining in. Can’t wait to start the book!
Oh this is very tempting! I’ve read it twice but loved it both times & happen to have it out from the library as an ebook right now.
Tsundoku is a new word for me, and a fabulous one!
Hope you can join us for the readalong, Eva. So wonderful to know that you have read the book twice already and loved it both times! Glad to know that you liked ‘tsundoku’ – it is one of my favourite bookish words 🙂
That’s a lovely idea for a readalong, Vishy! Hope you will enjoy this chunkster and I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts on it!
Thanks Bina 🙂 I can’t wait to start reading the book. Looking forward to discussing it with you.
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It’s a great idea for a readalong but unfortunately too short notice and it’s such a chunkster. I have this rule that I don’t start any books over 500 pages as long as I still have another one of that size unfinished. And I’ve got two like that already on my “half-finished” book pile.
I wish you good luck and many participants. I’ll be following the discussion. 🙂
I like very much your 500-page rule, Caroline 🙂 Yes, ‘Jonathan Strange…’ is such a big chunkster. But I am hoping that it will be fast-paced and after I get into the story, it won’t feel like a chunkster. Thanks for your wishes 🙂
Oh I wish I could join and I actually own this one. But I haven’t found the time to read it yet.Enjoy the readalong!
Thanks, TBM! Wish you had been able to join.
It sounds like so much fun to read along with the other readers. I have so many partly finished books that I am trying to complete as a part of my New Years resolutions! One of these days…well, perhaps that is part of being a reader…one is never really caught up. I will look forward to your informative and interesting updates, Vishy.
I liked very much your New Year resolution, Heidi. Hope you are able to finish those wonderful books. Yes, readalongs are so much fun. I can’t wait to start reading the book tomorrow.
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Good luck with this one Vishy and all! I’m doing the Eugene Onegin readalong in January, and am off to a slow start reading this year, so will observe this one from the sidelines!
Thanks Claire 🙂 Hope you have fun at the ‘Eugene Onegin’ readalong! Will look forward to following your readalong adventures.
Tdundoku is the best word! That is so me! I have so many tsundoku books!
I wish I could join this readalong. I’ve been wanting to reread this for a while. I loved it when I first read it and I want to revisit and fall in love with this very special book all over again. Loved the footnotes! But I have a very long list right now of books I’m dying to read so I’ll stick to that. But have fun!
Glad to know that you liked ‘tsundoku’, Christina 🙂
Hope you could have joined us in the readalong. Glad to know that you have read ‘Jonathan Strange…’ before an liked it. I love the footnotes too. I am looking forward to reading volume 2 now.
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[…] read along is hosted by Vishy over at Vishy’s Blog and Delia over at Postcards from […]
[…] It seems like perfect timing that I then saw a read along for this novel, hosted by Vishy, from Vishy’s Blog, and Delia, from Postcards from Asia, which starts on the 11th […]