Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

What a fabulous book! I just finished it, and I could hardly put it down. It was wonderful and breathtaking and complex and brilliant! I know this book is being bashed and overly wordy and pointless, but I heartily disagree! It moved along at a good pace, and every bit of it was necessary to the whole.

BIG NEWS!!!

TO ALL (TWO, THREE?) OF YOU FAITHFUL READERS OUT THERE, I HAVE BIG NEWS! I JUST GOT THE CALL FROM BLOOMSBURY KIDS, AND THEY HAVE BOUGHT MY NOVEL, DRAGONSKIN SLIPPERS. LOOK FOR IT AT A BOOKSTORE NEAR YOU IN JANUARY OF 2007!

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

I just started this massive tome, and I love it so far. I think it's very sly and entertaining. It combines the best of Jane Austen or the Brontes and very subtle magic.

Jessica recommends....

I have just finished the Baroque Cycle, and I loved it. It was gorgeous and huge and actually managed to have a happy ending, despite the number of people scarred by smallpox, whipped, beaten, losing limbs and teeth, incarcerated, stranded on desert islands, and financially ruined. Also, at least two people were brought back from the dead, and King Solomon makes an appearance. Exhilarating!

Jessica also recommends. . . .

P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves in the Morning". Heck, anything about Jeeves and Wooster is great. I laughed until my cheeks hurt as Bertie related the details of the Steeple Bumpleigh Horror. I also read Connie Willis' short story "Epiphany", which is found in "Miracle, and other Christmas Stories." Just to get myself in the Christmas mood. I love that story, it's fab. I love the whole book, really, with "Inn" and "Newsletter" being some other favorites.