Review of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

I finally finished it - phew! It's funny, last time I tried this book, I think I gave up before the end of the first chapter. This time I enjoyed the whole thing!

The story is basically about 2 magicians in England, who are the only "real" magicians at that time, and how they bring magic back to England.

It does start a little slow, but it's a really enjoyable book to read. I love the feeling of being transported into a different world when I read, and Susanna Clarke's descriptions of the characters and the houses and cities are very vivid, and I must admit to having interesting dreams about Olde Worlde England and magicians!

A great book to start the year with!

The next book I'm going to read is "Last train to Alcatraz", an autobiography of Leon "Whitey" Thompson who served there. After he got out he vowed to never commit a crime ever again, and wrote about what life was like in Alcatraz. I bought it while doing the Alcatraz tour, and his story fascinated me. He only had a 6th grade education, and wrote the book without any professional writing help, so it should be a very true account of his life.