Category Archives: Challenges

The Once Upon a Time Challenge is one of my favorite reading events of the year. Fairy tales, myth, folklore, fantasy, I am happy to read as many as possible. This year, Caroline from beautyisasleepingcat suggested we dedicate a week to Angela Carter, a writer who fits perfectly into this challenge. Her works include nine novels as well as collections of short stories, a book of essays, a volume of radio plays and two collections of journalism. We would love it if you could join us for this event, starting from Sunday, 8^th June to the following Sunday, the 15th.

Some guidelines:

              – The event lasts for a week

–          – Choose one of the two badges for your blog/website

–          – You can read/listen (to) anything by Angela Carter

–          – Leave a comment here or on Caroline’s blog (or both) at any time starting today until the last day of the event. We’ll have a Mr Linky set up when the event starts so you can link to your review.

If you want me to send you an email a day or two before we start, I am happy to do it, just make sure you leave a valid email address when you comment on my blog.

I have two books I am planning to read for this week, The Bloody Chamber – a collection of short stories, and a novel, Nights at the Circus. Apart from a short story here and there, I haven’t read anything substantial by this author and I’m very excited to start on both of these books.

Author Sarah Waters writes in an introduction to Nights at the Circus:

“Her theatrical, fabular style has much in common with that of the other great magic realists, Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez; but she wrote, always with a distinctly feminist agenda determined to debunk cultural fantasies around sexuality, gender and class.

She helped stimulate an excitement about feminist writing and feminist publishing (she was hugely supportive, for example, of the founding of the women’s publishing house Virago Press, in 1979), and many of her literary preoccupations – the challenging of the cannon, the rewriting of fairy tale and myth, the imagining of female utopias and dystopias – lie at the heart of much feminist writing and thought from the 1970s and ‘80s.”

I hope you’ll join Caroline and I for this event and to make things a bit easier for you, here’s the list of Angela Carter’s novels and short story collections below so you can choose whichever appeals to you the most. You can find Caroline’s intro post here. See you in June!

Novels                                                                         Short story collections

Shadow Dance (1966)                                         Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces (1974)

The Magic Toyshop (1967)                                  The Bloody Chamber (1979) 

Several Perceptions (1968)                                  The Bridegroom (1983) – uncollected short story

Heroes and Villains (1969)                                Saints and Strangers (1985)- in UK published as Black Venus

Love (1971)                                                                American Ghosts and Old World Wonders – 1993

The Infernal Desires of Doctor Hoffman (1972)            Burning Your Boats (1995)   

The Passion of New Eve (1977)                           Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales (1995) – as editor

Nights at the Circus (1984)                                                    

Wise Children (1991)

This is the second book I’ve read for the Once Upon a Time VIII Challenge hosted by Carl@stainlesssteeldroppings. It’s also the 14th book I’ve read this year, but unfortunately this is not a lucky number. Enchanted by its cover, feeling abandoned after the first chapter, that’s how I would describe my experience with this new take on the Snow White fairy tale.

Snow is young and beautiful, of an earthy beauty, as the author mentions quite a few times in the book, sensual and voluptuous. Her stepmother, Lilith, is a beauty as well, the light, ethereal kind. The king is away at war (he’s neither handsome nor young, but coarse and old and stout) and Lilith is plotting to get rid of the beautiful Snow. There’s the huntsman, whom she pays for his services in a most unexpected way, the dwarves, loyal and kind and too trusty, and the handsome prince who’s charmed by the earthy beauty of Snow only to discover that he doesn’t really like straightforward, lusty princesses that make him feel somehow redundant. Also there’s something, a secret he keeps that made me wonder what kind of person he really is. He seems charming and lovely, but like with other things in this book, that’s just deceiving, and we never find out how he came to the forest or why.
Snow, on the other hand, starts out as a young woman who enjoys life to the fullest, drinking beer with the dwarves and riding horses wearing men’s clothing. Everybody loves her, even though she can be a little rough, but a real lady when she has to which was a bit confusing. I’m not entirely convinced this book is not a parody, in which case it’s a good one.

Elements of other fairy tales are present – a glittering pair of shoes, an old woman leaving crumbs on the way to her house in the forest, and even Alladin and his lamp make a surprise appearance. The poisonous apple does its job yet again, but it’s not the prince who brings Snow back to life, and her accepting his marriage proposal feels more like a calculated move than an act of love. But that’s not what detracted me from the first few promising pages of the story. It was my inability to really like any of the characters – I almost ended up liking the step mother, as the author showed glimpses of her past – forced to marry young and go to a foreign kingdom to an old husband, it almost makes her a character to be pitied until she does something that makes her uninteresting and not really worth rooting for. It’s a shame, because more details about what happened in her childhood would have made her a more interesting character, if not one to like, perhaps one to respect.
The ending is shocking and would have been even better if we knew why it had to happen this way. It only added yet another unresolved mystery to the pile.

My rating: 2/5 stars

Read in March 2014

This is the first book I finished for the Once Upon a Time VIII Challenge hosted by Carl@stainlesssteeldroppings. More reviews can be found on the review site.

A being made of earth. Another made of fire. Magic, a quest for immortality, religion, love and sexuality, this novel has them all and they are blended so perfectly together, the whole experience of reading the book made me go from six hundred pages, that’s a big book, to what, how many more pages left, less than a hundred, nooooo!

The golem is a creature made of clay, given life by an old rabbi whose path had long strayed from the Jewish faith. He molds her according to the instructions of the one that would be her master, a man bound for America in search of a fresh start. She was supposed to be the man’s wife, obedient, attentive to his wishes, curious and modest. And she comes with instructions, as her maker tells her new master – one command to bring her to life, one to destroy her, for golems are strong, unpredictable creatures whose nature can get the better of them. Later on in the story she is named Chava – life.

The djinni is a being of fire that can change shape at will. Roaming the desert, not bound to anyone or anything, his long years are spent building a glass palace in the desert and, because his curiosity is strong, following the caravans and trying to find out more about people. It is this curiosity and ultimately his involvement in the life of a young Bedouin girl, that will change his life, and forced into a human form he has to get used to new things and living among people with rules which he finds distasteful. He is named Ahmad.

The book is a wonderful story from beginning to end. The main characters, the golem and the djinni, are multidimensional, interesting, and faced with decisions that make them sympathetic to the reader. Both of them have to build a new life for themselves among people, hiding their true nature – the golem, her great strength and the ability to hear people’s thoughts, the djinni – his ability to melt metals with his bare hands and create beautiful metalwork. For a while, both manage to live a normal, quiet life, until their true natures begin to chafe at the rules imposed by human society and restlessness threatens to upset their carefully constructed lives. Also, they discover that some people can see they are not human, and an enemy with a plan of his own is threatening their existence. They find some unlikely allies, a man possessed by a djinni, a metal smith who proves to be a good friend, an old rabbi whose research is about to bring about a new discovery.

They become friends by accident, and their conversations are interesting and thought provoking, revealing details about themselves that I found fascinating. These conversations highlight their fundamental differences – while the golem is prudent, calm and composed, the djinni is impatient, passionate and given to reckless actions. Reading their conversations made me think that someone had deliberately split human characteristics and given them to the two creatures. At first it is hard for both of them to accept each other’s traits and imperfections but spending time together affects them both and forces the golem to be more bold and the djinni to accept the consequences for his actions.
The story moves back and forth in time, giving the reader plenty of details into the life of the djinni before he was captured by an old wizard, and the life of the golem’s creator. Because of this, the story feels complete, as there are no major questions left unanswered, except perhaps the one right at the end.

Under the magical beauty of the story, there are some threads worth exploring: living according to the rules vs following one’s instincts, hiding one’s special abilities for fear of rejection, and not in the least, trying to be happy in an unfamiliar and strange world. It’s an interesting analysis of feelings and actions seen from the perspective of two very different creatures that each have to learn compromise and that living among people means they have to adapt and in doing so, give up a part of themselves.

My rating: 5/ 5 stars

*Read in March 2014

I thought that I would start the Once Upon a Time challenge with a book review but I’m not yet done with The Golem and the Djinni, so I thought I’d watch and write about a movie instead.

Frozen follows the story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa, the daughters of the king and queen of Arendelle. Elsa, who is older, can create ice and snow, a magic ability she finds increasingly difficult to control as she grows older. No locked rooms or gloves can stop this magic ability from bursting through and on one fateful day Elsa can no longer control her powers and brings winter to the kingdom of Arendelle. Scared by what she has done, she runs and hides high up in the mountains, but her sister Anna is determined to bring Elsa back and put an end to the winter. On her quest she receives help from Kristoff, a young man who earns his living from cutting and delivering ice, his loyal reindeer Sven, and Olaf, a talking snowman.

This is roughly the plot of the story and even though there are a multitude of other tangents, to say more would spoil the surprise. While the story employs the classic fairy tale elements, with a prince and a princess falling in love at first sight and planning to marry, the dreamy beginning punctuated by a few songs gives way to a harsher reality as things are not what they appear to be. The heroine is not a helpless damsel in distress waiting to be rescued by prince charming. She is strong, determined (even if a little clueless at first) and possesses the ability to save herself and others if need be. Olaf provides most of the funny and heart-warming scenes, as he is a most unusual snowman and a true, loyal friend. The men play secondary roles. The Duke of Weselton (just wait until you actually hear his name) and Prince Hans of the Southern Isles are interesting characters whose true nature is revealed as the story nears its climax.

The visuals are stunning – there’s a whole battalion of trolls who can change shape, a giant snow creature that looks quite scary, and beautiful snow and ice artwork that almost made me wish for winter. And even if the story seemed a bit predictable at first, there were two quite shocking moments that quickly turned it on its head and gave it a fresh new direction that was gratifying, sad, and happy at the same time. Love does conquer in the end, but it’s not the kind of love you would expect. A very good retelling of a famous fairy tale that manages to be surprisingly charming and touching without being shallow. If you haven’t figured out which one I’m not going to spoil it for you – I didn’t know it either until the very end. A pleasure to watch and highly recommended.

Click on the link below for a little preview and a great song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk

My rating: 5/5 stars

Spring may be already on the way in some parts of the world, but in Thailand summer is in full swing, and only the occasional breeze can save the days from being uncomfortably hot. This is the mango season, my favorite tropical fruit, but also the time for magic, fairy tales, folklore and fantasy stories.
Carl from stainlesssteeldroppings is hosting the Once Upon a Time VIII challenge which starts today and runs until June 21st. I’ve been waiting for this event since January and collected some interesting books over the last few months.

My friend Vishy recommended The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and the blurb on the first page makes me want to start reading it right away:

“From familiar fairy tales and legends – Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss-in-Boots, beauty and the Beast, vampires, werewolves – Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark and sensual stories. Her hypnotic prose breathes new life into these enduring tales, every bit as haunting and disarming here as when encountered for the first time.”

I’ve also discovered Poison by Sarah Pinborough which is a retelling of Snow White. This beautiful hard cover gem is a work of art in itself, just wait until you see that first page.

It’s Snow White, but not as you know her…

…and now read the true story of Snow White, told the way it always should have been…”

Another book I’m excited about (and currently reading because I had just finished Doctor Sleep by Stephen King and just could not wait) is The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker. I saw this one while browsing online but can’t remember where. I don’t know anything about golems and very little about djinnis (apart from the stories in the Arabian Nights) so I decided to give this book a try and so far I’m really enjoying it.

“New York, 1899:

Ahmad is a djinni, a being of fire, trapped for centuries and brought back to life by Arbeely, an impoverished tinsmith who invites him to stay in his workshop in Lower Manhattan.
Together, experiencing freedom for the first time, they form the most unlikely of friendships. But a powerful threat will soon test their bond driving them back into their own worlds and forcing them to make a fateful choice.”

The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt is a collection of five short stories:

The Glass Coffin
Gode’s Story
The Story of the Eldest Princess
Dragon’s Breath
The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye

A few years ago I read Possession by the same author and enjoyed the book so much that I jumped at the chance to read more of her work.

Fate by L.R. Fredericks

Three years ago I read a book called Farundell, the first book in a series. I loved the name and the cover, and the book proved to be equally great and I was so in love with it that I wrote to the author and requested a short interview. You can read it here. Fate is the second book in the series but both can be read as standalone novels. I’ve been waiting to read this one ever since it was published in 2012. This blurb is from goodreads.com:

“Death and Beauty, Magic and Science: Lord Francis Damory’s Quest for the Elixir of Immortality

From Paris to Venice and across the pirate-infested Mediterranean to Egypt, Cyprus and distant Constantinople in pursuit of his mysterious ancestor Tobias the Alchemist, who may yet still be alive.”

Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov, a Penguin Classics book. The descriptions of the tales in this book seem vaguely familiar. I may have read something similar as a child. I am intrigued.

“In these tales, young women go on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Half the tales here are true oral tales, collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four great Russian writers: Alexander Pushkin, Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov and Andrey Platonov.”

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

I’ve had this book on my radar for a while but didn’t actually buy it until I realized it would fit in perfectly with the themes of this challenge. Like The Golem and the Djinni, it’s over 600 pages long. I can’t wait to see what this story is really about.

“Abandoned as a child on the steps of the St Rose Convent in New York, Evangeline Cacciatore grew up knowing little of her parents. Assisting a scholar in the convent one day, she uncovers a disturbing secret connected to her family. It relates to a sinister discovery in the Bulgarian mountains: a beautiful humanlike body impervious to decay. Who is it? And what has it to do with her parents?”

Here we are, at the end of week three of our read-along. I must say that even though I didn’t start this book with the greatest of hopes, I am very glad that I did get to read it. Many thanks to Vishy for suggesting we do this read-along (it probably would have taken me a lot longer to get to read this book on my own) and to the bloggers who have joined us. I hope everybody enjoyed the book.

The third and last volume begins with a story about Fairies that happened hundreds of years ago, long before the main story in the book. It has common elements with a vampire story, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much, and one of the characters named in the footnotes was made famous by Shakespeare in one of his plays.
The mix of well-known characters and real life people continues in this volume. I am enjoying those very much. One of these people is Lord Byron, and the author describes him and several other famous authors:

Strange was unsettled by Byron’s domestic arrangements. “I found his lordship at his pretty villa upon the shores of the lake. He was not alone. There was another poet called Shelley, Mrs Shelley and another young woman – a girl really – who called herself Mrs Clairmont and whose relationship to the two men I did not understand. If you know, do not tell me. Also present was an odd young man who talked nonsense the entire time – a Mr Polidori.”

The rivalry between the two magicians reaches new heights as Norrell causes his former pupil’s newly published book to vanish, to the amazement and indignation of the ones who buy it. Imagine if you bought a book you really wanted to read, only to find out it disappears once you get home. Comical and annoying. Ironically this is the thing that changes Strange’s impression of Lord Byron, as the poet sympathizes with him.

“When he heard that a whole book had been magicked out of existence by the author’s enemy, his indignation was scarcely to be described. He sent me a long letter, vilifying Norrell in the liveliest terms. Of all the letters I received upon that sad occasion, this is my favourite. No Englishman alive can equal his lordship for an insult.”

Vinculus and Drawlight make an appearance again for a brief time, but they are just pieces to be moved in the game and discarded once their roles are played.
After the shocking ending of the second volume, it takes a while before the author reveals what happened with that particular strand of the story. An interesting and hopeful revelation, very powerful magic, symbolism and madness, an almost-love-story, and a satisfying denouement made this book a great adventure. The last half of the volume was so intense it kept me awake well past my bedtime but it was well worth it. I like it that not everything was tied up with a pink ribbon at the end. We get some answers but not all of them. The mystery of The Raven King remains a mystery, and not everybody lives happily ever after but there is hope and the possibility of better things to come. I almost wish there was a sequel, but better not. It would have been great to find out more about The Raven King, as he was a most interesting character, but the mystery he left behind was equally intriguing.

The participants in this read-along and their thoughts on Volume III:

Vishy (Vishy’s Blog
TJ (My Book Strings)
Fleur in Her World
Yasmine (Yasmine Rose’s Book Blog)

My rating: 4/5 stars

*Read in January 2014

This is the second week of the read-along in which we discuss Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Vishy and I are co-hosting this event, and we are joined by several bloggers who decided to share this experience with us. I will add the links to their reviews as soon as I get them.

The second volume of the story begins with Mr Honeyfoot and Mr Segundus going on a trip, three years later from when the events in volume one started. It is now 1809 and the two magicians (one of them now only a theoretical magician) make plans to visit a haunted place called Shadow House. There they meet Mr Strange and being told that he was looking for books of magic, they encourage him to become Norrell’s pupil.
This is the start of a partnership between the two magicians. Under Mr Norrell’s tutelage, Strange begins to learn more about magic, even though the best books on the subject are still kept away from him by his tutor. It was quite funny to read about the first time Mr Norrell actually gave his pupil a book.

Humor laced with irony is one of the best things about reading this book and it intensifies in this volume. From descriptions of magic, which apparently has its side effects, like moving whole cities and not putting them back or changing the course of a river, or making a bridge that disappears faster than it should, to the Fairy which had helped bring Mrs Pole back to life and who is now an important part of the story.
The Fairy has told Stephen Black (Mr Pole’s butler) that he will be the king of England and offered his help in achieving what he calls “his destiny”. Stephen is under the influence of the Fairy even though he does not want it, and he finds himself repeatedly taken from his master’s house to strange lands where he has no choice but to keep his abductor company.
Little did Norrell know that the deal he made for saving Mrs Pole’s life would have such unimaginable consequences for the young lady. Like Stephen, she is also abducted at night and taken to a strange mansion where beautiful ladies and handsome gentlemen dance until dawn, whether they wish it or not. This brought to mind the name of a Brothers Grimm fairy-tale, The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes, in which twelve princesses go away to a magic castle and dance until dawn. I wonder who’s going to break the spell.
Both Stephen and Mrs Pole have tried to tell other people what is happening to them, in an attempt to free themselves from the magic that forced them away from their home. Neither succeeded, because as soon as they started talking, some bizarre tales came from their lips, while the words they truly wanted to say never made it out.
The Fairy goes as far as to abduct the king of England who is mad, and even to make plans to add Mrs Strange to his nightly gatherings by taking her away from her husband.

The partnership of the two magicians goes well at first, and together they are able to render their services to the British government. Norrell is still the insufferable selfish old man but this carefully built appearance cracks when Strange decides to go his own way. Drawlight also disappears from the story, and I could not help but feel pity for him, in spite of the trouble he got himself into.

The pace has picked up in this volume and I am enjoying the book a lot more. Also, small changes in the language like sopha and headach give the story a certain aura, like reading something that was written long ago. It is obvious that the author had gone to great lengths and probably a lot of research to write a book in which the language feels in accordance with the times.

As for the characters, there is a lot more about Mr Strange and his adventures in this volume, and even if he is constantly with his head in a book, I could not help but smile at his absentmindedness.
There are also many references to The Raven King, or John Uskglass, the first and most important of English magicians, and while Norrell does everything in his power to banish the memory of him from England, Strange is fascinated with the man and begins writing a book which includes the magician’s name.
This volume ends quite unexpectedly, with a death.

I hope the last volume will bring the answers to some questions, like what happened to Vinculus, and if Stephen Black does become the king of England and if Mrs Pole will ever be free from the Fairy’s influence. And most of all, what part does The Raven King play in the story.

I leave you with some of my favorite passages:

His lordship was in really excellent spirits that summer and he greeted Strange almost affectionately. “Ah, Merlin! There you are! Here is our problem! We are on this side of the river and the French are on the other side, and it would suit me much better if the positions were reversed.”

*

When he awoke it was dawn. Or something like dawn. The light was watery, dim and incomparably sad. Vast, grey, gloomy hills rose up all around them and in between the hills there was a wide expanse of black bog. Stephen had never seen a landscape so calculated to reduce the onlooker to utter despair in an instant.
“This is one of your kingdoms, I suppose, sir?” he said.
“My kingdoms?” exclaimed the gentleman in surprise. “Oh, no! This is Scotland!”

*

Henry tried again. “Well, surely, you will agree that a great improvement could be made simply by cutting down those trees that crowd about the house so much and darken every room? They grow just as they please – just where the acorn or seed fell, I suppose.”
“What?” asked Strange, whose eyes had wandered back to his book during the latter part of the conversation.
“The trees,” said Henry.
“Which trees?”
“Those,” said Henry, pointing out of the window to a whole host of ancient and magnificent oaks, ashes and beech trees.
“As far as neighbours go, those trees are quite exemplary. They mind their own affairs and have never troubled me. I rather think that I will return the compliment.”
“But they are blocking the light.”
“So are you, Henry, but I have not yet taken an axe to you.”

*

“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”

Here are the links to the other participants’ reviews of Volume II:

Vishy (Vishy’s Blog)
TJ (My Book Strings)
Yasmine (Yasmine Rose’s Book Blog)
Fleur (Fleur in her World)

It seems like I’m starting this year’s reading with books about magic. The first one I read, The Night Circus, was a nice introduction to the subject of magic, complete with amazing spells and a love story worthy of Shakespeare. This time, romance gets a back seat and instead of Romeo and Juliet, we get Mr Norrell and Mr Strange, two magicians who couldn’t be more different.

He hardly ever spoke of magic, and when he did it was like a history lesson and no one could bear to listen to him.

So begins Susanna Clarke’s tale of magic, but even though the words above would perfectly describe one of the two magicians in the book, he does not appear in the story right away.
The story begins with an introduction of some respectable gentlemen who got together once a month, in the city of York in the year 1808. These gentlemen would talk about magic, without ever actually attempting any magical spell. Indeed the slightly ironical tone of the narrator indicates that discussing this subject is a gentlemanly endeavor, while actually putting the knowledge into practice would be out of the question. Into this gathering comes John Segundus, who is of a different opinion. He causes quite a stir when he asks the others why nobody is attempting to bring magic back to Britain, and this very pertinent question brings discord among the men present. Most of the gentlemen do not approve of the question but one Mr Honeyfoot befriends Segundus and together they decide to look for a magician. Segundus talks about a “street magician, a vagabonding, yellow curtain sort of fellow with a strange disfiguration” who, in exchange for a considerable amount of money, told him that magic would be restored in Britain by two magicians. Alas, he was told he was not one of them.

Their quest for a magician prove to be fruitful in the end, as they follow up a rumor that an old magician was living secluded on his estate, spending his time studying magic in his amazing library stocked with wonderful and quite ancient books on magic. Segundus writes a letter inviting him to join their society, and after he and Mr Honeyfoot travel to meet the reclusive magician, who is of a not so friendly nature, they ask him the same question that Segundus asked the gentlemen-magicians: Why is no more magic done in England? Mr Norrell, the old magician, replies that he is in fact “quite a tolerable practical magician”, which astounds the two visiting gentlemen, who bring back the news to the other magicians. In the end, Mr Norrell receives a letter in which his claim to practical magic is doubted and this would bring about a most interesting challenge. He is willing to prove the Learned Society of York Magicians his magical abilities in exchange for the said society to disband and give up any claim to the title of magician. All agree except Segundus, and Mr Norrell accepts the challenge. On the day decided for the experiment to take place, the gentlemen magicians convene at the appointed place, a cathedral, where Mr Norrell proves his claim to the status of magician was well founded.

This is but a first step into bringing Mr Norrell out of his secluded estate and into the world, and he decides to move to London and use his magic powers to aid Britain in the war with Napoleon’s troupes. In spite of his willingness to use his powers in the war against the French, nobody is quite prepared to believe him but with the help of Mr Drawlight and Mr Lascelles he gradually finds his way into the English nobility and after innumerable dinner parties an occasion presents itself for Mr Norrell to show his magical powers.
By bringing back to life the young future wife of a prominent member of Parliament, Mr Norrell finds the opportunity he was looking for. Mr Walter Pole shows his gratitude by introducing the magician to the other politicians and he finally has the chance to prove himself by performing an ingenious piece of magic that helps his country considerably.

Mr Norrell’s second act of magic has unexpected repercussions, as the spell he cast to bring back the future Mrs Pole could not be done without a Fairy, a being of an unusual appearance who causes all kinds of disturbances among the servants of the young lady. He goes so far as to insinuate himself in the life of Stephen Black, butler of Mr Pole, who begins to see things he shouldn’t see and to hear things he shouldn’t hear. Not only him, but the other servants as well. The melancholy sound of a bell plague some, while others actually meet the Fairy (a gentleman with silver hair) while in the house, and begin to talk of spirits and ghost-like apparitions. Mrs Pole, who was the very picture of health after her revival, lapses into a comatose state, to the despair of her husband.
Meanwhile, Mr Norrell is anxious that no other magicians exist to dispute his claim of being the only magician in Britain and by a series of actions contrives to drive away any who boast magical powers. Vinculus is one of them, and with the help of his valet, Childermass, Mr Norrell is able to drive the vagabond magician out of London. While in the countryside, Vinculus meets Jonathan Strange, a gentleman who had just lost his father and who was on his way to see a young lady he hoped to convince of being his wife. Vinculus claims that Strange is a magician, and a famous one, to the amusement of the said gentleman, who, in an attempt to impress Miss Arabella Woodhope, his love interest, tells her that very evening that he intends to study magic. He proves his intentions by casting a spell which Vinculus had given him written on a piece of paper, and conjures up the image of none other than Mr Norrell at work in his study.

*

It took me a while to get immersed into the nineteen century England, and the story was slow going at first. The omniscient narrator adds a lot of detail, and a somewhat annoying amount of lengthy fictitious footnotes which I read because I did not want to miss any detail that may come up in the story later on (I do like the explanations but preferred they were somehow integrated into the story itself). One can feel immersed in the time period, the language does a very good job of conveying the atmosphere, down to the Dickensian cast of characters very aptly named: Vinculus (from Latin vinculum – bond, link), Honeyfoot – a very amiable gentleman; Drawlight – a gentleman of low means but quick wit, an opportunist; Stephen Black – a black valet, tall, handsome, and well-educated; Jonathan Strange who is, well, strange, and the list goes on.

Mr Norrell is not an agreeable person. He rather brings to mind Scrooge, by his attitude to people in general and his selfish, morose, and utterly boring ways. His library is extensive and he had made sure no other man could claim the title of magician but him. If we are to believe the hints dropped here and there, Mr Norrell is actually responsible for the demise of a number of magicians. His hope is that he is the only magician in Britain, and the glory is his alone. His conversations are more like lectures on the subject of magic, and he doesn’t bother to hide his low opinion of other people. Fortunately for him and his reputation as a great magician, Drawlight and Lascelles more than make up for the magician’s rigid views and somber disposition. They become Norrell’s eyes and ears in the English society, as they know the proper etiquette (and the right flattering words) so much better than the old magician. To read about them was quite entertaining – their intentions are based on nothing but self interest and they are determined to profit from their connection with the magician.

Women play a decisive role in reviving the magic in Britain. First Mrs Pole, whose resurrection causes quite a commotion and establishes Mr Norrell’s reputation as a practicing magician, and Miss Woodhope, the woman whom Jonathan Strange tries to impress by declaring he will study magic.

The distinction between social classes is also portrayed, and we find out the difference between a country servant and a London servant, and the tricks they played on each other. So far, the story mixes actual events and fiction in an ingenious matter, down to the glum winter days and the embellished speech of the characters.

The pace of the novel felt quite slow at times but on a story of this size and with so many details woven in, I guess it is to be expected. Towards the end of Volume I, an account of Jonathan Strange’s life is given, which serves to pave the way for the next volume, named after this gentleman.
Looking forward to see what happens next. I’m not a big fan of Norrell, whom I think a rather dull and not so nice character but perhaps there will be something in the next volumes that will change my opinion. I find him and Vinculus to be the most intriguing characters so far.

If you are taking part in this read-along, feel free to comment and leave a link to your review of the first volume. I am curious to see what you think about the story up to this point and if there’s something you liked or disliked in particular.

Update: Links to the blogs of the other participants and their opinions about Volume I:

Vishy (Vishy’s Blog)
TJ (My Book Strings)
Fleur (Fleur in Her World)
Yasmine (Yasmine Rose’s Book Blog)

Today marks the beginning of the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell read-along. I am really excited to start this project and would like to thank the bloggers who are joining Vishy and I for this reading adventure. If you want to take part in this read-along, all you have to do is leave a comment and start reading, and if you have a blog, provide a link to your review. You can also do a post about the start of the read-along, but this is entirely optional. So here we go.

The participants:

Vishy (Vishy’s Blog)
Delia (Postcards from Asia)
Fleur (Fleur in her World)
Yasmine (Yasmine Rose’s Book Blog)
TJ (My Book Strings)

Looking forward to reading your review of Volume I next Saturday.

Every once in a while I come across a book that sounds like a lot of fun but the size makes me question my willingness to get involved in reading it. Such a book was Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell which I got in a book exchange at my book club. The edition I have also has tiny writing – yet another minus, but in spite of that, the premise sounded too good to pass by: the action happens in the 1800s and there are magicians involved. Also, Vishy, a friend from the blogosphere, came up with the idea of a read-along and the odds shifted significantly in favor of reading this book. After all, it’s always easier and a lot more fun when other people come along for the adventure. If you’d like to be one of these people, grab a copy of the book and come join us.

Here are the rules:

1. The read-along starts on 11th January (this coming Saturday)
2. The book is divided into three volumes, so the read-along 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
3. If you’d like to participate, write in the comments (here or on Vishy’s blog, or both if you like) and link back to your blog. This way I can add your review to the weekly post. You can also join at any time during the read-along.

The first chapter can be read online HERE

Enjoy!