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Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell 8/10

Well naysayers be damned, Mass Market Fantasy delivers the goods. Susanna Clarke can write a tall tale and then some. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is for the most part a most excellent read. It is lively, an extremely well written, Clarke knows how tho create characters and it “shews”. While it may not have been short listed for the Booker, compared with other pop fiction titles of similar sales figures, ahem, The Da Vinci Code, this book pretty much buries them (it).

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David Mitchell number9dream 3/10

When reading a book becomes a chore, that should be a pretty good indicator that the time has probably come to put the book down. Granted, there are exceptions to this rule; texbooks and reference manuals. But if you are reading for pleasure, and that pleasure turns into a tedious task, put it down. Had I followed my own advice I would have dropped David Mitchell’s number9dream around page one hundred and forty-five.
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Let me begin by saying, I have never read Moby Dick and its expansive cetology notes. As well, my Heavy Metal knowledge is about as broad and deep as a paddling pool. But one can’t help but wonder if when Herman Melville sat down to write his whale of a tale that he would be spearheading the biggest Heavy Metal craze since skeletons….

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