1006 pages, and worth it

I finally finished last year’s Hugo winner, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke.  The paperback edition is 1006 pages long (I guess the hardback was only about 800 pages), so I wasn’t able to read it in a single sitting…or even a single month.  But I’m glad I didn’t let the length discourage me.

And even though the book is rather long, loaded with footnotes, and only intermittently filled with action, it was well worth the time.  I raced through the last 200 pages or so, wondering how the author was going to tie together the threads of the story — I wasn’t disappointed, even though not everything was neatly wound up (much like life itself).

Recommended.