Weekend Reading

Shari can't resist picking up extraordinarily long novels. She cut her teeth on James Michener in middle school then progressed to Herman Wouk in high school. So when she saw this book on the shelf, she just had to tackle all 1024 pages.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke

A dark and mesmerizing story about British magic during Napolean’s reign. An ambitious scholar is the first practical magician in hundreds of years. He’s recruited to help change the course of the Napoleonic wars. But he ego gets the best of him and his apprentice threatens to topple all that’s been achieved. A strange magic book without the horror you might find in an Anne Rice novel.

(Tor Books, 2006)