tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5940197.post5284203974596845129..comments2024-03-25T21:14:49.666-04:00Comments on Joel Swagman (Reviews / TESOL): Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeJoel Swagmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948746083822200906noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5940197.post-1432636899584780642009-01-02T20:06:00.000-05:002009-01-02T20:06:00.000-05:00Although the reading choices are limited over here...Although the reading choices are limited over here, I'd be lying if I said this was the only book I had available to me. But I stuck with this book because I thought maybe it would pick up if I got more into it. And by the time I realized it wasn't going to pick up, I was far enough along I thought I might as well finished it off.<BR/><BR/>It was not the most exciting book I ever read, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a complete waste of time either. Still, I couldn't really recommend it to anyoneJoel Swagmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14948746083822200906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5940197.post-28569513169923977412009-01-02T14:29:00.000-05:002009-01-02T14:29:00.000-05:00If the first 100 pages don't pull me in, I'm gone....If the first 100 pages don't pull me in, I'm gone. And these first 100 pages seemed to do their utmost to send me off. The Dickens/Austen comparison is scurrilous: hell, why didn't she throw in Shakespeare, and make it the perfect British trifecta? Were I more prone to vituperative Amazon reviewing, I would be among the "one-star" readers.<BR/><BR/>But I know what happens when you're in a non-English-speaking country. I read Caleb Carr's <I>The Alienist</I> right to its tedious finish -- but only because I was in Germany and had brought too few books with me. Some lessons are learned the hard way.Whisky Prajerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14076228013022881173noreply@blogger.com