Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
I was made aware of this book by another book (shocking, I know). The second book is called A View from the Cheap Seats, and it’s a compilation of speeches and essays and articles by Neil Gaiman (whom I quite admire, as you may now have guessed). It’s also an excellent read, and I would recommend to any reader to pick that one up, too. Anyway, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is quite an extraordinary work. Do be aware, it’s a bit of an undertaking (kind of like what a tree removal service might have to go through in some particularly foresty yards, except much more enjoyable, I imagine), compared to some of the others I’ve mentioned here; the version I bought consisted of a little over 1000 pages. It’s totally worth it, but just be aware of the length!