Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell has been hailed as the best fantasy novel in 70 years. That is a fulsome compliment and one I could quibble with but it is certainly one of the best fantasies that I have ever read.

In a nutshell, this is an 800 page book about the return of real magic to Great Britain. It is set in the years of the Georgian regency and the Napoleonic Wars. The magicians Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange are workman-like, even prosaic, in their practices as they help the British to defeat Bonaparte yet the infusion of Faerie grows daily stronger until their their own mistakes and arrogances threaten not only themselves but England.

It is written after the style of early mid 19th century writers. It flirts with being Dickensian (with delightful minor characters) but flavored with a Jane Austen-like measure of subtle humor and keen observation of foibles. It intermixes real people like Lord Byron and the Duke of Wellington and historical incidents of the time to make this read like a lively, amusing glimpse into a real world and not the usual sword-and-sorcery swashbuckling too often found in fantasies.

Literary fiction is not my cup of tea, but this is a long, deep satisfying immersion into another, yet not completely other, world. It is perfect for quiet, winter nights when the workday is done and the imagination is free to fancy.

-- mel

Two mystery books set in Mendocino County

Set in Mendocino County (or very close)

A Single Eye by Susan Dunlop



Darcy Lott became a stunt woman because she could not overcome her fear of the woods.
Her New York City Zen Master sends her off to a sesshin deep in the redwoods of Mendocino County. The mysterious disappearence of the “prize” student at the
Monastery’s opening six years previous mirrors the past failures that the Monastery’s residents are hiding from. Nothing is as it seems.

The Second Tale of the Sixth Patriarch is thus:
The body is not a bodhi tree
There is no clear mirror anywhere
Fundamentally nothing exists
Nothing for dust to cling to.

“The circle is never complete; there’s always an opening through which life flows”




Family Business, A Port Silva Mystery by Janet LaPierre

A young man disappears when a peaceful anti-war demonstration suddenly becomes a riot. Searching for a past that Danny Soto does not seem to have, private investigators, the mother and daughter team of Patience and Verity Mackellar, must discover who Danny really is by delving into family relationships and secrets.

Family Business is set in Port Silva, a small mythical seaside town somewhere along the Mendocino coast. The year is 2002, following the Gulf War. As a librarian, one incident jars me. Both the librarian and young volunteer in the local library willingly talk about what newspapers Danny was reading and searching through online. Librarians just do not do that. We believe in your privacy. That aside this is a fine mystery.