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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   831 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 30, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

Still on The Dawn of Everything. Picking up Tom Brown's School Days.

I recently read and finished Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I loved it - probably the most memorable book I've read in years. I decided to try her other (and much better known) major work: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Christ I've been finding it boring. I've gotten through just over 100 pages and I don't think I can manage any more. I get that it was a deliberate stylistic decision to write in the style of someone from the early 19th century but it doesn't work for me at all. That being said, I respect authors trying something radically different from whatever everyone else is doing and given all the plaudits it clearly impressed plenty of people. Interested in what anyone here who's tried to read it thinks.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell picks up in the last third. I haven't decided if it was worth reading.

Piranesi is a totally different genre than Norrell. Though the latter is also good, it is more of a tome like Neal Stephenson novels.

If you want more like Piranesi, I would strongly recommend Madeline Miller's novels based on Homeric classics.

My girlfriend has been reading Jonathan Strange for several weeks (months?). She initially found it delightful and easy to read, but then came to a chunk of it where the pacing slowed to a crawl. I believe she's now about three-quarters of the way through it and is determined to finish it before the end of the year.

Keep at it until Jonathon Strange comes in. Mr Norrell is really really boring, and it's not fun slogging through that, but the visceral experience of finding him boring helps you understand him better in the long run, as well as why the world reacts to Strange with such relief.

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