#Mr. Norrell and Johnathan Strange

[dickensianenglishbulldog]

Gosh I love the internet, in everyday life I perhaps meet twelve people who have heard of Sherlock Holmes and six of them think he was real. Where else but online may I meet people I can enthuse about Gilbert and Sullivan, Raffles, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Lord Peter Wimsey, Biggles, Diana Wynne Jones, Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel, why the Oxford comma needs rights, and P.G. Wodehouse with?

[its-to-the-death]

Battle of the Gingers Wave 1 Preliminary Round #50

Whoever gets the most votes moves onto the next round

Pictures below the cut

Emilie Munthe (Glasskongen)

Webjørn Giddorg (Mørkalven)

Molly Wind (Molly Wind, bibliothécaire du Far West)

[madmonksandmaenads]

I am writing my first fanfiction, and I have decided it needs a thousand word in-universe introduction.

[queerolddad]

me @ Henry Lascelles

[speakingskies]

Good evening, dear colleagues!

I am Happy to say that I am now in possession of Polls, and inspired by my Delightful colleague @fol-de-lol‘s Advent Trivia Questions, I am Proud to Announce:

THE GREAT JOHN-OFF OF ENGLISH MAGIC

38 Johns, Jonathons, Johnsons &c. from both Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and The Ladies of Grace Adieu will, over the next few days, battle it out to become The Ultimate John!

The brackets were chosen by a mixture of random number generator and personal choice on my part to make the different rounds as interesting as possible.

This post will link to all active polls, once they are posted.

ROUND ONE MATCHES: Preliminaries

Match 1: Sir John Sowreston vs Jonathan Barratt 56%:44%

Match 2: John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe vs Captain John Kincaid 54%:46%

Match 3: John Waterbury, Lord Portishead vs John Brassfoot 76%:24%

Match 4: John Ford vs Jonah Montefiore DRAW! REMATCH!

Match 5: Jeremy Johns vs John Longridge 87%:13%

Match 6: John Aubrey vs Rev John McKenzie 88%:12%

ROUND TWO MATCHES

Bracket 1

John Hyde vs [Sir John Sowreston or Jonathan Barratt]

John McKean vs Johnson (Beggar)

John Copperhead vs John Alfreton

Jonathan Strange vs John (Waiter)

Bracket 2

John Napier vs [John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe or Captain John Kincaid]

John Windle vs John Harker

John Segundus vs John Upchurch

[John Waterbury, Lord Portishead or John Brassfoot] vs Black Joan

Bracket 3

John Childermass vs [John Ford or Jonah Montefiore]

Dr John Willis vs John (Servant)

John Hollyshoes vs Clara Johnson

John d’Uskglass vs John Cockcroft

Bracket 4

John Uskglass vs [Jeremy Johns or John Longridge]

John Wheston vs Captain John Ayrton

John Polidori vs John Purvis

[John Aubrey or Rev John McKenzie] vs John Murray

ROUND THREE MATCHES

TBC

QUARTER FINALS

TBC

SEMI FINALS

TBC

THE FINAL JOHN-OFF

TBC

[foldingfittedsheets]

So I finally finished Priory of the Orange Tree.

…underwhelmed.

[bleedingedgeavoidancetactics]

England's second greatest magician!

[shakespearesdaughters]

What kind of books by Dark Academia do you suggest to me? At the moment I’m on Tolstoj but I wanna to know much

The Secret History by Donna Tartt anything by Donna Tartt (praying we get another book in the next 5 years)

Maurice by E. M. Forester

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

The Patrick Melrose series by Edward St Aubyn

Confessions by Kanae Minato

In the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Piranesi and Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Dead Poets Society by N H Kleinbaum

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

An Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

The Idiot by Elif Bautman

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Babel by R F Kuang

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Stoner by John Williams

The Queens Gambit by Walter Tevis

The odyssey by Homer

Carmilla by J Sheridan le Fanu

We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

The October Country by Ray Bradbury

Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Just to name a few!

[stesierra]

In response to criticism of your writing, be aware there is always a way to make something work even if your critics say it's insane to try. It's always always about the execution.

"Too descriptive?" "Too purple?" Try reading Robin McKinley or Patricia McKillip and tell me description and flowery writing can't work.

"Too low-stakes?" The entire field of cozy fantasy laughs at the very idea. Check out Legends and Lattes if you haven't yet.

"Not enough description?" I used to read Patricia Wrede books where I still to this day don't know what anyone looks like. Don't care.

"Too violent/gross?" The field of horror would like a word.

"Too unoriginal?" Baby, people are still writing the same tropes and getting published. Tiktok loves that stuff, as I understand it.

"Too long?" Have you seen Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? That puppy was a debut!

"Too short?" Flash fiction. Short stories. Novellas.

I could keep going. The point is, it's not what you do that makes your writing sing but HOW you do it.

Unfortunately, figuring out how can take a lifetime!

[14carrotghoul]

25 books for 2025

Thanks a ton to @zwiazdziarka and @anti-homophobia-cheese for the tags! I loved this game last year and only read a handful from the list but it's still fun to map out what I'm interested in!

Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead - Emily Austin (currently reading)

Burn Book - Kara Swisher (currently reading)

In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado (currently reading but slowly)

Freedom is a Constant Struggle - Angela Davis (cant believe i havent finished, only have two chaps left)

Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan (on hold)

On Tyranny - Timothy Snyder (on hold)

Challenger - Adam Higginbotham (praying for my library to get a copy of an audiobook or for a paperback release)

Hope in the Dark - Rebecca Solnit

An Immense World - Ed Yong

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

Love Triangle: How Trigonometry Shapes the World - Matt Parker

I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman

Cultish - Amanda Montell

Humankind - Rutger Brenman

Cantoras - Carolina de Robertis

Fun Home - Alison Bechdel

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (reread)

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (reread)

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg

Holes - Louis Sachar

The Giver - Lois Lowry

Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

Maurice - E. M. Forster

James - Percival Everett

No pressure tagging @caterpills @orchidscript @cha-melodius @read-and-write- @suseagull5914 @alasse9 @cultofsappho @firenati0n @love-has-a-way-ofgrowingbackward @myheartalivewrites @porcelainmortal @xthelastknownsurvivorx ❤️❤️

[slow-burn-sally]

@burnsopale thought you might find our ongoing discussions of Segundus' littleness interesting...

@ohveda this reply will stand out forever in my mind. Such a perfect Segundus description.

[szappan]

ohohoho end of the year book asks!! i'd love to hear your answers to 2, 14, 17, and 25 if you'd be so kind :^D

oho thank you so much for the ask! id love to ask you some things as well if you feel up to it!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Yes actually, I reread quite a lot of Gerald Durrell and Lázár Ervin books this year because they were my absolute favourite authors when I was little and I took them with me to Finland for comfort. :-) A halak jelleme was my favourite I think and it was interesting to see how much more I understood of it now that I'm both older and know what the UK is.

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

There are 3 Jeeves novels I haven't read yet and I'd like to read them soon but also I've been putting them off because I don't want to finish them all yet. A conundrum! I'm nearing the end of Joy in the Morning right now but I haven't been reading it for the past few days because so far it's my favourite Jeeves novel and I want it to last!!!

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Not really. I don't often get surprised as a rule because I don't have expectations but maybe Alan Davies's autobiography, Just Ignore Him, fits this the most, because it exceeded the expectations I didn't have. It's really very good. I sort of surprised myself with the fact that I read not one but two autobiographies this year, the other being Brent Spiner's book, but that one wasn't very good. I also read the Naked Sun by Asimov and I ended up liking it less than I wanted.

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

THE NAME OF THE ROSE PLEASE GOD FINALLY. I've been wanting to get on with it for YEARS. Also finishing Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell! And just reading More. I read more this year for fun than in the past 3 combined and I enjoyed myself immensely so it would be nice to continue in this vein. :-)

Thank you again!

[queerolddad]

BEAST OF BURDEN

Jonathan Strange, in his typical fashion, is pursuing a spell which will identify a person’s secondary gender. Both Norrell and Childermass are opposed to such a spell — rightfully so, as when it is finally cast, it will set off a chain of events that will fundamentally alter not only the relationships of the three gentlemen, but also the fate of English magic, forever.

Childermass/Norrell || 🔞 || A/B/O

[vesseloftherevolution]

Keep the magician! Nothing more sexy than eating dead mice and stealing your friend’s books in order to curse Venice.

In order to make this bracket work nicely, we need one less person. So....

The one with the least votes after 24 hours will be voted off the bracket. We repeat, the least votes. Vote for who you want to stay, not who you want to go.

Propaganda under the cut:

Tom Pullings:

“have you seem the james d’arcy depiction? come on.”

Jonathan Strange:

“Incredibly weird. Somehow both a wifeguy and ignores his wife to get back at his former mentor. Eats a dead rat to become insane. Panics when the French attack unexpectedly so he moves Brussels to America. Also he is ginger and has a big nose <3” admin side note: the casting for the live action apparently didn't keep his ginger-ness

Anthony Trumbull:

"Portrayed by Cary Grant!"

William Laurence

“The man rode a dragon and treated it as a person (character is important!”

[havendance]

ten people i’d like to know better tag game

tagged by @mysteriousbeetle 💜

last song: Pursuit from the Final Fantasy X soundtrack

favorite color: We'll go with navy blue this time around

last movie: Uhh, I think that was Wicked back in November

last tv show: Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell

sweet/spicy/savory: They are all good but I do have a sweet tooth

relationship status: single 😎

last thing i googled: font awesome cheatsheet (I think)

current obsession: We are still in comics land people

looking forward to: Going to see a show later this month with a friend :)

tagging: not tagging anyone right now but if anyone's interested feel free to hop on!

[letthebookbegin]

hafsa, hi! for the books asks - 3, 4, 6 and 9, please!!!!!

hiii sorry ria i must've missed this!!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Orange and Other Poems by Wendy Cope

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

(so far!)

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

i loved piranesi so much i immediately went to add johnathan strange & mr norrell to my tbr! it'll have to wait until next year though, i'm trying to reach my goodreads goal and a 1006 page book will not help hahah

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

i've still got a few i plan to read before the year is over, but i've been meaning to read the 4th book in the stormlight archive (rhythm of war) since it came out, and now the 5th book is also out! it's just a daunting task when i want to reread the others before i read the 4th & 5th and the shortest book in the series is 1000+ pages '^^

9. Did you get into any new genres?

i didn't! the vast majority of the books i read this year were fantasy, which has been my favourite genre since i started reading books (thank u magic faraway tree). i stopped reading as much fantasy the last few years, so it's been nice to return to that

send me an end-of-year book ask