and another thing....!

read 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' last week... an absorbing read indeed... a bit of escapism in some ways as it wasn't deep... nor actually enjoyable... but it was absorbing.... the footnotes were excellent... a whole other world/other book lay tucked within the bottom of the pages.. but it lacked a fuller exploration of relationships between the characters and the female characters were sadly lacking being rather cardboard cutouts... it barely touched the surface ... although it was 'a good read' in many ways... the historical aspect was fully explored.... in fact the Wellington/Napolean/Georgian perspective and the world of magic were completely intertwined in a very satisfying way but I can see why it didn't make the Booker short list.... regardless of it's massive length it just had no depth