Mr. Norrell, a recluse with an extensive library, agrees to use his magical efforts to help the British fight against Napoleon Bonaparte. When Jonathan Strange, an ambitious magician, arrives on the scene, Mr. Norrell eagerly agrees to teach him the ways of English magic. While Norrell is stuffy and rigid, Strange is wild and eager. Circumstances grow more and more dangerous as they uncover lost magic. If BBC miniseries are your cup of tea, then this vividly detailed novel might be for you. Fun/embarrassing fact: my brother loaned me this giant book years ago and I still haven’t read it (because I keep meaning to!). And I still haven't returned it.

Susanna Clarke's hotly anticipated second novel is a fantasy novel that plays with fantasy tropes, a mystery but not just a mystery, an altogether weird and extremely compelling book set in a strange house with labyrinthine passageways and just fifteen inhabitants, only two of which are alive. It's decidedly weird and took me a solid 20% to get oriented, but once I did I couldn't stop reading. Our narrator is Piranesi—though he suspects that's not really his name—and while I don't recommend googling the plot before you begin reading, I do recommend those reading with a literary lens google the Italian artist who shares his moniker.