regshoe

And oh man, if you ever decide to read him, you're in for such a treat... all that magical realism!

Looking at his wikipedia page, this sounds very relevant to my interests (as well as to Susanna Clarke's writing!): short stories interconnected by common themes, including dreams, labyrinths, philosophers, libraries, mirrors, fictional writers, and mythology. I may indeed check them out!

Strange's approach to magic is a difficult one–I feel quite strongly that it and he are wrong, but it's tricky to pin down exactly what's wrong about it, especially in comparison to Norrell's much more obvious flaws. But he doesn't simply understand the world the way Stephen and Segundus and Piranesi do (more relevantly, perhaps, the way the ladies of Grace Adieu do), and perhaps that's it. Well, I'm going to re-read JSMN next, so I'll think about it more then, no doubt.

Yes, bigger on the inside indeed :D Well, I'm sure I will have a lot more to say about it in future...