required reading

I haven't been reading very much at all recently - falling prey to a combination of laziness and busyness. I neatly arranged the bookshelves nearest my bed a few weeks ago, so that they contain only books that I haven't yet read, in an attempt to stop me buying books and reading the novels I've been intending to for months/years. My reading habit prompty dried up, and I started rereading books rather than reaching for anything new. Typical.

This means I'm without a lot of material for blogging and reviewing, so every book must count. I just finished Susanna Clarke's The Ladies of Grace Adieu, a collection of short stories based in the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, though for the most part written before JS&MrN was published.

Bloomsbury were slightly more restrained with their promotion of this volume. Money and effort were obviously spent on the hardback - the grey linen cloth, the embossed black text and pink flowers, but this time there's only one version of hardback and paperback available.

No, I spoke too soon. See here the amazing fecundity of Bloomsbury's marketing and art departments when it comes to their favourite authors:

The pink of the cover is a clue to the fact that, whereas the world Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is one of male influence, the focus of The Ladies of Grace Adieu is on female interests and power. You might also have grasped this emphasis from the from the title. Ahem.

The stories are diverse, disturbing, uncanny, and delightful. One, a story about the Raven King, was possibly destined for footnote treatment in the novel, and it's something of a relief to be able to give it full attention here, without being pulled this was and that by other narratives. The title story seems to be an offcut of the novel itself, though it succeeds nicely as a standalone episode. Another, The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse is set in the town of Wall, created by Neil Gaiman in the novel Stardust, and is available in full on Susanna Clarke's website - here. For me they are perfect Winter reading - fairy tales very much in the vein of the Brothers Grimm. They sit quite nicely with frosty mornings and twinkly nights, hot drinks, armchairs, all the rest of that stuff that I go in for at this time of year.

If your only quarrel with Jonathan Strange is its length or you are irritated by its digressions, then you are likely to enjoy The Ladies of Grace Adieu. If, like me, you loved the novel, then I suspect you already own this volume, as is of the same ilk.