Kevin's Watch

I just finished Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which is a nice book by the way, but there's one thing that annoys me no end: the blurb on the back cover. This is what it says:

"...Combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen into A MASTERPIECE OF THE GENRE THAT RIVALS TOLKIEN."

Trust me, this book has nothing, absolutely nothing in common with any book that might conceivably be compared to Tolkien. Why do publishers still do this - compare everything that slightly reeks of fantasy with Tolkien?*

/rant on the interwebs





*rhetorical, don't bother

My guess is they'll do anything to get a sale (sorry, noticed it was rhetorical, but anyway... ). I'm not a fan of blurbs - sometimes they give too much of the story away.

I'm just infuriated that people apply the term 'delicious' to non-food/drink items. Do these people know how retarded they sound?

Orlion wrote:I'm just infuriated that people apply the term 'delicious' to non-food/drink items. Do these people know how retarded they sound?

What? You've never wanted to eat a book? ...Wierdo.

jacob Raver, sinTempter wrote:

Orlion wrote:I'm just infuriated that people apply the term 'delicious' to non-food/drink items. Do these people know how retarded they sound?

What? You've never wanted to eat a book? ...Wierdo.

While I enjoyed it overall, I don't think it deserved the hype...more Charles Dickens than Tolkein.

--A