Man vänjer sig.

Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Finished just after midnight on January 12 (i.e. less than 24 hours ago). Enjoyed it immensely, and the footnotes made me laugh out loud more than once. My overwhelming impression, though, is one of melancholy: the English countryside, which we mostly see in autumn and winter, is a dreary and desolate place, with wintry fields and forests, grey skies, old ruins; London is perpetually rainy; Faerie is seventy times worse, and Lost-hope is the worst place of all. The black-and-white (more black and dark grey than white, admittedly) illustrations only make this feeling stronger.

Maybe I will edit this review when I've had some more sleep and have thought more about it. For now, I'm glad I bought the paperback instead of the hardback. For one thing, the hardback would not have fit in my coat-pocket, and for another, if you read the hardback in bed and fall asleep, you'll like as not clobber yourself to death when you drop it. ("It's clobberin' time!")