TV Adaptation of "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell"

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by GERGE

And about fillers, I actually adore them sometimes, especially those with a slice-of-life feeling.

That's where the author's abilities come into play for me. Some of my favorite authors can regale me with lengthy character/place/process descriptive passages and I'll eat it up like candy; some of my other favorite authors need to stay on point or I get bored/frustrated. I can honestly say I've never been "in the mood for a really long book," just in the mood for a really good one (or three if they're all short ).

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm fairly book-length agnostic. It depends entirely on the story and the author's skills. I've read huge tomes that felt too short, and some short stories that felt too long. I prefer that books be the perfect length for the story they contain--whatever that length happens to be. As long as I know I'm buying a "novel," I really don't give the page-count much thought in my selection process. Makes no difference to me whether I read two average-sized fantastic books or one huge fantastic book in a certain period of time. *shrug*

Originally Posted by Apache

I have to agree.
Apache

Me three.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Really? Where did you hear that?

From publisher and authors at conventions. Also from articles and blogs.

[murg]

Long books are why I keep track of my annual reading by number of words, rather than by number of books.

[latepaul]

Well we're at episode 3 of 7 and the differences are becoming more significant I think. It's no longer just about compressing the story-telling it's changing the tone quite significantly.

Specifically:

Spoiler:

• Using the tapestry as a way of communicating about Lost-hope is quite different, because it assumes a loophole in the magic stopping her telling anyone that's not there in the book.
• Norrell confronting Lady Pole on her sick bed. In the book he mostly ignores her and tells her husband from afar that he can't cure madness with magic.
• Strange struggling to do magic in Portugal. In the book almost everything he does he does with ease, it's more a matter of having to have the idea (such as the road). That whole section in the forest was new. True he does do the resurrection of the Neopolitans and he does feel uneasy about it, but the idea that he has abandoned "modern magic" at this stage is not there in the book.
• Watching the TV show you'd be forgiven for thinking the Gentleman is merely manipulating Stephen Black for his own ends - he more or less says it would be worth making him a king so he can kill "the magician". In the book, a) he genuinely just seems to like Stephen and think he ought to be king, b) there's no sense he doubts his own ability to kill anyone should he feel the need.