This book was huge a few years ago, but I had never found the time to read it until recently.  (just finished it today)JS&MN is an alternative history fantasy novel that takes place mostly in England in the early years of the 19th Century.  It focuses on the rise of two English Magicians and their escapades in bringing Magic back to England.The book is remarkably well written, with prose like Dickens, extremely dry humor (like someone put a Douglas Adams novel in a dehydrator) and footnotes (between this and House of Leaves, my life has been footnote after footnote for the past month).  The only complaint I have is that it was maybe too much for one book and should have been split into two or three volumes.Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is probably the best book that I've read this year and one of the best I've read this decade.  If you haven't given it a read and love dry british humor and magic, I'd recommend you put it on your list.  If you have read it, I'd love to hear what other people thought.