Adam’s ready. Dorothy’s ready, too. And now I’m ready: my copy of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, translated by Walter Starkie, came in the mail the other day. I’ll be jumping into the book within a day or two.

I finished Susanna Clarke’s The Ladies of Grace Adieu earlier today. Thematically, the book—which is a collection of eight short stories—isn’t any different from Clarke’s debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. And it stands nicely on its own; it’s not necessary to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell before reading The Ladies of Grace Adieu. The stories are a bit darker than Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but Ms. Clarke has lost none of her charm or light-heartedness—stylistically, this collection is a worthy successor to J. R. R. Tolkien. The author does a wonderful job evoking an atmosphere of child-like menace—think Heinrich Hoffman’s Struwwelpeter without the sickeningly funny horror and violence. (Indeed, the entire book, from the cover to the illustrations to the title pages, resembles a nineteenth-century children’s book.) Her stories—particularly the last two stories, “Antickes and Frets” and “John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner”—read like fairy tales, featuring a cast that includes Mary, Queen of Scots, the Duke of Wellington, Jonathan Strange, and a handful of mischievous fairies. Yes, I liked it, and I’m sure you will, too—it adds new dimensions to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell while serving as a great introduction to Ms. Clarke’s world.