Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

A man lives alone in a vast house of marble statues and rising tides, keeping tender, methodical notes on everything he sees. To say more would spoil it. Quiet, uncanny, and the sort of beautiful that trails you for weeks. Read it when you want to be held by a mystery rather than chased by one.

A circus appears overnight, all black and white tents and impossible rooms, and two young magicians are bound to duel inside it without quite knowing the rules. The plot matters less than the atmosphere: caramel, candlelight, snow, longing. Read it when you want to live inside a mood for a while, slowly, by lamplight.

A graduate student finds a strange book that contains a scene from his own childhood, and tumbles down into a honey-lit underground world of nested stories, lost libraries, and doors painted onto walls. It is a labyrinth, deliberately. Read it when you want to get pleasantly lost and don't mind not holding every thread.