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Janet's Reading Log 2009


Janet

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I'm half-way through The Mesmerist by Barbara Ewing. I've not read this author before.

 

London, 1838: the controversial practice of Mesmerism, with its genuine practitioners and its charlatans, has hypnotised the city. Miss Cordelia Preston, a beautiful, ageing, out-of-work actress terrified of returning to the poverty of her childhood, suddenly emerges as a Lady Phreno-Mesmerist. In her candle-lit Bloomsbury basement she learns to harness her talent - and to finally look towards the future.

 

But success is fragile when you have a past filled with secrets. On a wintry, moonlit night a body is found in Bloomsbury Square, and what began as an audacious subterfuge erupts into a scandal. Cordelia's past is revealed, bringing not only heartache but terror - and the mystery of a cloaked figure who waits for her in the shadowy London streets.

 

It got off to a bit of a slow start but it's picked up now and I'm really enjoying it. The frustrating thing is that I haven't had much reading time this week so I've been reading in dribs and drabs. I could do with a few hours to myself to get a good chunk of it read!

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Today I finished The Other Hand by Chris Cleave which I really enjoyed. One of my fave reads of 2009 - 10/10.

 

From one extreme to the other, I'm now about to start a book called The Xmas Factor.

 

I can't remember who it's by but I'm really not looking forward to it (how bad is the title?! :lol: ) - it's only the fact that it's our Christmas bookworms book that means I have to read it.

 

Oh well, I guess there is a slight chance it will be less vacuous than the 'blurb' makes it sound! :D

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Just jotting down some thoughts here as I have to discuss The Xmas Factor next week.

 

 

So far I have got up to the part where Beth has just phoned the woman in Portugal and asked her to cancel Carol's booking for the cottage.

 

I imagine that the woman will forget to do so and that Carol and her child will turn up anyway and perhaps stay with Beth and her husband (Jacob?), or will stay in the cottage as originally planned.

 

First thoughts. Beth is having to organise a Christmas 'do' which was previously arranged by her husband's now dead first wife. Shades of Du Maurier's Rebecca?

 

Beth's step-daughter Holly coincidentally works with Carol in London, although at the moment they're apparently unconnected. ( :D )

 

A book about Christmas. The publishing woman in London is called Carol. Beth's step-children are called Holly and Noel. Pur-lease! :)

 

None of the characters are likeable so far but hopefully things will improve.

 

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Carol's trip away was to Oxford so flying wasn't the problem. I think the authors were trying to get across the problems of what to pack when going away - especially over the festive period when the shops might be shut.

 

From Googling, they do have children so Calpol seems an odd choice to me - not that it matters to the story! :)

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I finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman this afternoon. 8/10

 

I'm about to start A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens. I've read A Christmas Carol before, but none of the other Christmas stories.

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I've had to abandon Charles Dickens. :D

 

I read the first two (or was it three? My brain is a bit addled!) of the Christmas stories, and finished A Christmas Carol (which I still adore), but then I've been really ill and I haven't read anything at all for ages - now it's past Christmas, I've lost the enthusiasm, so I'll have to put this away for next December and make sure I start it earlier.

 

Silly sick bug. :friends0:

 

I was going to read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James next because it's being adapted on TV and I wanted to finish the book first, but I'm unlikely to read that before 30th as we're having our Christmas tomorrow as I was still feeling a bit too wobbly to eat yesterday.

 

So I'm not sure what to do now really...? :(

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Just finished The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. A good job too, as the new BBC adaptation is starting in about 4 minutes! :D

 

ETA: The BBC adaptation was dreadful - I have up half an hour from the end!

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