Janet

The Seance is definitely my favourite book so far this year. I hope you enjoy it when you get round to it, Julie and Kidsmum. I finished Wonder by R J Palacio this afternoon. Very good.

Oh dear - I hope I haven't jinxed it!

I finished The Seance by John Harwood today. The lovely Noll bought it for me for Christmas and it's my favourite read of the year so far!

I love it when a plan comes together...! Looks like you're doing really well.

To my frustration I've had no reading time today! I'm going to go to bed shortly and read for a while! I hope you enjoy Rebecca - it's one of my favourites.

Thanks for the recommendations, Michelle. They have a copy of Divergent in the library in the next town - I will see if I can get it for her. Thanks. We were so proud of him at the time - and we still are. He's in his second hear of an apprenticeship and he loves it!

First off I need to say that my son is wonderful! He's kind, considerate, polite, hard-working, conscientious... he's always been a nice teenager (he's an adult now - he was 18 in November) so he shouldn't be judged on this but when it comes to reading it's almost like a badge of honour for him to not like it. He was diagnosed as dyslexic just a few weeks ago (which makes his GCSE results even more impressive - he was predicted Ds and Cs - more Ds than Cs - and instead got Bs and Cs!) so I think now that this might have some bearing on his dislike of books. He's not a computer-game person either - he's always been a Bike/Skateboard/Fresh air kind of guy so it's not like he sits on his backside all day and does nothing. I need to investigate whether there are any other books similar to The Hunger Games that my daughter might enjoy.

This year so far I have read two children's/YA books (and thoroughly enjoyed them). I've also read a couple of classics - my reading is fairly eclectic, I think. My children don't read - my son doesn't even like reading - my daughter chooses not to. They see me and their Dad reading all the time but still they don't pick up books. This saddens me, but what can I do? They were always encouraged to read as youngsters - I read to them, I took them to the library, but still they don't like reading. Does this make me a bad parent?! However, my daughter (15) recently devoured the Hunger Games trilogy. She's also read the Twilight books. I'd rather she read things like that than didn't read at all.

I'm now on page 176 of The Seance by John Harwood - I can't put it down!

Lovely pic, Pontalba

Not a bad guess from memory!

The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell by Hilary Spurling The ‘blurb’ George Orwell's second wife was portrayed by many of her husband's biographers as a manipulative gold-digger who would stop at nothing to keep control of his legacy. But the truth about Sonia Orwell -- the model for Julia in Nineteen Eighty-Four was altogether different. Beautiful, intelligent and fiercely idealistic, she lived at the heart of London's literary and artistic scene before her marriage to Orwell changed her life for ever. Burdened with the almost impossible task of protecting Orwell's estate, Sonia's loyalty to her late husband brought her nothing but poverty and despair. (I am referring to Sonia Orwell as Brownell (her maiden name) – or just Sonia - in my review, to distinguish her from George Orwell). Being a massive George Orwell fan, I picked this up on a whim when I spotted it for £1. I didn’t really know much about Sonia Brownell, although I had read that she was a gold-digger who married Orwell for his money. Hilary Spurling, a friend of Sonia’s, determined to set the record straight in this biography of Sonia’s life. The earlier parts of the biography are interesting, detailing Sonia’s early life in India and the UK, and her entry into literary and artistic circles in London and Paris. Originally though of as a ‘hanger-on’, she showed her true abilities after getting a job editing Cyril Connolly's literary magazine Horizon’ in the 1940s. After a number of failed affairs, she married Orwell, who immortalised Sonia as Julia in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and, after his death, she was fiercely protective of his works and estate – although she died penniless due to a number of bad decisions. It is Brownell who was responsible for Orwell’s essays and letters being published. Orwell stipulated in his will that no biography was to be written. Eventually Brownell did commission one, but only because an unauthorised version was due to be published and she wanted a more reliable version of Orwell’s life to balance things. After Orwell’s death, Brownell had other relationships and eventually married Michael Pitt-Rivers but he was gay so naturally their marriage didn’t last. Brownell continued to be fiercely loyal to her friends until the end of her life but to my mind never achieved real happiness and died virtually penniless. Obviously Spurling portrays Brownell in a favourable light. Some people will still think of her as an opportunist who married Orwell for her own gain, but Spurling’s side of things shows her as someone who enriched what little life Orwell had left, and it seems she really did love him. I’m not sure to whom this biography would appeal, but as an Orwell fan I found it very interesting, if a little dry in places.

I started The Seance by John Harwood last night. It was a Christmas present from Noll. I'm only on page 32 but I'm already hugely enjoying it It's meant to be quite scary!

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner The ‘blurb’ I am Coriander Hobie. I was born in the year of Our Lord 1643, the only child of Thomas and Eleanor Hobie, in our great house on the River Thames in London. Of my early years I remember only happiness. That was before I knew this world had such evil in it, and that my fate was to be locked up in a chest and left to die. This is my story. This is my life. “I have often wondered what would have happened if I had done as I was told and left the silver shoes alone. Would everything then have been all right?” This young adult novel is set in the period following the English Civil War and Charles I’s beheading. Coriander lives with her father, a wealthy merchant and her mother in a house backing on to the River Thames. Life changes suddenly for Coriander the day she tries on a pair of silver slippers against her mother’s wishes and starts a chain of magical events that will have a huge impact on her family. Sally Gardner’s story cleverly integrates the fairy world with the mortal one in this Cinderella-style tale. The ending was a bit corny, perhaps, but nevertheless I enjoyed it.

Oooh, I like that excuse reason - good one! I read Chocolat quite a few years ago and enjoyed it - hope you do too.

I just checked my review and I gave it 10/10 (I score out of 5 now - much easier!). I haven't read anything else by him though! I think it helps that Jason is a similar age to me so lots of the references in it were very pertinent!

I've only read the first one. I meant to read the other two but never got round to it. I have them on my 'to read' list but I'm not sure where they actually are! Oi! I'll have you know I haven't bought any new books today although I did nearly order two and am still considering them...! I read Black Swan Green a few years ago and loved it!

Hehe! It'll never happen! I think the world would implode if it did!

Today I received two new books in the post - The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago and Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper. I took both of these to Book Club and allowed members to vote for which one to read next - I was just going to give them the former but I know Saramago's writing style is a bit unusual so I thought I'd give them the choice! They did, in fact, go for it though, but I thought I'd order both anyway! I ordered another book yesterday - The Ruins of Time by Ben Woolfenden - I Googled it after Kidsmum mentioned it and it sounds like my sort of thing. Oh boy - when will I learn to stop buying books?! I finished The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell by Hilary Spurling this morning. I enjoyed some parts more than others, but overall it was enjoyable.

Today I received two new books in the post - and I ordered another one yesterday. Oh boy - when will I learn?! I finished The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell by Hilary Spurling this morning. Not sure what I'm going to read next.

I'm planning to read many (if not all) of Carr's works too, after loving A Month in the Country!

I've just ordered The Ruins of Time - it sounds excellent.

Are you connected with the author at all? This is McLean's first book. It's a bit pricey for a Kindle book that's only 88 pages long.

I love your monthly round-ups too. Maybe you should avoid books with the word 'Black' in the title?!

The opening of the film was certainly very creepy! Thanks to everyone who has taken part in my circle.