Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre

When I wasn't interested in any other book for months.

I first read Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (affiliate link) as a child, and it has fascinated me ever since. I find many similar books so boring, but this one isn't. Now a lot of time had passed since I last read it, and I wanted to see if it still fascinates me as much.

The book is about an orphan named Jane Eyre, who lives a miserable and poor childhood. On the threshold of adulthood, she gets a job as a governess from a rich man. Although the man is ugly and older than her, Jane naturally falls in love with him. What happens then?

The story is full of drama and overwhelming emotions, told in very verbose terms of course. It's hard to believe that people would actually talk like that.

The book was published in 1847 under a pseudonym, but a scandal soon emerged. That the author is a woman.

In the book a sum of money, 20 000 pounds, plays a major role. I had to check how much it would be worth in today's money: over 2 million dollars...

 

This time it took me exactly half a year to read it because I kept this book in the bathroom...

Robin Cook: Mutation

I have read Robin Cook's book Mutation (affiliate link) countless times in my life. It is my favorite of Cook's works, and it was already on my list of favorite books. I devoured it quickly even now, even though I know exactly what is going to happen in it.

Mutation is about a scientist named Victor Frank who begins a secret experiment. His goal is to create a super-intelligent child. But can a child be too intelligent?

Mutation has always been a touching book in my opinion, and I couldn't avoid tears this time either. A strong reading recommendation, especially if you are interested in medical thrillers.

 

Carole Johnstone: Mirrorland

Stephen King has highly praised Carole Johnstone's psychological thriller Mirrorland, and it's not any wonder, because his book is featured in such a large part of it. That is, King's book that tells the story of Shawshank Redemption, and whose Finnish title reveals the entire plot. The film that was made from it is, according to Imdb's list, the best film in the world.

Mirrorland is about a woman named Cat who, after the disappearance of her identical twin sister El, returns to her childhood landscape in Scotland. Another unreliable narrator who conveniently doesn't remember anything about her past.

At one point I misunderstood and thought that a certain plot twist happened in Mirrorland. Well, it didn't, and that was a big disappointment for me. Because the plot twists that actually happened in the book were boring and predictable.

At the end of the book, I kept thinking that this was the end. Well, it just didn't end, not at all. The unnecessary chatter just went on and on.

So, once again, this is a book where you can safely skip most of the text. There was very little actual plot.

 

Nora Roberts: The Heart of Devin MacKade

I don't think I've ever read a book from Nora Roberts before. It wasn't until I borrowed The Heart of Devin MacKade that I found out that this book is part of a series, and of course not the first one.

This book series is supposedly about brothers who cause trouble in their hometown by being violent idiots. But of course, all these brothers are really handsome, and that's why all the women fall in love with them.

For some reason, one of the brothers, Devin, has become a sheriff. He's been in love with Cassie since he was a teenager. Will love finally find its object?

I just didn't like this book and its narrative style. Of course, part of the problem is probably that I haven't read the previous books in the series. And the violent heroes don't strike a chord. "I'm a quick-tempered violent piece of shit, but you're the one I'd never hurt." Yeah, no.

The genre is probably romantic nonsense, and the publisher was Harlequin, if I remember correctly. As a teenager I liked reading Harlequins, but they don't really appeal to me anymore. Why did I add this book to my reading list? I don't remember, and the same goes for almost all the books on my list.