A Dismal Start to January's Reading

So much for getting a lot of reading done over the Christmas break.  I feel like I have spent most of this week in an aimless haze! I just can't seem to settle down with a book, and today when I thought I would spend an hour with Adam Bede, the heat is making me so lethargic I can barely keep my eyes open. We've gone from cool wet weather to sweltering heat - I'm seriously missing the aircon at work.

So have I read anything at all?  I've managed a few short stories from Mary Danby's 65 Great Tales of Horror and a few pages of Opposing Energies by J W Collier and a little bit of Adam Bede by George Eliot.  Which is putting the stack of 'Christmas Reading' next to my bed to shame!!

Wilkie Collins had a nice little story in the Mary Danby collection called A Terribly Strange Bed, in which he relates the events of a night in a gambling house and his protagonist's near brush with death after he broke the bank.  It was really nicely written and felt sinister from start to finish.  Collins is a wierd sort of writer, he's either great or he's awful.  This one I really liked.

Not sure how I'm going to go with Opposing Energies.  The writing style needs a bit of polishing but I have only read a few pages so it's hard to comment at the moment.  At the beginning it reminded me of House of Leaves - ie the structure of the mansion with corridors being longer than should be possible and the strong love between Trevor and Stephanie.  There are some spelling and punctuations errors in the typeset which is a pet annoyance of mine.  I'm not feeling the urge to pick it up though I will try and read a few more chapters tonight.

Adam Bede.............Adam, Adam, Adam....... I just don't know with this novel.  I'm 37% of the way through it according to my Kindle and really nothing is happening.  Adam has buried his father and Hetty is upset that Captain Donithorne wasn't at the funeral.  He had gone away fishing or something to keep away from Hetty, but Adam thinks that she was upset for him and his loss.  I really want to get this read to see where the story will be heading, but again it's just not grabbing me.  My Stephen King has made it's way back to the top of the pile next to my bed (I still have two stories to finish from Full Dark, No Stars) and it's looking mighty attractive I must say.