Book 29 - "Affinity" by Sarah Waters

Margaret Prior, a spinster of almost 30, is recovering from a nervous breakdown, when she starts doing charity work as a lady visitor at Millbank Prison. Among the prisoners she meets there is Selina Dawes, a young and beautiful psychic medium who has been convicted of assault and fraud.

I can't really say too much about this book, for fear of giving something away that will spoil it for anyone who hasn't yet read it, but I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in spiritualism, the role of women and prison conditions during the Victorian era, or indeed anyone who likes a good story.

Book 30 - "The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffrey Eugenides

"With most people," he said, "suicide is like Russian roulette. Only one chamber has a bullet. With the Lisbon girls, the gun was loaded. A bullet for family abuse. A bullet for genetic predisposition. A bullet for historical malaise. A bullet for inevitable momentum. The other two bullets are impossible to name, but that doesn't mean the chambers were empty."

I saw the film when it came out, so I knew the plot, but I found it quite creepy how all the boys in the neighbourhood seemed to be obsessed with the Lisbon sisters and spent their time spying on them, nicking anything of theirs that they could get their hands on, and then comparing notes with each other. And their interest didn't end with the girls' death, but continued onwards into middle age. That came across much more strongly in the book than the film.