Hello! Last night after work I curled up in bed, turned on the twinkle light "headboard" and finished reading
Dracula. I don't think I mentioned before that I have the beautiful new Penguin Classics
art edition?!?! Bear had a pour at 4am, so I actually saw him off to work before I went to sleep. Then I was still wired and the house smelled like coffee... and I find it is difficult to go to sleep when you smell glorious coffee. I've been caffeine free for a few weeks now, so I knew even a sip would have me bouncing off the walls, so I tried to ignore it. Instead, I went to the bookshelf and took down
Dracula's Guest, a curated anthology of Victorian vampire stories. This is actually a misnomer, since some of the stories are before, while others after, Queen Victoria's reign. Each story is introduced by the editor and curator, with a small introduction about the time the story was written, a short introduction to the author and his/her importance in literary history, and how the story fits in to the scope of the curated collection. It was interesting, but I only read one story when I decided I needed to save some Vampire Lore for October. I don't want to extinguish my arsenal of horror novels long before Halloween even gets here! The forward, however, left me with a deeper understanding of the species and eating habits of the Vampire Bat, as well as burial habits spanning from the 1600's to the turn of the 20th century. So there's that.
So after sleeping for about 6 hours, I again went to the bookshelf and replaced
Dracula's Guest for the time being, opting instead to read
The Lovely Bones. Of course, this is still not a very happy book, but it does take me out from the 1800's, in which most of the literature I've been reading is placed
(and written) and offers a bit of diversity, while still offering that spooky factor that I currently crave. I own and love the film version of the story, but so far, the novel has a much more chilling and bracing reality to it. Granted, it is told from the perspective of Susie Salmon, who immediately acknowledges that she is deceased, but somehow, a ghost story told by a ghost about her own murder is more haunting than any other. I am very excited for things to calm down in the library so I can get to reading...
I want to apologize to you all for being so nerdy lately, unless you are enjoying my nerdiness, in which case, you're welcome. haha
Have a wonderful Wednesday! xo
I loved that book and was super annoyed at the movie. I wish I'd seen the movie first because I don't think it was actually all that bad, just wasn't as good as the book.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm one of the few people in existence that wasn't a huge fan of that book. I just felt like the pacing was So. Slow.
ReplyDelete@Sara Bell- I am now about halfway through the novel (because apparently I read a LOT more than I was aware of before), and can see several differences. I think the movie version condensed characters a lot because of obvious reasons (money, screen time, inability to introduce every person + their importance), but I saw the movie first, so now the novel confuses me. haha
ReplyDelete@ Patchie- well, think about it.. she has all the time in the world! It makes sense that, because it's from her point of view, she may get sidetracked and follow tangents. She doesn't have to follow a constructed path, so in that way it makes sense. But yes, it does go slowly.