Book #30: Dracula

I've meant to read this book every October for about two years, but I always wind up choosing something else. I did the same thing this year, but then I decided that it didn't have to be Halloween for me to enjoy a horror novel so I read it anyway.


Bram Stoker's Dracula was originally published in 1897 and is the introduction of the now iconic "Count Dracula" and our quintessential idea of a vampire. There has been a fascination with vampires in pop culture for the last several years -- the Twilight series, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries -- and even going back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Lost Boys. It was nice to read the original version of what a vampire is supposed to be. 


The novel is presented in a series of letters, diary entries, newspaper articles, and other miscellaneous written artifacts. From the other literature I've read from this period, that seems to be pretty a common style back them. It adds a personal feeling to the plot, so I enjoyed it. 


In the beginning, lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to Count Dracula's castle to give him legal advice. While he's there, he notices the Count's strange appearance and behavior. He soon realizes that Dracula is holding him as a prisoner in the castle. Meanwhile, Dracula is also keeping tabs on Harker's fiancee Mina and her friend Lucy. The novel also follows Dr. John Seward, who is the manager of a mental institution close to Dracula's castle. Seward's main patient is Renfield, who routinely eats bugs and small animals. Trust me, it all ties in together eventually.

I was struck by the fact that, for the entire novel to be named after him, Dracula isn't really around for much of the book. He's in the first couple of chapters, and is obviously present and causing mischief in the rest of the book, but as a character, he's pretty absent. You don't get a lot of dialog or much of a glimpse at him as a person. It adds to the creepiness of the story, but I personally like to get inside the mind of villains in books. That's unfortunate, because it would have been interesting to do a better comparison of Dracula to the newer version of a blood-sucking fiend. The more modern idea of a vampire is an over-sexualized, glittering, violent, brooding jerk (see image to the left). Stoker's Dracula is certainly charming, but there's no excessive seduction scenes or bloodbaths. Also, I don't think I recall anyone sparkling. I don't think Stephanie Meyer read this book.


All in all, I really enjoyed Dracula, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. I will say that, like most period novels, it can be hard to follow (just because of the difference in language), and it drastically loses its pace at about the 75% mark. It had me captivated for the first part, then it fell pretty flat. Not terrible, but a twinge disappointing.


PS -- This was my 30th book! I hit my goal for 2011 with this book.


3/5 Stars


Read from November 3, 2011 to November 24, 2011


--C

Book # 9.5: La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast)

Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid (although nothing could ever possibly beat Aladdin), and I recently got to see the Broadway version when the touring cast came through Huntsville. I saw it when I was browsing the classic Kindle books, so I thought I'd read it to see how it compared to the story I know so well.

As is generally the case with Disney movies, they seemed to have taken a very loose idea from the original work and crafted into something kids would like. I don't really have a problem with the way Disney does things, for the most part (see my post on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland). I know they don't stick very closely to the literature or historical themes they choose, but at the very least, they might inspire kids to go back and read the originals just to compare them to the movies they love. Case in point: me.

In Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont's La Belle et la Bête, a formerly rich merchant who has become poor stumbles upon a beast's castle. The beast insists that the merchant offer one of his daughters (he has three) in return for his freedom and a trunk full of money. His daughter, nicknamed Beauty, goes to take her father's place in the castle, and she finds that the beast has graciously prepared for her arrival, setting up an apartment for her and coming to dine and chat with her daily. The Beast asks Beauty numerous times to marry him, but she refuses. She longs to see her father again, and the Beast allows her to leave when she promises to return in one week. When she goes home to visit her family, she finds that her sisters have each married handsome, yet dull and uncaring men. She realizes that she loves the Beast regardless of his appearance. She comes back to the castle to find the Beast dying, but when she tells him that she has returned because she wants to marry him, the Beast is revived and turns into a handsome and brilliant prince. Yay.

So... No crazy inventor father for Belle. No Gaston (my favorite character) fighting for Belle's affection. No household items brought to life. No rose quickly losing petals (though the Beast does mention his affinity for roses). No throng of townspeople storming the castle. No wonderfully choreographed showtunes... But all in all, still a nice story. A bit simple, but nice. Definitely worth the hour it will take you to read it.

3/5 stars

Read on February 28, 2011

--C

Book #7: Of Mice and Men

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:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is essentially all I have to say.









Alright, alright. I'll try to say something constructive. This is my first Steinbeck book ever (how did I graduate high school without reading anything by Steinbeck?), and I apparently didn't know that his entire purpose is to make you miserably depressed. I'm sure it didn't help that I had just finished Roseflower Creek, which was horribly sad, and I really didn't need to read something like this immediately afterward.

I mean... Steinbeck is clearly a brilliant writer. I have no problem with his writing. I liked how the dialogue was written realistically, I liked his characterization, I liked everything EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT IT WAS HEART-BREAKING. :(

A friend of mine who teaches middle school English pointed out that this story is perhaps the greatest example of foreshadowing ever. Excellent point.

I really don't know what else to say. I'm torn because I enjoyed the book itself, and I am actually sort of obsessed with it, because it's all I've thought about for days, but... I don't want to pretend like I loved it, because I actually hated it... but not because it was bad. This makes no sense.

Curse you, Steinbeck.

Read from February 20, 2011 to February 22, 2011

3/5 stars

--C

Book #32: Diamond as Big as the Ritz & Other Stories

While browsing the bookshelf for my next victim, I ran across this collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories. Since I just got married at the Ritz Theatre, I took it as a sign. (Yes, that's about how complicated my selection system is these days.)

I like Fitzgerald. I enjoyed The Great Gatsby the second time around, and I loved his short stories that I read in my college English classes. I'm a big fan of 1920s-era history, so his niche is clearly right up my alley. Here's the thing about Fitzgerald, though: he is much, much better in small doses. The lifestyle at the center of his writing is so exhausting. I can only deal with so many pages full of some useless rich party guy whining about that one chick who didn't dance with him.

OK, I'm over-simplifying, but if you've read enough Fitzgerald, I think you catch my drift. It's fun and whimsical to read one short story full of lavish parties and fretting over the length of your evening gloves. Two or three (or five) of such stories in a row is just annoying. I mean, don't these people DO anything? Anything useful? Aren't there Model Ts to assemble or something? Dang.

Anyway, I do have good things to say. It's clear why "Diamond as Big as the Ritz" is the collection's namesake. It was the best short story by a mile. It was what Fitzgerald described as one of his "fantasy" short stories, seeing as how it's full of impossibilities. It's a great little story about a young man who visits the family of a rich classmate who lives atop a single diamond that is literally the size of the Ritz Carlton. That family has a lot of stranger things in their lives, as it turns out. It's a fabulously written story with a twist that comes from nowhere and even more bizarre ending.

My other two favorites in this collection were "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" (the perfect 1920s-era Mean Girls-esque chick-gets-her-revenge story, I think) and "May Day" (the epitome of the exhausting lifestyle I was talking about -- during the historic May Day riots of 1919, some rich folks are too caught up in their own petty business to care).

The others were mediocre at best: "The Ice Palace" (Southern girl moves to the north, whines about it) and "The Offshore Pirate" (spoiled girl is sailing to Florida, gets hijacked by "pirates," falls in "love" with the captain) and "Jelly Bean" ("aw shucks" sort of guy pines over a swanky girl).

There are some very, very repetitive themes here. That's his thing, though, so whatever. I have a feeling I'd have much better things to say about these stories if I'd read, say, one per month instead of all five of them in a couple of days. It truly all boils down to the fact that I get really frustrated with the uselessness of these characters when I'm overloaded with it. It's kind of the same reason I don't read books in a series in succession. I don't want to get tired of the characters or the plot, so I split it up over time. Might have been a good choice here, too.

3/5 stars

Read from December 1, 2010 to December 3, 2010

--C