Thursday, October 22, 2009

What I'm Reading Now-Dracula (Mid-Read Update)


Softdrink and Heather are co-hosting the Dueling Monsters Read-a-long this month. This month being October, the monsters are, of course, Dracula and Frankenstein (although, to be fair, Frankenstein is not actually a monster). I read Frankenstein back in high school and was not all that impressed, but I have not yet read Dracula, so I figured this would be a good time to do it. I was afraid that it would be similarly disappointing, but I was wrong!

I thought the best (and easiest) way to give you a quick update on my reading so far would be to share with you some of the notes I have been taking while I've been reading. Just so these notes make a little more sense, the first part of the book consists of journal entries from Jonathan Harker, an English clerk who has been sent to Count Dracula's castle to help him with some legal matters regarding his recently-acquired estate. So, here are my thoughts on Harker's stint as Dracula's "guest."

p.22-Dracula's a reader!
By p. 29: Count has no reflection, does not seem to eat, has reacted peculiarly to blood, affected by crucifix, castle is regarded as prison.
p.36-Dracula warns of sleeping anywhere else in the castle-sincere concern or ulterior motive? p.38-Dracula lizard-crawls down the wall! Eee!
p.40-Idiot!
p.50-mother of stolen child eaten by wolves-Holy crap! Surprised by all the actual creepy stuff-expected this to be a book of innuendo and subtlety. Wrong!

I think this gives you a good idea of how I am feeling about this so far and, perhaps, how you would feel about this as well. If you have never read Dracula or if you would like to revisit this literary classic, jump on over to Fizzy Thoughts and sign up for the read-a-thon. If you want to give Frankenstein a go (hey, don't take my word for it-I was in high school when I read it) visit Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books and sign up there. Happy reading!

Bonus! If you participate, you can display the super cute Dueling Monsters button on your blog...which I have been too lazy to put up until now. But isn't it cute??

7 comments:

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

I'm so glad that you're enjoying Dracula - I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. And that crawling down the wall part actually made my skin crawl ... CREEPY!

Can't wait to see what you think in the end. :)

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I liked Dracula a lot when I read it, and your are so right that Dueling Monsters Button is very cool.

Dreamybee said...

Heather-I thought that creepy crawling down walls thing was something that they started doing in horror films in the last 5 years or something. I didn't realize it had its origins in the previous century. Make that previous previous century!

It's slowing down for me a little bit with Lucy and her illness but I'm hoping it will pick back up after that.

Diane-Isn't it? I wish I could get it to size better on my sidebar, but it's either teeny tiny or too big to fit. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to read more, then I won't be staring at my blog obsessing over my incorrectly sized buttons!

Anonymous said...

I was totally underwhelmed by Frank. Actually, I was annoyed...it didn't make for a pleasant reading experience.

I'm glad you're enjoying Dracula! I hope it continues to deliver.

Dreamybee said...

I'm glad you felt that way too; that makes me feel better about not re-reading it!

Wendy said...

I have not read either. May try Dracula based on reviews... I definitely don't like to be annoyed when I read!! :) That's fun to be reading scary books this month!

Dreamybee said...

Yeah, I pretty much don't like to be annoyed...ever! LOL.