Monday, April 17, 2006

Dracula I just finished Dracula by Bram Stoker. I had read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova a few months ago, which is also about Dracula, and it peaked my interest enough to read the original. Bram Stoker's book has not been out of print since it was first published 1897, with good reason. It is a riveting book. The story is told through diary entries and newspaper clippings written and collected by the main characters (Jonathan and Mina Harker, Dr. Seward, and Val Helsing, for the most part.) At first, they don't share their information, but through a series of events they find each other and discover that they all know parts of the puzzle. From then on, they work together. I was spellbound right to the last page. If you like reading books that are written as letters or diaries, you might also like Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. It follows the people of an island who venerate the man who developed the sentence "A Quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" and are concerned when one of the letters falls from the sentence (which is hung up in the town). They decide to stop using that letter. Soon other letters fall and one by one, they are not allowed to use each of those letters. The story is told through written correspondance between the main characters. An interesting look at beliefs and regulations and how they affect individuals. JS 4:30:06 PM

© Copyright 2008 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 11/18/2008; 2:32:45 PM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien