I finished Dracula on audio this week and loved it. Now my sons and husband are listening to it as well. The unabridged edition, of course. It is creepy and scary, and I normally don’t like creepy and scary, but Bram Stoker’s novel is so well done and, obviously, the beginning of it all. I’m thinking of getting this annotated edition at left that comes out on October 13. It even has an introduction by Neil Gaiman. I’ll probably use this edition for a future re-read.
We started to watch the movie starring Gary Oldman, but it wasn’t appropriate for kids (my kids at least) so we quit. I still may watch it at a later date. I would love to see a modern version that was faithful to the book.
Something that surprised and pleased me while reading the book was the strong Christian faith of some of the characters. I didn’t expect that at all, and I do wonder about Stoker’s own beliefs. He was rumored to have been part of a secret, magical order that included the occultist Aleister Crowley.
Also, I read on Publisher’s Weekly that Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Dracula documentarian and historian Ian Holt are going to be writing Dracula: the Undead. The publisher will be Dutton, and it is scheduled to be released in October, 2009.
1897, 400 pp.
It seems this story has polarized readers. Some love it, while others intensely dislike the book. I fall into the latter camp. I thought I was really going to like it initially, but then the story went way over the top into unbelievability for me. I found myself disliking it more and more as the pages progressed. It’s really almost impossible to speak about the issues I had with the book without giving away some huge spoilers, but I will give you a taste of what it’s about.
