The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘dracula’

It’s that time of week again when Booking Through Thursday asks about a recent book you’ve read. This week’s question is “What’s the biggest book you’ve read recently?”.

You could either answer this question by length or by popularity. I’ve been working on my A to Z List and have just been reading random books I’ve found so the popularity question is kind of void for me.

I looked through a couple of books to see what my longest read has been and while Dracula took me longest to read, Son of a Witch was the longest book.  It was 407 pages.

Maybe length isn’t my thing. I didn’t really like this book. I only gave it 2 bookmarks. Click here to read my review.

If you know me at all, you know I love me some vampire tales. My first was Twilight. I got the books for my 22nd birthday and read them all in a week. I borrowed The Historian, from a co-worker and loved it so much I went out and bought it to save for another Halloween!

Yes, I love Halloween. I’m the nerd who watches all the scary movies on AMC’s Monsterfestand the ones I can’t watch, I DVR and stay up super late to watch them. I don’t sleep the whole month of October without a nightmare, but I deal.

I started the A to Z Challenge earlier this month. Since I blog about all the books I read, I knew which ones I’ve read this year. I had all but 7 done. D and I were books I didn’t have. I automatically knew Dracula and Interview with the Vampire were my choices.

You know what you are getting into when you start this book. Obviously it’s about a vampire so that doesn’t surprise you. The layout of the book reminded me a lot of The Historian. A lot of it is in letters too. I really like that because you get to see everyone’s point of view.

When it came to the writing of the book, there were some parts that I flew through, there were others that drug on for weeks. This book took me two weeks to conquer. I read when I get home from work and wind down for bed and read on the weekends whenever I have a moment to sit down. I’d like to say the wedding has my mind out of whack, but I honestly think some of the book just didn’t appeal to me. I loved the first hundred few pages then lost interest. It came and went from there.

The book was very descriptive which always makes for a good read. I love to be able to close my eyes and imagine the characters and the scenes. It always got me major kudos with my Teaser Tuesdays (1 and 2).

The characters in this book remind me of chivalry. Michael (my fiance) is very chivalrous, but it seems to be dwindling away over the years. These 5 men put a lady before all of them and fight to the death for her.

I must admit while all these men won my heart, Mina is my favorite character. She’s a strong, very intelligent woman. And she’s a fighter. She never gives up and she helps the men from start to finish. Without her, the ending of this book would probably have been very different.

At times during the book, I was VERY confused. Like when Dr. Seward kept talking of his patient, when the first ship came when Lucy and Mina were in town and all of the suitors for Lucy. They all made sense in time, but when I first read them, I remember thinking “How can this possibly fit into this book?”

It’s taken me a couple of days to think about this review. I admire the book for its history and for all of the vampire lore that was inspired by this book. I love the creativity and the story, but I didn’t love all of the writing. It was a tough read and there were many parts I had to read and re-read.

I give Dracula  3 bookmarks.

 It’s Tuesday, which means I have another tease for you. I hope you don’t get your panties in a bunch over this one, I am still on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. My interest in it comes and goes and I’m having a hard time getting through it. I REALLY hope to have it does by next time this week, but in the meantime, here’s where I am.

Page216: “The Thing in the coffin writhed; and a hideous blood curdling screech came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions; the sharp white teth champed together til the lips were cut and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam.”

Hope you enjoy!

To take part in Teaser Tuesday and other fun weekly activities, check out Should Be Reading.

So, yes, I know it’s Wednesday, but better late than never right?

Pg 53: “I turned to run down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance; but at the moment there seemed to come a violent puff of wine, and the door to the winding stair blew to with a shock that set the dust from the lintels flying. When I rand to push it open, I found that it was hopelessly fast.”

Take part in Teaser Tuesdayby adding a teaser from the book you are reading.