Technically the next part should be "your blood," but after my experience listening to Bram Stoker's Dracula I think I will leave it as is. I actually did not listen to the last disc. I'm pretty sure that they killed him though. He was vicious and I think he probably deserved it. Anyways, I am glad I read (listened to) it, because I recognize its place with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles as the foundation stones of the modern horror/suspense novel, but all I can say is I can't believe it is the one with the most spin-offs. I know it seems like I complain about authors a lot these days, but I am just an aspiring writer looking for others to emulate, and sometimes I get a little caught up in my analysis. If you look through my archives you will see that there have been authors who have really inspired me. Anyways, my list of grievances:
1) The journals. It is all written in the form of narrative journals - which I initially thought was cool, but as it became less and less believable it made me tired.
2) Believability. I'm not sure why I am so bent on having believable fiction, but I am. And the journal narratives were not.
3) The dialogue. Recorded supposedly word for word in the journals, this flowery overdone mess of dramatic speech is completely beyond my sense of reason. I have read a lot of writing from authors of the Romantic and Victorian periods, and have never had to endure in prose what Stoker was trying to make the reader believe these characters were supposedly saying in speech. Ugh.
There was a moment in the story that really moved me toward the beginning when a mother follows Dracula back to the castle and demands that he return her child. Jonathon had already heard the fate of the little one and admired the bravery of the woman even as Dracula called in a pack of wolves to remover her from the courtyard. No graphic descriptions were given, but none were necessary. It was a powerful scene. Perhaps it raised my expectations for the book too high.
I would like to take a moment and welcome some new readers who have apparently followed the links here from Daeruin and Ing's blogs - Welcome. I hope that you find my blog enjoyable and thought provoking. If not, then I will settle for better than a kick in the pants. Thanks for reading and commenting, or even just reading for those who have not felt inclined to comment.
One more item. As I have hitherto posted, I spend close to fifteen hours a week commuting. This adds up to a lot of audio books. More than I have been able to keep up with here, and I apologize because I really have had something to say about all of them that you will probably never get to read. So I am going to list the ones I have read and not posted about and if anyone wants my take on them they can say so in the comments and I will try to get something posted.
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein (although I have already thrown my two cents in on the discussion taking place on Ride On regarding that book)
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Ender's Shadow - Card
I think I have posted regarding all the rest. Let me know, and Write On.
R.
6 comments:
I really enjoy all your insights on the various authors and books - but as one who understands what it's like to be a busy father/student/employee, I'm just happy to have whatever you have time to give. I appreciate having opinions from people that I know and trust to discuss things with and guide my future readings.
I haven't read any of the foundation stone horror books, but I've been led to understand that they're all much different than the Hollywood versions we are most familiar with. I'd like to read them, but perhaps I'll put them off until later. One of my pet peeves happens to be books that for whatever reason I can't force myself to finish.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of those books I've always felt I ought to read, but just never have. I've never liked vampires--I was deathly afraid of them for years. I have read Frankenstein, though, and really enjoyed it.
I like hearing your opinions on books, negative or otherwise. If you have time to write about it, I am curious to know what you thought of Ender's Shadow. I've read the first four books of the original Ender series and have wondered what the Shadow series is like. Card is a strange author. I always have mixed feelings about his books.
Karl - Frankenstien and Hound of the Baskervilles are both incredible stories and I don't think you would have any trouble getting through them unless you dislike Sherlock Holmes or are too committed to the horribly altered Hollywood version of Frankenstien's monster.
Daeruin - For an interesting experiance I recommend finding one of the 1818 version of Frankenstien. It was quite an intellectual work that dived into the philisophical, social, and scientific issues of the day - stuff that mostly got cut out for the popular 1831 edition much like dark-side-of-the-force radio stations gut perfectly good songs to make them palatable to them as that only have two minute attention spans. Anyways, it is a good read, and there is a volume of it out there that has an appendix full of external sources relevent to Shelley's passages. Good stuff. I will work on getting an Ender's Shadow post up too.
Thanks for the comments.
R.
I really enjoy reading your posts!
E.
You mentioned Ender's Game and Ender's shadow. Have you read the rest of the 'shadow' books? I haven't met many people who have. I'd be interested in hearing what you thought of them.
Welcome, the Bradleys. For the last couple of semesters my reading has been limited to the audio books I listen to during my 100 mile a day commute. I intend to read the other 'Shadow' books, but as of right now I haven't.
R.
Post a Comment