Dreamybee, Well, I probably should have stuck with it with a better attitude, but for now I’m glad I gave it a try. Not too crazy about vampires, but there you do anyway. I’ll add your review above!

I agree with you that the story never quite resumed the same pace after chapter 4, but I still had fun reading it; although, I think a lot of that came from my liking of modern vampire tales-it was fun to read through and find all the little pieces of legend and lore that still exist today.

Sorry you didn’t enjoy it, but bravo for sucking it up and committing to giving it a shot, even though you were pretty sure you weren’t going to enjoy it in the first place.

My review is here.

Yeah, not interested in Twilight, ever. Dracula was, I assume, not that bad, but i’ll have to take everyone else’s word on that!!

Vampires in popular culture. Hmm, well there’s Twilight (really, Dracula can’t be any worse than Twilight, I don’t think?), Simpsons halloween episodes, Dracula movies from the 70s (‘i vill suck yor blaaad’)…

I loved The Woman in White compared to this one! I hope you do read it because I’d love to hear your input on it! What did you dislike about The Woman in White?

It was the same with Frankenstein. When I read Shelley’s original, though, I found it so far removed from my preconceptions (in a good way). So despite the comparisons to ‘The Woman in White’ – which I didn’t like much, from memory – I’m going to have to read this soon!!

I didn’t think Dracula was a slog so much — the narration, yes. I think it was just so inferior to Woman in White which I’d just read. See, it’s been a few days since this review; I’m already being nicer to the book! lol

Sarah M., I’d have to say, I think this book is still a classic, simply because it’s copying the same style as other Victorians and it’s very Victorian in it’s attitudes. (I got most of that from the commentary I read). That said, if you are already disgusted by vampires, it’s probably not for you. As my husband says “go watch the movie.” lol. Just kidding. I can’t handle horror movies. I imagine my reaction to the movie would be ten times worse, with the lighting and spooky music and all.

Anyway, after reading your review I think I may pass this time around reading Dracula. I wonder how it’s a classic… but I guess I won’t know until I read it… See, round and round I go! LOL

Thanks for the review, it was well-thought out.

I don’t think a skeleton would bother me. I was fascinated by skeletons in third grade after we did a unit on the bones. I can still remember some of the random facts.

As for the candy: um, I kept it forever when I was a kid. Portioned it out so I’d have some in, say, December. My sister never could so she was always jealous of my stash. Yuck.

Emily, Dracula is definitely an imitation of Woman in White! Since I just finished Collins’s tale, I immediately drew the parallels. You’re probably right on them being so flat in comparison. Maybe if I hadn’t read them back to back it wouldn’t have been so bad!

My costumes when I wasn’t a kid weren’t so bad either. I was a ballerina one year, and Annie (I had curly red hair and a red dress.) My husband and I are not creative or inventive in any way like your folks, though, so my son loses out on the fancy costume to be proud of!

As for Halloween, it’s always been one of my favorite holidays! But I always dressed up as unusual, non-spooky things – one election year I was the Statue of Liberty, and carried around a placard reminding people to vote. Another year I wanted to be a butterfly, and my dad rigged up a contraption with near-invisible straps, so that I could flap my wings as if by magic. I think it was so fun for me because my parents’ skill sets are perfect for dress-up – he’s awesome with engineering puzzles, and she’s an amazing seamstress, and they collaborated on all my costumes. Most of the fun of the holiday was in working with them on a creative project; the trick-or-treating was just icing on the cake. Although, I admit it was nice to have an occasion on which to wear my fancy new costume, and impress my friends with my wing-flapping ability!

As an interesting side note with the candy dispersal, I would say 90ish percent of the time my kids only eat a little bit of it. It’s just too much. Where does most of it end up? In the garbage. I’m totally with you on that one. It’s way overdone.

As for Halloween, um, I think it’s a ridiculous thing to encourage young children to dress up like the devil (or vampires or witches) and go around asking people for candy. If my son someday wants to dress up he can, but it won’t be as a devil or a vampire. And I’m just not ever going to encourage the go-around-the-neighborhood-and-ask-strangers-for-candy thing. The whole thing rather disgusts me, although I’m apparently the only one in the USA who is disgusted by it.

I wouldn’t mind if it was an innocent dress up holiday. But add the devil to it and I’m just not such a fan. Add the trick or treating, and it just teaches kids to be greedy.

Ok, I’ll get off my soap box now. You asked….

Brittany, I keep seeing The Historian on RIP challenge lists. Not sure RIP horror/scary books are for me, though, so I”ll probably give it a pass! I don’t like spooky books at all. Glad you enjoy it, though.

Amanda, yeah, probably should have. But I have a hard time “abandoning” books I”m reading. And I did like the first few hours of the narration!

Karenlibrarian, I did like the first part when Harker was in Castle Dracula! That was what got me in to the book. I just felt like it lost the momentum and never regained.

I do get books from the library sometimes but then I have to bother getting them put on to my handheld — Librivox goes straight from computer to my handheld, so middle step eliminated!!

Jenny, I get the “count” theme but still, Dracula should not be a role model for preschoolers!!

Bella, oh too bad about Anne! I love that book so I hope you don’t give up on it.

Ladyting, sorry, I’m done with vampires!! Not my thing at all. I have officially given up on them. Don’t want to know about the good ones, seriously. A good vampire “disturbs” me (and there was a “good vampire” in the next book I read, The Graveyard Book, too).

Some of the librivox audiobooks are great and some are real misses.

Have you thought about giving The Historian a try? I read it and loved it – and I don’t do well with bloody, violence-ridden books. It really is tasteful (no dripping blood), but just spooky enough to keep things interesting. And the writing is lovely, with truly beautiful descriptions of cities, food, and people all over Europe. My husband also read and loved it, and went on to read Dracula. He liked The Historian much more than Dracula.