I'm reading the original "Dracula"

[zanana1]

Written by Bram Stoker in 1899. The "Thrillers". And scary books that have been created in the last 50 years have got nothing on this book. It almost scares me to start another chapter.
Please do yourselves a favor and read this historical, well-written book. It's much better than any "Dracula" movie you'll ever see.

[NYC_SKP]

1. I remember reading it some thirty years ago, I couldn't put it down.

A guy gave it to me on a plane trip and I just ate it up!

[Lochloosa]

2. It's an interesting way to write a book also. Just letters and journal entries.

[cemaphonic]

25. Epistolary novels are cool

Dracula seems to have been about the last gasp of it as a common form, but occasionally contemporary authors will take a crack at one.

[Lochloosa]

26. I knew there was a word for them. Thanks.

[nomorenomore08]

27. Seems like it would be quite difficult to build suspense using that narrative form.

But I'm sure a really exceptional writer could pull it off. And no, I haven't read 'Dracula,' I really should.

[jakeXT]

3. I've read 80% on my ipod, I have never finished it, a good thing is that it's free

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dracula/id395541616?mt=11

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/345

[Xyzse]

4. I haven't found a "scary" book.

I really haven't read anything that has scared me.

Well, except biology text books on diseases. F-in scary sh-t.

Nothing scares me more than WebMD.

[cliffordu]

5. NO SHIT. Apparently I have cancer of the penis now.

Prolly not but I now imagine all the symptoms.

No real doctor has been consulted on this matter. Just the description on WebMd.

I almost have one symptom. That's enough.

Last year it was Leukemia. No dice (thank God...)

The year before that it was Aplastic Anemia.

[Xyzse]

8. Exactly!

Nothing... Nothing... Scares me more than WebMD.

[rug]

14. You should have that removed before it metastasizes.

[cliffordu]

22. I did. my ex has it.

[rug]

23. !

Bronzed.

[cliffordu]

24. lol....

[RebelOne]

6. Read it when I was a teenager many years ago. n/t

[Aristus]

7. Terrific book.

It portrays Dracula in a way we still haven't really seen in the films. Towards the end, we start to see a character who is not as all-powerful as he himself had thought. The scene that sticks in my mind is the one in which, after his several residences have been 'cleansed', he needs to make hasty preparations for leaving England. His hurry forces him to dress less appropriately than he would like. I remember one of the characters commenting on his rather comical hat.

Great read.

Francis Ford Coppola's version hews the closest to the actual narrative, but detours by making him a romantic, misunderstood hero.

[GermanDem]

19. Wonderful book!

And I have to say, I loved Francis Ford Coppola's movie, too.

[Aristus]

21. Me too.

I liked the 'romantic misunderstood hero' angle for itself, devoid of any relation to the book.

[July]

9. Agree completely.

It's well-written, frightening, and, in places, rather erotic.

[Aristus]

11. Yeah. The scene where the blond vampire bride is preparing to bite Harker

is charged with erotic tension. I don't think even Stoker himself was aware of the powerful erotic overtones of the scene.

Hs biographers portray him as severely sexually repressed...

[kwassa]

10. I read it a long time ago, thought it was a great book.

and I have little interest in the whole vampire genre.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. I read it in Junior High back in 1962

My friend Mike was a vampire nut and wanted to become a vampire and start a "vampires anonymous" society. I read it based on his strong recommendation and I loved it.

Have you read the 1871 novella that inspired Dracula? By Sheridan Le Fanu, it tells the story of a female vampire named Carmilla that's been made into several films as well (the great 1960s horror film Black Sunday was loosely based on it). From the wikipedia entry of this book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmilla

"...Although Carmilla is a lesser known and far shorter Gothic vampire story than the generally-considered master work of that genre, Dracula, the latter is heavily influenced by Le Fanu's short story.

In the earliest manuscript of Dracula, dated 8 March 1890, the castle is set in Styria, although the setting was changed to Transylvania six days later. Stoker's posthumously published short story "Dracula's Guest", known as the deleted first chapter to Dracula, shows a more obvious and intact debt to "Carmilla": Both stories are told in the first person. Dracula expands on the idea of a first person account by creating a series of journal entries and logs of different persons and creating a plausible background story for them having been compiled. Stoker also indulges the air of mystery further than Le Fanu by allowing the characters to solve the enigma of the vampire along with the reader.

The descriptions of Carmilla and the character of Lucy in Dracula are similar, and have become archetypes for the appearance of the waif-like victims and seducers in vampire stories as being tall, slender, languid, and with large eyes, full lips and soft voices. Both women also sleepwalk.

Stoker's Dr. Abraham Van Helsing is a direct parallel to Le Fanu's vampire expert Baron Vordenburg: both characters used to investigate and catalyse actions in opposition to the vampire, and symbolically represent knowledge of the unknown and stability of mind in the onslaught of chaos and death.[9] ..."


Another cool classic vampire story is Viy by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol written in 1835. You can also see a strong influence of this story on the above-mentioned 60s horror classic Black Sunday by Italian director Mario Bava. I read Viy as a kid (again based on my vampire nut friend's recommendation) and it scared the crap out of me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viy_%28story%29

[zanana1]

13. Thank you for all the info...

I've been wondering where the inspiration for Dracula came from. I'll be looking into the books you mentioned. May I become an honorary member of "Vampires Anonymous"?

[blogslut]

15. Very fun book.

I much enjoyed Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Suggested reading for your next book: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, Prometheus Bound. While brutal and tragic, it is ultimately beautifully poetic.

[GermanDem]

20. Second that! Frankenstein is fantastic!

Much better than all those silly movies!

[ismnotwasm]

16. I reread it every so often

It's awesome.

[Aristus]

17. In one sense only is the novel dated.

Stoker published it in 1897. At the time, it was a way of bringing the ancient vampire legend into the present day. The novel is filled with references that point to a "modern-day" setting: phonograph, photographs, etc. I'm not sure, but I think even electric lights are mentioned at least once.

But with the passage of over a century, the story is now seen as a Victorian-era period piece.

Still, marvelous stuff...

[Ron Obvious]

18. That and the blood transfusions...

Without regard for (or knowledge of) blood types.

I agree with the OP, though. This book held me spellbound when I was 13 or so. A great read.