For some of her friends,
Laura has organized an
Internet reading club. I give her credit as it is like trying to herd cats to get agreement on what to read, then to review it, each in her/his own fashion. For October Laura proposed that we each pick any spooky book (or movie) of our choosing. Well, for me, it was pretty easy. Oh, yes, I've read all of the early Anne Rice (before she went complete off her nut), but Bram Stoker's
Dracula is the epitome of Victorian terror.
It was written in 1897. In a few words, Mr. Stoker can convey chilling detail that vividly brings characters to life. For example, one of my favorite passages from Jonathan
Harker's journal: "As I leaned from my window my eye was caught by something moving a story below me....What I saw was the
Count's head coming out from his window....My very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall, face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings...I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the stones, moving downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall." Goosebumps. Ultimately I
abandoned my 3rd reading of this book because 1) I was having bad dreams and 2) overall the prose is too
labyrinthine to hold my interest. Still, it's a heck of a ride.
For some of her friends, Laura has organized an Internet reading club. I give her credit as it is like trying to herd cats to get agreement on what to read, then to review it, each in her/his own fashion. For October Laura proposed that we each pick any spooky book (or movie) of our choosing. Well, for me, it was pretty easy. Oh, yes, I've read all of the early Anne Rice (before she went complete off her nut), but Bram Stoker's Dracula is the epitome of Victorian terror.
It was written in 1897. In a few words, Mr. Stoker can convey chilling detail that vividly brings characters to life. For example, one of my favorite passages from Jonathan Harker's journal: "As I leaned from my window my eye was caught by something moving a story below me....What I saw was the Count's head coming out from his window....My very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall, face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings...I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the stones, moving downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall." Goosebumps. Ultimately I abandoned my 3rd reading of this book because 1) I was having bad dreams and 2) overall the prose is too labyrinthine to hold my interest. Still, it's a heck of a ride. 
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