favorite books: Dracula

from Wikipedia

I like to read free books on my kindle. It's the closest thing I have to a library here. There are a lot of really, really worthless books available for free. I eventually gave up on newly written freebies and went for the classics. Bram Stoker's Dracula was one of the first ones I downloaded. I like horror, but I've never read any horror classics.

Most people know the basic plot: Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to meet a mysterious client (Count Dracula) who wishes to purchase real estate in England. Dracula then travels to England, where he begins both killing people and turning them into vampires. The local doctor, confused by the symptoms he's seeing, enlists the help of his former teacher, Professor Van Helsing. Eventually, they defeat Dracula.

Knowing the storyline, and considering how old the book is, I was honestly expecting it to be a bit dull. I was wrong.

The book is a series of journal entries and letters, written by several different characters. I wasn't sure I liked this format at first, but changed my mind. It adds to the suspense. It starts with several long letters from Harker to his fiancée as he is traveling to Castle Dracula. It took me a while to get into the book, until Harker starts snooping around in the castle. Then, once Dracula appears in England, I could hardly put it down.

It's not particularly scary - a bit creepy, though. Actually, I'd call it delightfully creepy.

I have read several other horror classics since then, however, Dracula remains my favorite.