Pay It Sideways Challenge: Dracula by Bram Stoker and The Book Stop blog

I'm the one:  Never watched a Dracula movie.  Never read any version of this story before this month.

Not a fan of Twilight or any other such vampire fare, except the tongue-in-cheek humor of Buffy.

I read this modern classic because the wonderful blogger Curlygeek at The Book Stop offered a thought-provoking review.  And I'm so grateful that she did.  Without her review - and my recent positive experience with The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan - I would never have even considered catching up on this classic.

Here's the short take:  I would recommend Bram Stoker's Dracula to just about any mature reader.  I suspect that you will enjoy it for many days, if you can master your own desire to keep reading it straight on through.  It reads like a contemporary, multi-genre thriller, yet its subject matter reaches surprising deep into the psyche, lingering long after the last page is turned.

Personally, I enjoy novels through which the tale unfolds via letters, newspaper articles, diary entries, and the like, and somehow Stoker juggles multiple characters' perspectives and genres masterfully while pushing the plot forward toward its seemingly fated conclusions. 

Stoker also plants clues for us readers to apprehend before the characters do, offering ample opportunity for that tasty reader-knows-more, "don't open that door!", horror flick sort of tension too.  With his multi-genre approach, dimensional and varied characters, intense plot, and the above-mentioned psychological reader-writer interplay, it seems to me that Stoker crafted a novel that will feel enduringly contemporary for readers.

And a bonus:  We can get it for free or for cheap just about anywhere, on the interwebs or in our hands, in an instant.

So then, I urge you to visit Curlygeek at The Book Stop when next you're looking for a well-crafted review of your next great read.  And, if Dracula hasn't crossed your literary path yet, go track him down today!
 

If you'd like, join us in the Pay It Sideways Challenge 2012 any time this year and do as much or as little as you wish - it's always better late than never when it comes to taking positive action in the world. 

MFB,
L