Horror Aficionados discussion

Here's the buddy read for Dracula. read, discuss, have fun! Begins Jan. 2, 2017.

Awesome! Thanks Latasha! :)

Your welcome

3 May. Bistriz. Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late.

Whoops - couldn't hold myself back.

Let's start on Monday the 2nd of January. That gives us time to tell our friends about this buddy read.

Dracula is FREE on Kindle right? Maybe I will join in as well...I have started Dracula SO MANY TIMES and could never actually get into it....this might motivate me to actually finish it for once. -Jen from Quebec :0)

Jennifer Lynn wrote: "Dracula is FREE on Kindle right? Maybe I will join in as well...I have started Dracula SO MANY TIMES and could never actually get into it....this might motivate me to actually finish it for once. -..."
I feel the exact same way about it. It's such a classic and well known story, that nothing is surprising. But I want to say that I read this classic at least.

Jennifer Lynn wrote: "Dracula is FREE on Kindle right? Maybe I will join in as well...I have started Dracula SO MANY TIMES and could never actually get into it....this might motivate me to actually finish it for once. -..."

Yes it is free on amazon :) It will be really fun to get alot of people involved reading it. :)

Hi. This is my first buddy read and I know we're starting on Jan 2nd. Are we "assigned" (sounds like school I know) to a certain amount of chapters/pages a week? Or do we just read as much as we can on our own?

When we do this read together, is this a spoiler free zone? It will be hard to get into a discussion at all if it is...but I want to abide by the 'rules' as they are... --Jen from Quebec :0)

Ah ok. Got it. Thanks, John!

JOHN--- Yes, good point. I am sure that everyone has at least seen a film version of the story.

I'm with John, it is free form. You can always wrap up any specific comment in a "spoiler".

I am totally cheating and listening to the audio at the same time as I read along with the kindle. It's a great audio version, though-- Tim Curry and Alan Cumming among a bunch of other cast members. Although, with the epistolary format, it's just been the one 'voice' thus far...about 50 pages in or so.

I loved that audio version!

Hi Jennifer, I hear that is a great way to do a story. Very immersive.

Camilla wrote: "This is a perfect reason for me to pick the book up again. I'm also reading the book with the audio. I had some trouble getting through it alone but the audiobook made it easier for me."

Cool.

I'm 4% done with Dracula: (view spoiler)[Jonathan Harker has just arrvied at Count Dracula's Castle. Along the way he has received a priceless, protective gift from one of the locals. The landscape is so generously described that it is almost another character - part and parcel perhaps of Harkers "Journey." Already he has most likely met the undead in the form of a coachman with a powerful grip and an uncanny way to intimidate wolves. (hide spoiler)]

John wrote: "I started and at 1% [spoilers removed] was pretty funny. lol"

Sounds like something from the 3 word story.

Racing ahead John.

I didn't realize that it would be spooky. :) All I need is some atmospheric halloween music and I would probably be jumping at shadows. lol.

4% into the book :)

John wrote: "Marie wrote: "I didn't realize that it would be spooky. :) All I need is some atmospheric halloween music and I would probably be jumping at shadows. lol.

4% into the book :)"

It's good for an ol..."

Oh Yeah! It is really cool how the story just wraps itself around you.:)

It's the concern of the villagers. Harker is a stranger in a strange land and all the locals are constantly crossing themselves, warding off the evil eye and pressing protections on to him.

He's skeptical, of course, but the villagers sincerity starts to rub off on him and he has a growing sense of dread which is helped along by the first stage coach driver that barrels along the roads like the devil is chasing him. Followed by the mysterious second stage coach that picks him up - now Harker is alone - then there are the wolves - and the spooky control over them that the 2nd stage coach driver has.

Stoker really sets the scene and the atmosphere superbly in the very first sequence of the book.

John wrote: "Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "Racing ahead John."

Sorry, boss!"

Admiration at your speed.

9% into the book. I am having sympathy panic attacks with the character Harker as things start getting more ramped up. lol

Hi Marie, there is so much more to go.

Started Dracula again for the fourth time, and am listening to the audio on my LibriVox app. I always find Jonathan Harker's diary in the first few chapters a bit of a slog, but once I'm through it the story flies by.

Hi C.J - no slog here. J Harker's journal sings with the music of the night.

Completed Ch3. 11% in. (view spoiler)[Jonathan Harker has discovered that he is a prisoner and that his usefulness (and life) to the Count is drawing to a close. Famous lines, "The music of the night," and fabulous scenes of Dracula crawling down the exterior wall of the castle and the three vampires that find J Harker asleep where he should not be. (hide spoiler)] Hypnotic writing and tremendous imagination on display.

Finished Chapter 4 and I am really getting anxiety attacks with this book. lol. I stayed up till 2:00 in the morning trying to finish chapter 4.

(view spoiler)[When Harker thought he could escape by getting out the door with the wolves trying to get in and he knew then the reality of his situation that there really was no escape. I think that he finally lost all hope at that moment (hide spoiler)]

John wrote: "Marie wrote: "Finished Chapter 4 and I am really getting anxiety attacks with this book. lol. I stayed up till 2:00 in the morning trying to finish chapter 4.

[spoilers removed]"

Lol, some green ..."

Or maybe a shot of brandy to smooth myself out! lol

I think there may have been a belief that a persons character was reflected in their physical appearance. (?)

17% in. (view spoiler)[J. Harker is imprisoned in Castle Dracula with certain death waiting for him when the sun next sets. Mina, Lucy, Dr, Seward, Quincy and Arthur have all been introduced. As has Renfield - obliquely referenced. (hide spoiler)] Stoker does a great job with building suspense with an imprisoned man - there is no clear escape so the reader is left wondering how it will be done, if at all.

It's a very long time since I read this book - decades in fact - but I still remember the impression it made on me. I really enjoyed it and it gave me the creeps. Sometimes I read comments by people who say it's dated and the horror doesn't work with a modern audience. It worked for me.

The pace picked up for me and now I am 69% into the book. To me this book is just as scary as alot of the modern horror books are today. Every moan and creak in my house had me jumping last night. lol. I really love this book!

Jack wrote: "It's a very long time since I read this book - decades in fact - but I still remember the impression it made on me. I really enjoyed it and it gave me the creeps. Sometimes I read comments by peopl..."

It still works on me. (Maybe I'm dated...)

Marie wrote: "The pace picked up for me and now I am 69% into the book. To me this book is just as scary as alot of the modern horror books are today. Every moan and creak in my house had me jumping last night. ..."

Cool. Great writing, Great story.

I finished it in the wee hours of the morning and I loved the book. I wish I had read it sooner. I was really impressed how Bram Stoker made the words flow and wrapped the story into a real spooky tale. :)

Glad you enjoyed it Marie.

Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "Glad you enjoyed it Marie."

Thank you Graeme! :)

You are all making me want to re-read it! I think this is the kind of book I need to purchase to have in my library... maybe I'll look for a really good old copy of it.

I remember reading a translated, serialized and curtailed version of the story when I was around 8. I read original last year and absolutely loved the way stoker structured the story. The news clippings, diary entries, letters!

(view spoiler)[ But I found the plot between killing vampire Lucy to finding Dracula too odd. (100 ways to praise Mina) :p (hide spoiler)]

Jacqueline wrote: "Rachel, you need to find a nice new mass paperback copy that you can hold and read and carry around with you and ultimately transform into your own "good old copy"! Then you can pull it from your l..."

I should do that :)

31% in.

Past the log of the Demeter and Dracula is now in England. The log itself, is a masterwork of the slow advance of impending doom. (view spoiler)[The hint of a threat that grows with each night as one by one the crew disappear. Until it is a ghost ship that comes to land in Whitby, Yorkshire. (hide spoiler)]

44% in. To say that Lucy Westenra cops it in the neck would be a bit trite. Talk about having an unhelpful mother. Perhaps this is an apt lesson that "medical vampire hunter intervention" should include the proper informing of all those who can impact on the care of the patient victim.

62% done.

Bloofer lady prowls.
Moonlight reveals blood stained hearts.
Hammer strikes - I'm Free!

Thanks Jacqueline.

70% done.

Mina Harker is the brains behind the operations of the Van Helsing Vampire Hunting Club. Yet she get's left behind while the boys go galavanting about Carfax looking for evidence of Vlad and when the obvious happens - no one notices. It's a plot flaw that I hadn't noticed in my earlier reads. I must be getting pickier about such things as I get older.

Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "70% done.

Mina Harker is the brains behind the operations of the Van Helsing Vampire Hunting Club. Yet she get's left behind while the boys go galavanting about Carfax looking for evidence of Vlad..."

Graeme, articles have been written and seminars have been taught about how Mina is both revered and dismissed by her fellow vampire hunters strictly because of her gender. So it's not just you.

Perry wrote: "Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "70% done.

Mina Harker is the brains behind the operations of the Van Helsing Vampire Hunting Club. Yet she get's left behind while the boys go galavanting about Carfax loo..."

I'd love to read articles about that! I remember having similar thoughts as you Graeme when I read the novel.

Hi Perry, Rachel.

Indeed.

Actually a little slow at the moment as (view spoiler)[the guys, and especially Harker are looking for the 'Boxes' (hide spoiler)]