"Dracula" by Bram Stoker - Dracula Daily 2023 (BR)

[Stephen]

I’m enjoying it. I like the experience of reading the book in snippets at irregular intervals. Don’t know whether it would work for other novels.

[Margaret]

An epistolary novel like Dracula lends itself particularly well to this treatment.

[Beth]

Yes! And sending it out in date order was a brilliant idea. I'm curious how much differently it might come across in whatever order the original novel is in (the emails and podcast are my first exposure), so I'll likely turn around and read that not long after we're done with it in this format, which iirc will be sometime in November.

[Stephen]

Margaret wrote: "An epistolary novel like Dracula lends itself particularly well to this treatment."

Yes, it isn’t as if longer chunks of text were randomly being chopped up. The diary entries, letters, etc. are already more or less self-contained pieces of the book.

[Beth]

Life seems to be settling down, for now, and this afternoon I caught up to mid-August via re: Dracula.

I continue enjoying the storm- and fog-drenched atmosphere of Mina's entries in Whitby. As has happened often while I've been going through this novel, I wonder what its original audience thought as the creepy and scary circumstances pile higher and higher! Here in the 21st century we know what the puncture wounds on Lucy's neck, her weakened condition, the single bat flying under the moon, et al. signify. To the degree of being clichés.

It's still suspenseful, since it's been quite a while since I dealt with any version of this story, and I don't remember how the cast comes together (or if they do), or how the end plays out.

[Meredith]

I am running behind now. Only up to September 25. Hoping to do some catch up reading this weekend.

One thing I don't understand is (view spoiler)[ Why Van Helsing has been so reluctant to tell the Dr. his suspicions about what was going on with Lucy. It certainly would have helped to avoid some of the issues that came up due to the Dr *not* knowing what was going on or was suspected. Even now that Lucy is "dead" he still hasn't said anything. (hide spoiler)]

[David]

@beth I’ve been to Whitby. They have an annual Dracula day. It’s a nice town and near the North York Moors National Park - another cool place to visit.

[Olga]

I couldn’t keep up with the emails, so I just caught up about once a month following the chronological order of the letters.
But as I caught up to the beginning of October this week, I just couldn’t stop myself and finished the book.

Van Helsing’s language and manners put me off at times and the ending felt a bit rushed, but other than that, I’m really glad I reread it in original. It actually was scary in a few places and I remembered why I was so fond of the whole vampire theme 15 years ago.

[Meredith]

I was a couple weeks behind but I made a push to get caught up to "today" in Dracula. Some good action and revelations lately, but (view spoiler)[ boy, does Van Helsing like to talk, even when time is critical, he will go on and on... (hide spoiler)]

[Beth]

I'm over a month behind now, only up to Sep. 19. I fell down a podcast rabbit hole that didn't leave enough room to also listen to re: Dracula. Too bad, October would have been the perfect month to catch up! :)

[Kirsten]

Kirsi wrote: "Ugh, Renfield is so creepy!"

If you like Renfield, Barbara Hambly wrote a great book called Renfield: Slave of Dracula

[Beth]

It is now November 7, and the last Dracula Daily email has made it to our inboxes. As for myself, I eventually got far enough behind on reading them that I finally gave up and just started listening to the audiobook of the text in its original order, referring to the emails when the accents got too thick (I'm looking at you, old guy in Whitby). I hope others did better with it than I did. :)

Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a fun way of experiencing the book.

[Kandice]

I read the last entry this morning, and plan on looking at the hard copy I bought of this. It was my second year of doing this, and while I fell behind a day or two at times, I did try to stay on top of it. I really enjoy reading it this way and will probably do it as long as they keep sending them.

[Stephen]

I read the emails as they came, as I did last year, and enjoyed them. It’s a very easy way to read the book.

[Kirsi]

I lagged behind, too, and eventually picked up my copy of the book to read bigger chunks at a time.

[Meredith]

I fell behind a couple times and had to play catch up, but the last week or so, I was reading day by day and I got really caught up in it! I enjoyed reading it in this format, but will probably pick up the book sometime to read in the original format.

[Cynda]

When I read this book several years ago with a GR classics group, we talked about The New Woman and new technology--such as the typewriter--that helped her come into being.

[Kandice]

Day 9 of 2024. I don't know if anyone else is reading along.

[a.g.e. montagner]

Not yet but I'd like to try, this year.

[Ambereyes]

Wasn't there a Dracula cookbook around somewhere? I'll go and look for that.

Taken literally, these words about Dracula cookbook sound very scary. They conjure up images of bloody cocktails and the like. :)