Dracula

Dracula
By Bram Stoker (448 pages)
Bookish rating: 3.75

Enter spooky, evil-sounding laugh here. Can you believe I had never before read Stoker's Dracula? 'Tis true. And can you believe I finished the book around Halloween but never posted its review? 'Tis also true.

Stoker's gothic novel, Dracula, has generated a gazillion movies, TV shows, and related stories and books. Pour quoi? Because he does something masterful in Dracula. Suspense and horror? This is my favorite type of thriller--the type that has you tense and riveted, not grossed out by gratuitous ickiness that intends merely to shock.

Stoker writing during the Victorian era, we do have flowery speeches full of hyperbole and theatrical emotion. They can get a wee bit tiresome, but hey. That's Victorian lit.

Even if you don't like the thriller genre or anything remotely spooky, Dracula is a must-read for the well-read. It just is.