Dracula by Bram Stoker

Finally, this book has been on my list practically forever, I finally got to it! Can you believe that although I've heard of Dracula of course, I'd never seen the films so I didn't actually know the story? Seriously, you'd think I've been living under a rock or something.

The main thing that I didn't expect from Bram Stoker's Dracula was that it wasn't about Dracula, in that it wasn't a story told from his perspective. I kind of assumed that it would be. So I was surprised at how many other characters were involved and that it was a tale of a whole bunch of people.

Once I got used to that, I really, really liked it. I liked the historical side of it and I enjoyed the pretty-society-meets-vampire aspect of it. I loved that it was written as a series of journal entries by various characters and that it had things like letters and newspaper clipping thrown in as well.

I didn't find it spooky, but I imagine that the films took care of that. :-) It's an interesting classic that I wasn't expecting to enjoy as much as I did.

Oh, but just like in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, the attitude towards women sometimes really made me angry. Every time a woman made progress in the case or came up with a brilliant idea (which was often), the men would think things like 'She thinks like a man'. How did we ever manage to overcome such widely spread prejudice? Did we overcome it at all?

Bram Stoker is another author who I didn't know was Irish. I feel like I'm being led towards Irish authors lately, I'm not sure why. The other author I recently read and didn't know was Irish was Oscar Wilde - Stoker and Wilde knew each other too, which I think is a really bizarre coincidence in my recent reading.

Challenges: R.I.P. Challenge, 1% Well-Read Challenge

Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Ever since I got addicted to Buffy I have loved vampire stories. No, let me rephrase that, I love quality vampire stories. That needed to be clarified, since there are soooo many vampire books out there now. I certainly haven't tried them all - I enjoy the MaryJanice Davidson Queen Betsy books and I thought that Twilight was ok. I have a couple more on my shelf. And I decided to buy the Charlaine Harris box set when it was on sale at Amazon a few months ago.

I absolutely loved Dead until Dark. One of the Amazon reviews said that if a realistic vampire story is possible then this is it. I totally agree. The world Harris created is not one where monsters attack you after it gets dark. It's a world where vampires are tolerated since the Japanese invented fake blood. In fact, they're explained away by a virus that makes them seem dead.

In this world lives Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress with a disability - she can read minds. This 'condition' has  made sure that she was always on the periphery of society and she has managed to build some sort of life for herself within these constraints. Enter vampire Bill - how can Sookie not fall for him?

Great characters, great story, great book. The only reason why I'm not reading the next book right away is that I've read too much supernatural recently and needed a more 'normal' novel. But I'll certainly be back for more soon!

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Ha ha, very funny book, a lovely way to spend a relaxed Saturday afternoon.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid tells of the adventures of Greg and his best friend(s) as they try to survive middle school. Greg is a great character and I can imagine that he's convinced many young boys to read his diary, writing which, as Greg will tell you on the first pages, was definitely not his idea!

This a graphic novel with a difference. Really fun, genuine and endearing, I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

And I'm happy to be discovering books that my son will be interested in when he's older - much older, as he's 6 months today, but still. I always imagined I'd have a daughter and I had tons of stuff in mind for her to read when the time came. I thought I'd be at a loss with a boy and so discovering great books like this one makes me extra happy!

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge, Graphic Novels Challenge

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

What a book. Frankie is a perfect heroine. Brave, unfaltering, ambitious. I love her character and how she comes to be something more than her family's good little girl. I love how she challenges the male-dominated mindset in the private school she attends. I love how the other characters have cannot phathom what she is capable of.

Is anyone else a Gilmore Girls fan? Frankie reminded me of Rory and the boys at her school reminded me of the rich boys at Yale with Rory. The banter was so self-assured, so dripping with privilege and so intelligent, in both cases.

What E. Lockhart did with language in general was absolutely wonderful. Look out for the positives Frankie makes out of words, fantastic.

This book really is a gem, one of a kind. And (again) one of those books I never would have read if it wasn't for the blogging community. Thank you!!!

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge

Dance of the Gods and Valley of Silence

These are the second and third books in Nora Roberts' Circle Trilogy. I read the first one, Morrigan's Cross, last year and really enjoyed it. I liked these too - the whole story is about an epic battle between humanity and vampires. There are evil vamps, a good vamp (of the Angel variety), witches, princesses, fairies, dragons and lost worlds. Oh and lots of Celtic mythology, which I love. What more could I want from a quick, relaxing, fun read?

Nora Roberts is a romance writer and I'm not a big romance fan so have not read anything else of hers. In fact, the romance scenes in these books annoyed me too so clearly I haven't changed my mind. I did love the settings and the characters and all the magic though!

I'm almost caught up with my reviews! Yay! :-)

At the moment I'm reading something completely different, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I haven't read such beautiful writing in quite some time. I'm loving all the people and the depth of characterization is truly astounding. I still have about a third to go but I think I can safely say that Strout will be added to my list of favorite authors.

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted

A quick post on this audiobook I listened to - The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted by Elizabeth Berg. I can't say that I loved it, in fact I don't think it was my kind of thing. This collection of short stories wasn't exactly what I expected... Although I liked the title story (and its great title!) and could identify with the weight loss and health theme, I thought that it came back too often in other stories. The characters too were not people I could really understand - older than me for one thing, which doesn't usually bother me, but it did this time. They were all so disappointed with the way their lives turned out, so resigned to the way their lives turned out. I didn't quite understand why things had to be that way for them.

The writing was good and emotive, but the stories just weren't for me. I've yet to read a short story collection that I really enjoy, by the way, maybe the whole genre isn't really for me? Something to think about...

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Audiobook Challenge

The Dangerous Husband

I picked Jane Shapiro's book up at the library - I really wanted to read something that wasn't for a challenge! Unfortunately, The Dangerous Husband was only ok... It's the story of a marriage gone sour and dangerous. It's described as funny, but I thought it was more sad than funny. The amusing feeling was only superficial, underneath that the topic was serious. Maybe it's me.

Disgrace

I didn't expect to enjoy J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace at all; it seemed to be such a heavy book. And the copy I have is a Polish translation! :-) But I just finished and I must say that it was captivating. It certainly wan't light, but the heavy topics touched on were covered well, part of the story, not moralising.

The book is about an ageing professor, David Lurie, who is forced to resign from the university he teaches at after his affair with a student is discovered. He goes to stay with his progressive daughter Lucie, who is living the simple life on an isolated piece of land. Oh and the most important thing putting the action in context is that everything takes place in South Africa. It won the 1999 Booker Prize.

I like that the book is about so many different things - the disgrace of Lurie, the disgrace of his daughter, the disgraceful South African situation. But it's also about a family that is falling apart because each member is coming from a different place - a mirror of South African society.

I think it's also about making choices that are right for us, even if they are caused by guilt or other negative feelings. No one can make big life choices for us, each of us has to do that alone.

It's a heavy book and not really uplifting, but it's not overly depressing either. It just is. Which I think describes life well most of the time - I for one probably spend too much time thinking about abstractions rather than dealing with what just is.

Recommended - if I liked it in Polish then I'm sure it's good! :-) I'm getting better at the reading in Polish thing, I'm glad.

Challenges: 888 Challenge, 10 out of 100 out of 1001, 1% Well-Read Challenge, Initials Reading Challenge, Man Booker Challenge

The Diving-Bell & The Butterfly

I'd never heard of Jean-Dominique Bauby's book before I saw it reviewed by Maggie. When I went to the used book store a couple of days later, there it was, so I thought it was meant for me to read at this point in my life.

The Diving-Bell & The Butterfly is an amazing book. Its author, Jean-Dominique Bauby, is the former editor-in-chief of the French Elle who had a massive stroke in 1995. What does that mean? In his words:

"In the past it was known as a 'massive stroke' and you simply died. But improved resuscitation techniques have now prolonged and refined the agony. You survive, but you survive with what is so aptly known as 'locked-in syndrome'."

His brain was working perfectly, he was perfectly aware of everything, be he was completely paralysed. He could move his left eyelid and he dictated the book using a blink pattern to indicate the letters of each word. So letter by letter.

And what a book. It is not full of self-pity, nor is it simply a tear-jerker (although some moments brought tears to my eyes). It doesn't tell us to live every minute of life to its fullest, but that is, of course, understood. It is a completely different look at life and one that I think all of us should take the time to know.

I cannot imagine being in that situation, imagine relying only on your memories when you cannot predict what effect they will have on you - sometimes joy, sometimes regret... Thinking about it makes me feel extremely lucky that I can live life the way I'm living it right now.

Jean-Dominique Bauby died in 1997, two days after his book was published in France. I think it deserves to be read by as many as possible and I hope that the blogging phenomenon will help this. It gets 5-stars with me, I hope that you get the chance to read it too!

Bauby talks about The Count of Monte Cristo in his book and because of this I'm bumping it up my to-be-read list and hope to get to it next month.