Welcome to The Nocturnal House, Snarklings! It seemed like the best thing to call the new section of Gothic Charm School wherein the Lady of the Manners talks informally about books, because over the years, the Lady of the Manners has stayed up far, far too late into the night, reading vampire books.
Yes, vampire books.You see, I read a lot of vampire books. Well, lots of books in general, but a vast amount of my personal library are about the fanged children of the night.
It seems that whenever I’m online (and sometimes in real life, away from the computer), random people ask me for my recommendations for vampire books. Hence The Nocturnal House! Here’s the basic information:
– The Nocturnal House isn’t quite going to be the Gothic Charm School book club, but there will be MODERATED comments, in the hopes of getting some interesting discussion going.
– The Nocturnal House is going to be a bit more informal in stylistic tone than the usual sections of Gothic Charm School. In other words, the Lady of the Manners will be setting aside the third-person affectation while lounging about in The Nocturnal House.
– Clicky-link disclosure! The links to books here in The Nocturnal House go to Powells.com, and are partner links. Which means that if you click one of those links and buy the book, I will, in theory, eventually earn a small amount of money. Who knows if it will amount to anything, but hey! All proceeds will almost assuredly be spent on my addiction to Fluevogs and fancy hats.
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So! When people ask which vampire books I think are worthwhile, what is the very first book title that I blurt out? Oh, you sillies, can’t you guess?
Dracula.
Yes. Start with the bat-winged great-grand-daddy of them all, Snarklings. Trust me on this one. There are other vampire stories that came before (hello, “Carmilla” by Le Fanu, anyone? Yes, go read that and Polidori’s “The Vampyre”), but Dracula has cast a long shadow since its publication in 1897 for some very good reasons.
Count Dracula is the King Vampire of literature. He’s evil, he wants to leave his collection of vampire brides in Transylvania to find new thralls in England, and he’s mind-controlling a poor lunatic in an asylum. No moping about his lost humanity, no angsting about being a damned thing, no falling in love with women centuries younger than himself, just flat-out evil. I appreciate that in a vampire. (That’s right, there is no vampire/human love story in Dracula, no matter what the various Dracula movies put forth. The only interests Count Dracula has in Lucy Westenra or Mina Harker are motivated by hunger and control. No tender feelings of romantic longing at all.) That’s not to say I don’t appreciate those other, more classically Romantic-with-a-capital-R, soul-searching traits in vampire books, but those sorts of character motivations need to be handled delicately, else they become tedious very quickly.
Also, Dracula is not the main character. He’s the looming shadow of evil, an outside force bent on corrupting and destroying everything in his path. There is no reasoning with him, there is no placating him. Instead, the group of threatened sweethearts and friends must band together to try to discover what is going on so they can save themselves and society. It’s an adventure story driven by a monstrously evil creature that is just human enough to feel not just menacing, but malicious. In addition to that, there’s the churning sexual subtext to Dracula, all about being overcome and swooning ecstasy. From Chapter Three, during Jonathan Harker’s run-in with Dracula’s Brides:
“Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one’s flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer, nearer. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the super sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy and waited, waited with beating heart.”
Or from Chapter Sixteen, an example of the seductiveness of predatory evil:
“When she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell back and hid his face in his hands.
She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said, “Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!”
There was something diabolically sweet in her tones, something of the tinkling of glass when struck, which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another.
As for Arthur, he seemed under a spell, moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his arms.”
However, for all that I’m an enthusiastic Dracula fan (and at last count, I have 15 different editions of the book), I have to admit that it is a very flawed book. The epistolary style is sometimes hard to follow, the writing is sloppy in parts (for heaven’s sake, don’t read Dracula with any expectations of tightly-knit continuity, you’ll only give yourself a headache), there are sections that drag on and on and on, and, to quote Cleolinda:
“Van Helsing talks like a lolcat. He does. An extremely educated doctor-of-all-sciences lolcat who suddenly can has law degree about two-thirds of the way into the story.”
This is the most accurate (and entertaining!) description of Van Helsing I’ve ever read, and the last time I re-read Dracula, I kept cracking up because I was translating Van Helsing’s broad swathes of dialog into exaggerated lolcat syntax.
But it is a classic. Jonathan Harker falling prey to Dracula’s brides, Mina’s strange, dreamlike journey to find the sleepwalking Lucy in a graveyard, the trials and tribulations of the bug-eating Mr. Renfield, the confrontation with the transformed Lucy, Dracula’s corruption of Mina — all of these scenes exert a lingering, nightmarish power, and no adaptation in any other media has ever come close to portraying the chilling imagery of the book.
If you really want to learn about the book, I highly recommend getting an annotated version, to have footnotes about the plot and historical context of the story. I have a fondness for the New Annotated Dracula, edited by Leslie S. Klinger.
Not only is it full of footnotes, but he frames the whole thing as if the novel were a real historical document of events that happened to real people. As in, Bram Stoker knew the Harkers socially, and convinced them to allow him to collect and publish their correspondence to warn the public about the menace of Count Dracula. I found this endlessly entertaining, but your suspension of disbelief may differ. If that doesn’t sound like the sort of annotations you’re looking for, then you may want to stick with the Norton Critical Edition.
So there you go, Snarklings. Go get a copy of Dracula and read it. In a few weeks, I’ll tell you alllllll about another vampire book I really like. (This whole Nocturnal House thing isn’t just an excuse for me to re-read my favorite books about fanged monsters, I swear.)
OH. Wow. To say I’m excited will be putting it mildly. I’m nearly done with Dracula, but I already know I’m particularly fond of Vampire novels, and even books on the whole. Thank you for opening what I’m sure will be a wonderful Nocturnal House!
I can say with good reason that I’ll be visiting often.
I have been wanting to read Dracula for a a few years now, but I was worried that I might be disappointed due to high expectations (all I ever read was that it was the best vampire novel, a classic, etc). Now that I have a good idea of what to expect, all I have to do is decide on an edition to purchase.
Oh dear. I hope someone has some recommendations for that!
I had not read Cleolinda’s review of Dracula, but…jeez, that’s spot-on. I have a huge soft spot for Van Helsing, but his ‘accent’ truly is horrendous. Not to mention that he’s almost as bad an author-avatar as Robert Langdon (at least Van Helsing wasn’t the main character).
If the rest of your recommendations are this excellent, I can tell I’m going to be visiting here often. 😀
I have the Annotated Dracula by Klinger on my wish list at Powells. It sounds fascinating!
I’m excited to see The Nocturnal House. I love me some good books.
Wow, this is pretty cool. I read Dracula back in November. Good read.
Dracula, it is a book that altered the genre of vampire literature. It because the pinnacle of what it was to describe a vampire and their interaction with the people around them. This book is very well written and still as engrossing on my 4th read of it as it was on the 1st!
(Oh, if you have kindle or iBooks, it is available free! It is a classic after all! )
~Sojourn
(Long time lurker, first time poster – Thank you for all your work and dedication Lady of Manners!)
i am in middle school, and hve been reading Dracula. its very tedious for me but i am loving it!
I attempted to read this novel as a 5th grader… I did not succeed. XD I haven’t touched it since. But I’m putting this on my summer reading list, for sure!
I read Dracula a few years ago, but I think I may need to go back an reread it when I get the chance. It’s definitely one of my favorite books and a must-read for any fan of vampires. It truly is a good book, though (and, sadly, none of the film adaptations do it justice– although, maybe that’s a good thing since it forces people to read the book?).
A while ago, I finally read Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” and Polidori’s “The Vampyre,” and I was surprised to find that I enjoyed them just as much as Dracula. They’re all beautifully written, but there were some parts of “Carmilla” that I actually found more disturbing/frightening than anything in Dracula, and “The Vampyre” I loved for being so ambiguous about whether Lord Ruthven was, in fact, a vampire– and, of course, I loved Lord Ruthven for being such a decadent character.
Anyway, I love this new addition to the Gothic Charm School, and I look forward to more book recommendations– but I hope you’ll include other gothic works outside of the vampire genre!
That is the best description of Van Helsing I have ever read.
I love the first section of the book before Harker returns to England, but I fade out after that. The style gets cumbersome, and the descriptions of Lucy Westenra during and post-transformation always bugged me.
Someone had the noble idea of re-publishing the book as a blog to better deal with the style issues. I don’t remember if that ever took off.
I myself have a guilty pleasure of reading ‘The Night World’ by LJ Smith, and love classic books but I still have to read Dracula. Thank you for the amazing reveiw.
The annotated was the best version I’ve read.
I have to say, Stoker’s Dracula is a brilliant book.
Though, aside from getting some facts wrong with Romania, I had this feeling when reading the book that there was more to the story, like Stoker wanted to give more detail to his characters and descriptions.
Then again maybe it’s just me.
I recently read Bram Stoker’s novel (though I’ve known about it for years; thank Alan Moore for making me look it up), and realized something: The entire story is a total rip-off of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot”!
Just kidding, obviously. But anyhow, I loved your comments, and if you wanna talk about other vampires that don’t angst about their “loss of humanity”, I have one name for you:
– Proinsias Cassidy
I won’t say anything else about him. Look up the name, that’s all I’m saying.
I’ve recently read a different version of Dracula called iDracula by bekka black. its basically the same story just shorter and in email/text form. i loved it 🙂
I attempted to read this over and over in middle school but could only ever get halfway through (the same can be said for Little Women) because the writing style was so confusing. But I think I may attempt reading it again. I love a good classic after all ^^
I took the entire month of October one year to read Dracula and I have to admit I enjoyed every minute of it. I did find that somethings in my opinion were not well explored or explained but over all I adored the book. Though, I will admit the Van Helsing annoyed me more than any other, but I suppose that just because my personality and his differ. I did wish that book would have ended with an epic fight between Dracula and the band but all well that end well.
I’ve read almost everything historical about vampires (studying to be a professor of folklore, which is basically like being a Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, with more theology and no magic wands)and I’m half way through Anne Rice’s series, but I always go back to Dracula, its one of my all time favorite novels and Stoker spent years researching accounts on vampire “sitings,” myths & legends, and even fairy tales to get the most accurate vampire figure as possible (even delving into Vlad Tepes and the world of mythology that has sprung up around him) while it can be a little demeaning towards women (the independent ‘bad’ girl lucy gets killed while matronly image-of-1800’s-perfection-Mina lives) I find its appeal time transcending and age transcending, enthralling readers from elementry age and younger to even great-grandparents.
In response to Chris, yes, Dracula was left with more to the story (as if Dracula could be defeated as easily as he was) but Bram Stoker died before making a sequel (at least, that is the belief among smart peoples who went to college. There is no record of a sequel being considered.)
I love Dracula. I actually read it when I was 16 (got the book as a Christmas present). I never had much of a problem with the writing style, and thoroughly enjoyed it (and now must re-read it).
@Chris: I know what you mean. Actually several people have written sequels to Dracula as a way to fill that I guess void in the story. The ones I have read are “Bloodlines” and “Bloodline (Book 2): Reckoning” by Kate Cary and “Mina” by Marie Kiraly. Of these I prefer Mina by far, because the styling is closer to the original text and it is set closer to the timeline for the original story (Bloodlines takes place much later, and focuses on different characters of the author’s own invention).
I love Dracula!!! I saw the black and white movie version
Ive read Dracula for a while ago. But i read it in swedish becuse im not so good in english.
For the next book, could you look up in how many languigh its translated to so we who are not speaking english know if we can read it to?
And all this is a great idéa! Ive always have problem finding gothic books (though i still read a lot outher things like harry potter, LOTR and a lot of great swedish books)
Ooh, what fun! I’m especially looking forward to a potential installment on LOST SOULS.
Definitely a classic worth reading. It does get cumbersome at times, but hey, what book written in that era, doesn’t?
I first read Dracula in my teens (not exactly recent), and reread it two years ago as I was about to visit Whitby for the first time. He really gets the Whitby feel down beautifully. It was exactly how I envisioned it from reading the novel.
I look forward to more reviews of books. Love this new section of your site.
I’ve been meaning to pick up a copy of Dracula for awhile now, and I can see some great internet memes inside it’s pages too xD (I can haz virgin blood?) hmm…
But, and this is a personal please, please don’t review that certain other vampire novel series with all the soppy lovestory and a bad case of sparkly skin… please?
Anyway, I love reading so I’m looking forward to moar book reviews in the future 🙂
Ooh, this looks like it’s going to be fun!
I read Dracula for the first time a few months ago, and I’m currently midway through Carmilla (Project Gutenberg is awesome). Love the atmosphere in both books.
I’m definitely a fan of vampire novels and I’ve heard a lot about Dracula, well I’ve really only heard that it’s a great classic vampire book… but this has given me a much better idea of what the book is about, now I’m sure I’ll read it, thanks 🙂
This is definitely one of my favorite books ever, flaws included. “I think we must all be mad and that we shall wake to sanity in strait-waistcoats” is possibly the best line in the whole novel, but then again, I’m partial to Dr. Seward.
I´m currently reading “Dracula” and I´m quite impressed how much I like it, because prior to that I was worried that it would be boring, for the story is rather well known.
(I completly agree with VanHelsing talking like a lolcat – this discrpition is awsome and totally hits the nail on the head)
I also read “Carmilla” and liked that too. Besides I felt like I really had to read this book, for it takes place in Styria (Austria) near my hometown.
When I have finished “Dracula” I want to read “Lost Souls” by Poppy Z. Brite (the description says: “blood, sex and rock n roll” – sounds promising).
Thanks for the review, my Lady! I´m looking forward to the next ones (I´m always looking for interesting books).
I’ve read racula several times and I have always loved it. At high school I even wrote a report on the female stereotypes of Dracula, which to me was very interesting and good but my teacher rather disliked it. I love the way I find some new subtleties everytime I read Dracula.
I have only one version of it and unfortunately it¨has no foot notes but if I get my hands to one that has I shall definetly chaeck it out.
I have to say I enjoy Dracula more than Frankenstein. Although I admire Frankenstein, I just can’t get over the maliciousness, and wondrous feeling this book made me feel. It’s just alluring and keeps you on the edge of your seat yet you keep reading.
I enjoyed it the 3rd time just as much as I did the first time i put my eyes on it! I need to agree to the fact of it not having much continuity on several parts but even so, no movie compares to the chills of the book. I’ve as well read a book about, more or less, Bram Stoker, entitled “The Dracula Dossier” written by James Reese. Even if it’s a rather new book, as new as a 2008 book can be, it holds much in tight to Dracula, making more clearer to the reader as how Stoker used several aspects of his life in the writing of Dracula. I would have to agree to Chris, the one who wrote here before i got the chance to do, some things about Romania are off, I live in that country after all. But even so, great book, I think that anyone interested in vampire literature should be willing, or better said excited, to reading this classic piece of what is seems to me one of the best book genres
I tried getting into Stoker’s work but bounced. I will have to give it another shot some day. Very readable is Fred Saberhagen’s “The Dracula Tape” which is the story from Dracula’s point of view. In Stoker’s work, Dracula is supposedly killed with a *knife*. Say what? Saberhagen beautifully explains this and other inconsistencies. He also wrote several other Dracula novels. Great fun.
The last time I read Dracula was in University for my Vampire class in Germanic Studies 🙂
There is an authorized sequel to Dracula, “Dracula The Undead” written by Dacre Stoker (a descendant of Bram) & Ian Holt. I read it straight after finishing the first and I loved them both.
+++100 for Saberhagen’s “The Dracula Tapes” and the sequels thereto, which tell the story from Dracula’s point of view. (TDT is an almost scene-for-scene retelling of “Dracula,” the others are various tales about his life before and after the events therein.)
While I fully agree with our gracious hostess that a great deal of Dracula’s merit is lost when people try to turn it into a love story or in any way humanize the Count, TDT is a completely different story, not “Fred Saberhagen’s ‘Dracula.'” And Saberhagen takes comic advantage of many of the flaws in Stoker’s work, both personal (the writing style) and temporal (facts that Stoker’s characters didn’t know because Stoker didn’t know them.) Probably the best example of both, IMO, is the Count pointing out that:
1) He didn’t kill Lucy Westernra: VAN HELSING killed Lucy Westernra. She didn’t die of exsanguination (Of course Saberhagen’s Dracula says that wasn’t the plan anyway, but he would, wouldn’t he?) she died of acute hemolytic reaction caused by multiple mismatch transfusions.
2) Given the proven idiocy and ineffectiveness of Van Helsing, the fact that Van Helsing caused him so much trouble should prove that of all the world’s terrors, he, Dracula, is probably numbered amongst the least effective.
In any event, the books are well worth reading.
M
Such a wonderful book.
hi my names Jess im 16 i love ur website. I tried reading dracular when I was younger but strugeld but you have perswaded me to try reading it again……….. Iv not got verry far but im loving it.
It sounds very exciting. I have a birthday coming up, so I will definitely ask for it!
thankyou, dear lady for opening up what i am sure will be a fantastic nocturnal house of books, if anyone has any suggestions as to what would be a particularly good edition of ‘carmilla’
i would much like to hear from you, and get some suggestions.
ever faithful reader of gothic charm school,
ooky spooky.
An interesting commentary on Dracula in the form of a novel is Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula Tapes – Dracula is told from the count’s point of view – and Saberhagen takes some of the inconsistencies of the original and explains them/works them into his story as plot points. The two books are fun to read together!
It took me three tries to get through Dracula the first time – but it was worth the effort.
Hmm, I really need to read Dacula now, I’ve had it for months, just collecting dust on my bookcase since I bought it from a used bookstore, I planned on reading all of it as soon as I got it, but I just couldn’t get into it, but I really need to read it. I’m looking forward to more book reviews.
I would like to say, I have read it four times now, each time getting a little bit more than the last. I should like to say to my fellow readers, especially the young ones, even if you get nothing from the unabridged version at first, read it again. After a while, it will start to make sense.
Dracula is a GREAT book. ^_^
I love it. Dracula’s one of the best books ever
I loved Dracula, even as a child. My first exposure to it was when I watched Dracula Dead and Loving It with my parents at age four. I didn’t actually read the book until five years later. I didn’t have any troubles with it, but I noticed some errors that Bram Stoker made in referencing time passing, but it didn’t make much of a difference. I loved the vivid imagery in Dracula and the atmosphere. Certainly an eternal classic.
Darkest wishes,
Adrienne
I can’t wait for more reviews to be posted! I’ve always loved stories about vampires and other delightfully spooky creatures, but now it’s hard to find books where the monsters are actually evil or scary in the local library. Sure, it’s nice sometimes to read of forbidden love and all that mushiness, but it gets old all too quickly.
I’m currently reading Dracula on my phone, and must say it’s a wondeful change of pace from today’s vampire romances! I look forward to reading future reviews, and hopefully learning of more vampire classics!
Dracula was the first vampire book I read. My interest in vampires began with Jonathan Frid in “Dark Shadows”. I am giving away my age when I say Dark Shadows was in it’s first run when I saw it. I would sneak watch it when my mother wasn’t looking. I was very young. Barnabas (Frid) sparked my interest in vampires.
I read Dracula for the first time when I was 10. Of course, what a young child understands is different from what an adult understands. My interest in vampires has always been more along the lines of folklore and history. I like the classics, as you have already mentioned, as they are a record of early ideas of what a vampire is or isn’t. I would add “Varney The Vampire” to the list. I can’t remember the author off hand but it’s an interesting read. Not quite the quality of writing of the others, but it’s a part of history.
Because I began with Stoker’s, McNally & Florescu’s (sp?) books and other studies involving the history of vampire lore, I went straight into collecting Dracula memorabilia. One of my favorite versions of Dracula is a pop-up stage book illustrated by Gorey.
Rice’s books are well written but I (jokingly) blame her for the glut of junk vampire fiction. Of course, the real culprit sprinkled glitter and angst all over the vampire story. We know who that is. I’ve pretty much quit reading vampire novels because most of it is garbage. Lovestruck girl, mysterious brooding vampire…please make it stop!
I look forward to other reviews. With any luck, I will be introduced to a novel worth reading.
By the way, I have steered younger Goths to your page as you have wonderful advice to offer them. Being an elder Goth myself, I try to help when and where I can. It isn’t easy being true to your nature when others don’t understand and make fun of you. I was just considered weird when I was in middle and high school (the term Goth didn’t exist then) and many still think I’m odd. That’s okay with me. Makes me think of Kermit the frog (It’s not easy being green).
I love your site and insight!
Wow, I’m starting to feel sorry for my old, beatup version of Dracula that I will be reading yet again. Dracula is probably my favorite book, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it. The Klinger version sounds interesting though. May have to look into that.
I purchased a copy of Dracula a while ago and I attempted to read it. I love reading and vampire novels, but the writing style of Dracula was pretty much driving me insane and I couldn’t finish it. I might make another attempt in hopes it gets better later on in the book (because I didn’t get very far).
Funny thing is the first vampire story I ever read (when I was much, much younger and far before I discovered the gothic subculture) was Bunnicula. It’s rather silly because it’s from the perspective of the pets of the house suspecting the new rabbit of being a vampire, but I remember really enjoying the books (I believe there are three in total).
I’m sure I’ll be stopping by to discuss other reads here in the future. It sounds like it’ll be really fun. Maybe the Lady of the Manners should also discuss movies and TV shows she enjoys *hint hint*
-Mort