Dracula by Bram Stoker

 

Ok so this book is not appropriate for Thanksgiving weekend I agree but I really did start it before Halloween which did seem appropriate. Really! However it wasn't the only book I was reading at the time soooo. At any rate when I saw it on the Goodwill shelf I grabbed it because, as you know, the previous summer was "read classics" summer. So I figured this book was a late continuance of that theme. I had wanted to read it a few years ago but never got to it for whatever reason.

 

So I finished it yesterday. I have to say that I do like the front cover of this edition. I think the artist did a great job. During October I saw on the TV a thing about Bram Stoker and I have to say that the original design imprinted on the original book cover was demurely simple. I like it too.

 

So how was the story? Did I like it?

 

Well it wasn't what I thought it was going to be because I was expecting gore and frightful scenes but it didn't live up to my expectations. I can see how it was different from other books written during that time period and that it would catch people's attention but it was slow and plodding and slow and plodding. I think my favorite character was Van Helsing. Why? Because Bram gave him a funny way of talking and I liked reading it and I could picture him. I suppose I used the visual in Polanski's "Fearless Vampire Killers" I saw a billion times one summer in a drive-in theater in 'Little Washington'. All the snow and the scenery and the non-reflection in the mirror of Dracula during a ballroom dance and the horses pulling a carriage through the small villages and out in the wild towards Dracula's castle. And Van Helsing being this lovable, funny but fearless old man. Wow! I really need to see that movie again!!! 

 

But you never see that movie anymore? Why don't they show it during all the ones that are on the TV leading up to October 31rst?

 

So the question is ... should you read it?

 

Of course. It's a classic after all.

A Midwinter's Tale by Andrew M. Greeley

Hey folks!! I'm back with another one of Andrew Greeley's books. Again, it came from my mother's book shelf, handed to me recently by my father saying, "I thought you would like to have this book."

"Of course!"

And thank you, Dad.

I read this tale before when my mother handed it to me. She had just finished reading it and thought I would enjoy it too. She was always amazed that a priest (yes, Andrew is a Catholic priest) could write so candidly about sex. It really fascinated her. Where did he get his knowledge of it? Was it first hand or from the confessional?

I am sure that she and Father Greeley would have had great conversations if they could have known each other. To be a fly on the wall would be a good thing in order to listen. My mother was a smart cookie and knew her history of the Catholic church, the Templars, Cathars and you name it. I've already forgotten what she told me. History was never my strong suit. Or Algebra.

Nevertheless, here's a story that Greeley says is "autobiographical only in that Charles O'Malley (his main character) and I have lived through the same historical events" and that "Charles Cronin O'Malley did indeed graduate from 'St. Ursula' in 1942, as I did".

The story takes place mostly in Germany (Bavaria) during the two years that Chuck is stationed there as a very young man. It is in a Nazi's arms that he loses his virginity and in the cold, bombed out landscape that he proves to continue to be a 'hero' even though he doesn't feel like one. After all he had saved his Rosie the night of his high school prom, didn't he? But it was just a reflex. He didn't have time to put on a red cape and fly through the air. Although jumping from a pier into cold water could apply as a leap of faith.

I think you would like this book as well. You will learn what is was like or could have been like in Germany in 1947. The hardship that the people had to survive. The lack. The cold. The desperation. What can an eighteen year old do to make a difference?

As you will see life can pull you into situations that you willingly walk into and then find yourself with anothers' life in your hands. What will you do?

Check this one out and see how a priest writes of love and war and family.