Gone with a Book discussion

Category 11. A Book with a one word title.

1. How did you experience the book? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to
"get into it"? How did you feel reading it—amused,
sad, disturbed, confused, bored...?
2. Is the plot engaging—does the story interest you? Is this a plot-driven book: a fast-paced page-turner? Or does the story unfold slowly with a focus on character development? Were you surprised by the plot's complications? Or did you find it predictable, even formulaic?
3. What passages strike you as insightful, even profound? Perhaps a bit of dialogue that's funny or poignant or that encapsulates a character? Maybe there's a particular comment that states the book's thematic concerns?
4. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask? Have you read other books by the same author? If so how does this book compare. If not, does this book inspire you to read others?

I jumped the gun on this one and read it in December. I was thoroughly surprised by how much I liked the story, particularly the first half. It started off perfectly, with Jonathan Harker in the midst of a villainous vampire on a totally unfamiliar land.

Don't know if this is much of a spoiler, but... (view spoiler)[Though we never read much about the vampire directly apart from the beginning, he's exposed to us through others' horrifying accounts. Most of it is written in first person diary / journal format, which makes the character's experiences all the more genuine. It fits the story really well. (hide spoiler)]

I was less enthused about the second half. It didn't have as much of the mysterious allure as the first half did, but I still really enjoyed this novel as a whole. This "horror" novel is up there with Frankenstein on my list.

It was a page-turner for me! The environment is A-plus, as are most of the characters, including Dracula. I admire Van Helsing a lot.

Read it years ago...will read it again...

Never even contemplated this before now. Hopefully will add this to the read pile.

Managed to pick a copy of this at my work book swap table.