We do seem to be getting to that time of year. Lately I’ve been seeing ads pop up for new horror movies that will soon be coming out. And a favourite book will soon be coming to it’s end.
This is the one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary of the publishing of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. I started reading it again in the spring. In a completely different way. Through my email.
A group had decided to pay tribute to the novel by putting it out as it happened. The novel, Dracula, follows a series of events that take place between early May and early November. In the spring, I noticed a friend had signed up for Dracula Daily, which was a sort of newsletter following the novel.
The book itself is set it up as mostly a series of journal entries, letters and log entries from various characters involved in the story. As things happen, you get that part of the story appearing in your inbox. Some days there might be nothing. Then you might get an email every day for a while as the story unfolds. It’s actually an interesting way of reading a book.
I have read it before, but it’s been fun to follow along in sort of real time.
I have to admit, I have liked the book for years. Although really, I was always a bit more of a Frankenstein fan. Just the way it wraps up making you think about who is, in the end, the real monster was a bit of a shock after watching old movies as a kid. I don’t think any movie version has truly done it justice.
But I do enjoy the occasional horror novel. If I had to chose, I would probably have to pick the Shining as my favourite, although it may have had something to do with where I read it. That was in an old cabin in the woods, mostly on a rather windy night, with a branch scraping across the roof in the wind. If a kid had shown up on a tricycle that night, I would still be running.
I know Dracula will soon be coming to an end, although things are just starting to get exciting right now. But it has been an interesting way to read the book.
Not every book would lend itself to being serialized in this way, but it has been fun. Maybe they’ll come up with another.
