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The voters have spoken, and we will be reading Dracula for our next group read! (enter spooky music here :)

I'll set this up for a group read from Sept 15 - Oct 31 and while this may be long for the length of the book, ending the discussion at Halloween just seems so apropos! Before Sept. 15 we'll set up the folders for the different sections of the book, so don't think you have to read the whole thing by the 15th! Join in whenever you have a copy and want to jump into the fun :)

Thankfully, this book is easily accessible most everywhere, so the short two week window between the poll results and the start of the discussion won't cause problems for anyone.

If you aren't able to get a copy, and don't mind reading on-line, below are a few links to full-text, online versions that are free. Enjoy, and we'll see everyone on Sept. 15!



(just scroll down to choose which format you want to download)

**Please Note**

Please don't start the actual book discussion here, but wait for the threads to be posted. I also want to make sure we allow the current book discussion to finish without distractions :)

General comments about this choice, buying the book, whether or not you want to read it, etc., are most welcome here, though!

On the subject of e-books... Does everybody know this already? Well anyway, no harm in repeating good news: you can get 'Kindle for PC' from the Amazon website completely free of charge! And then you can download free e-books either from the Amazon website or from other sites such as:





This is the perfect service for Victorians readers as so many Victorian books are in the public domain and therefore freely available in this form. For anybody who has already read Dracula, maybe a taste of Bram Stoker's other work might be interesting?

Kathy wrote: "On the subject of e-books... Does everybody know this already? Well anyway, no harm in repeating good news: you can get 'Kindle for PC' from the Amazon website completely free of charge! And then..."

I didn't know this! Thanks so much for the info, I'll definitely download this :)

Kathy wrote: "And then you can download free e-books either from the Amazon website or from other sites such as:"

In addition to those sites, try


and also, Gutenberg has adapted many of their books for a variety of e-readers. Find them at

Eagerly awaiting for Sept 15 .....


Few reactions when the book was released :

..... However, some Victorian fans were ahead of the time, describing it as "the sensation of the season" and "the most blood-curdling novel of the paralysed century".

The Daily Mail review of June 1, 1897 proclaimed it a classic of Gothic horror:
"In seeking a parallel to this weird, powerful, and horrorful story our mind reverts to such tales as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein, The Fall of the House of Usher ... but Dracula is even more appalling in its gloomy fascination than any one of these."

Kathy wrote: "On the subject of e-books... Does everybody know this already? Well anyway, no harm in repeating good news: you can get 'Kindle for PC' from the Amazon website completely free of charge! And then..."

Thanks for the tips, Kathy!

Gutenberg has almost everything that Ive seen mentioned on the site....I just downloaded Dracula for my Sony reader and I'm looking forward to reacqainting myself with it....

oooh read it last year and it left me with so many questions. Really enjoyed it and cant wait to hear what eveyone else thinks of it.

Paula wrote: "The voters have spoken, and we will be reading Dracula for our next group read! (enter spooky music here :)

The movie version (1931) by Tod Browning used the Black Swan's theme from "The Sleeping Beauty Ballet" by Tchaikovsky, and I've associated that with Dracula ever since first seeing it 50 years ago. Actually the score during the opening credits was added later, as movie scoring hadn't been developed yet. It was based on the stage version, also with Lugosi. The acting is creaky, more suited to a silent film, but the screenplay is remarkably faithful to the book. It's still a great film because of Lugosi.

I feel the 1979 version with Frank Langella was the definitive remake, even with the changes that were made. Langella had great sex appeal, like a graceful black cat, and the implied sexual undercurrent was made more apparent.

So Dracula will go through the end of Oct? Are books generally voted upon here only one at a time, and are runners-up considered for the next read?

Rochelle- yes, one book at a time. Runners-up books are always considered for the next read, but they would still need to be nominated when the time comes. Because moods and reading interests can change so easily, we don't plan out books very far in advance.

I was toying with making some changes to the group reads, frequency, etc., but since I recently asked for volunteers to replace me as moderator, it didn't seem appropriate to make the changes :)

Thanks. And membership changes with time too. I belong to an online book club at another site, and by the time the voted book comes up, the membership might have changed.

Hi Everyone! I'm a new member here, looking forward for the reading of Dracula. I just did a lesson with my students on fiction comprehension skills. We analysed Jonathan Harker's first meeting with Count Dracula. Kids loved it. I've read this book before, but good books can be reread again & again.

Hi Amalie! That's awesome that you just read this with your students - can't wait to have you join in the discussion when we start!!

For anyone who has enjoyed Dracula, I would recommend reading The Historian. For those who are not really into the vampire thing typically, this book really is not like a typical vampire/horror novel. It takes a rather interesting and historical approach to the subject which draws both from the history of Vlad the Impaler as well as Stoker's Dracula, which is alluded to within the book.

Thanks, Silver! I was thinking about trying that book.

I really enjoyed The Historian, I bought Dracula almost as soon as I finished it (although I didn't get around to reading it until now.)

Thanks, Em! I think I will certainly download it onto the Kindle. I also had Drood waiting for me to read!

Em wrote: "I really enjoyed The Historian, I bought Dracula almost as soon as I finished it (although I didn't get around to reading it until now.)"
I too enjoyed The Historian. Great vampire tale.

I had Dracula on my TBR shelf and it's a real shame that I'd never read it before. I'm a huge fan of vampire fiction so it's high time I read the book that started it all! Also a wonderful opportunity to re-connect with this wonderful group of people, I've hardly posted since I joined. Glad to be back!

Glad you are enjoying and reading it too Gaijinmama.

Rebecca wrote: "Glad you are enjoying and reading it too Gaijinmama."
HI Rebecca! It's been a long time, my friend...but I knew we'd bump into each other again eventually!
Great minds think alike and all that....