Mega Bite

I really don't get the modern thing about vampires being sexy.  I understand where it all came from - the whole hypnotic, animal magnetism thing - but it's really gone too far.  They're predators that rip people's throats out, for crying out loud, not harmless, puppy-eyed boys who just need someone to change them!  If I were conspiratorially inclined, I'd start wondering if we were being prepared for some sort of undead invasion.  Or was that just an episode of 'Being Human' I once saw..?

The big noise in vampire circles has to be Dracula and I have finally finished the Bram Stoker novel of the same name.

'Dracula' begins with solicitor Jonathan Harker travelling to a castle in remote Transylvania.  Seeing the local superstitions as quaint and backward, he fails to realise how much danger he is in until it's too late. Harker has been employed to complete a house purchase for Count Dracula and, once done, he finds himself trapped in the castle as his host's eccentricities are revealed as something more sinister.  Meanwhile, back in England, friends Lucy Westernra and Mina Murray are planning their futures.  While Mina waits for her fiancé Harker to return and Lucy picks Arthur Holmwood from a trio of suitors, the girls dream of a future of wedded bliss.  But dreams soon turn to nightmares as Lucy's sleepwalking puts her in harm's way and the friends find themselves the victim of some unknown horror...

In a way, I feel a bit sorry for 'Dracula'.  The book was seized by film makers almost as soon as it was published and, like Sherlock Holmes or James Bond, the character has outgrown and evolved far beyond the original source material.  Everyone thinks they know Dracula, so it's really hard to leave all that baggage at the front cover and come to the book with an open mind.

The other reason why this book took me six weeks to read is the language.  'Dracula' is at times tense, exciting, unnerving and action-packed, but unfortunately I find 19th century prose really heavy going.  The long sections of dialogue were frustrating and hard work and Stoker's depiction of Professor Van Helsing's accent swings between embarrassing and racist to modern eyes.  As a result, I didn't exactly steam through it.

I'm very glad I persevered, however, and did finish the book because I discovered that it wasn't about what I thought it was about.  It's often said that great stories or characters live on because they're reinterpreted for different times.  So, for example, vampirism has been used as a metaphor for lust, for addiction and for contageous disease.  It turns out that 'Dracula' is actually about old vs new, ancient vs modern and tradition vs technology.

It's also about other things too, like solitude and friendship, teamwork and faith.  But what it's not about is sexy, seductive, aristocratic men and the promise of eternal youth.  But hopefully, that's just the latest interpretation and in a few years we'll see something new come around which doesn't seem quite as distasteful in a modern world of airbrushing, body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

Overall, 'Dracula' was quite an interesting and, I suppose, thought-provoking, read, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're lucky enough to find old fashioned writing styles a doddle.  Equally, however, I'm not aware of any film or TV adaptation I'd recommend either.  In truth, although I doubt I'll ever read this book again, I may listen to it on CD, which I suppose continues the novel's main theme!  Hopefully the BBC have done a really good adaptation, but in the meantime, it's back to the shelves!

A view across Whitby

Previously from the Girl Who Loves Books III

Oh dear.  It's all gone a bit wrong this month.  No idea why, although it's probably something to do with it being too cold to sit outside and read now winter has finally arrived in the UK. Turning pages is just too tricky with freezing fingers!

So, by way of an apology and to say I've not forgotten you, here are some reviews I wrote before starting this blog. Hope you enjoy them!

'Cautionary Tales for Grown-Ups' by Chris Addison

`Cautionary Tales...' is a collection of humorous rhymes, each of which deals with a different 21st century `sin' and wreaks terrible (and often grotesque) vengeance on the perpetrator. The crimes against society include browsing in bookshops rather than buying, NIMBY-ism, reality TV shows, littering, driving 4x4s in town, excessive Christmas lights and nude charity calendars among many others.

After reading this book, I have very mixed feelings. I liked the idea of it very much, but was disappointed that the stories were in rhyme rather than prose. It has the unfortunate effect of making the tales seem insubstantial, as if the author had been knocking up a poem or two every time he got bored and had a spare five minutes. I found them amusing rather than funny and it did make me wonder whether they would have been funnier if developed into full short stories. Also, this is a very middle class book and some of the morals did come across as a bit patronising. On the plus side, there were some poems which did make me laugh out loud, although there were also some punishments which made me wince!

Overall, this book feels like it may be the start of something interesting which could be developed, but it also feels like a throw away doodle and isn't really worth the £7.99 price tag. It could, however, be just the right gift to bring a smile to the wound-up whinger in your life.

'The Vampire Lestat' by Anne Rice

When I wrote my review of `Interview with the Vampire', the first of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, earlier this year, I ended hoping that its sequel would be less ambiguous. I am delighted to say it is, although it almost goes to the other, indepth extreme!

`The Vampire Lestat' is a hefty tome which principally follows the life, creation and afterlife of the enigmatic Lestat de Lioncourt, a minor French nobleman who dreams of more than the futile existence dictated by his position as the younger son in a poor but arrogant family. But this book is also about so much more. This second Chronicle is a lot thicker than the first for the simple reason that it not only contains the `life' story and personal development of Lestat himself, but also the histories of two older vampires, the elegant Marius and the lost Armand, as well as legends of the race's origins and the first vampires, Enkil and Akasha. Like the first book, `The Vampire Lestat' continues to ponder life and death, good and evil and where vampires fall in the grand scheme of things, but there is also a lot of action and adventure which give the overall tale much more bite than the first and greatly improve its pace.

Although I enjoyed this much more than `Interview...', I believe that both books should be read rather than one or the other. `The Vampire Lestat' casts a great deal of light on the events of `Interview...', placing it in the context of Lestat's existence and explaining much of the what happened between Lestat, Louis, Claudia and Armand. It's almost as if `Interview...' is a taster for `The Vampire Lestat' rather than a novel in its own right.

In short, although its length made it hard to keep momentum towards the end and I feel a bit cheated because it's now clear that the second and third Vampire Chronicles are really one book/story rather than two, I feel that my perseverance has been rewarded and I am keen to continue reading. `The Vampire Lestat' is exciting and interesting, just as its predecessor verged on the depressing and perverse, and it really is a great read. Just try not to be put off by the size of it!

'Demelza' by Winston Graham

This is the second of the twelve Poldark novels. As such, I began it a little worried that, like far too many sequels, it wouldn't live up to expectations.

`Demelza' begins a few months after `Ross Poldark' and with the birth of Ross and Demelza's first child, Julia. It covers a turbulent time for the couple, as poverty and illness ravage Cornwall and relations with cousin Francis are once again become strained. As Demelza spreads her wings and begins to find a place in society, Ross becomes involved in a venture that threatens the Warleggan's financial stranglehold on the county, putting the young family in danger from their shadowy influences. Meanwhile, there are developments between cousin Verity and the disgraced Captain Blamey and a love triangle develops between the new doctor Dwight Enys, miner Daniel Martin and his new wife Keren.

I'm delighted to say that this book was as far from a disappointment as you can get. Once again, Mr Graham evoked a powerful sense of time and place which was completely absorbing. The plot is a rollercoaster of joys and misfortunes which culminates with a dramatic description of two ships being storm-wrecked and looted, a pivotal event which is intrinsic to the next book.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to any fan of Cornwall-set or historical fiction. Unlike much historical fiction, the world that this author creates feels all the more realistic because it doesn't shy away from tragedy nor exclude the humour of everyday life. As such, both `Ross Poldark' and `Demelza' stand out for me and, once again, I hope that the remaining ten books in the series do not disappoint!

'Angels: A History' by David Albert Jones

`Angels: A History' is an excellent, if rather brief, introduction to the subject of these celestial beings and their origins in Jewish, Christian and Islamic scripture. Although the text is quite dry at times and can read like an edited essay, it manages to cover a lot of ground in a very simple, factual way which meant that I learned quite a lot from a relatively short book. This book would not be out of place in the excellent Oxford `Short Introductions to...' range, which, if you are familiar with this series, gives an indication of its style.

My only criticism of this book is that its title is a bit of a misnomer. It is not really a history of the angels, more a summary of the original sources on the subject and what they tell us about these beings. In a way, it feels like the first few chapters of a longer book. Although more modern representations of angels, including on film and in art, are mentioned, it is always to support a point made rather than as part of a linear, chronological narrative.

Even so, this is still a fascinating insight into where our modern idea of angels came from and gives some indication as to why they have remained such an emotive concept within modern cultures. Recommended for those curious about the subject but who do not know where to start.

Related Posts

Previously from the Girl Who Loves Books I

Previously from the Girl Who Loves Books II

Previously from The Girl Who Loves Books...

Quite surprisingly, I'm taking longer than expected to finish 'How to be Woman' by Caitlin Moran, so I thought you might like to see a few of my pre-blog reviews, written before I realised I had quite so much to read!  Enjoy and I hope to have something new for you soon!

'My Wicked, Wicked Ways' by Errol Flynn

When I found out about this book, I knew I had to read it. I've loved the films of Errol Flynn ever since I was a child. His movies took me on exciting adventures in exotic lands beyond my innocent imagination and instilled in me a love of adventure stories which I have carried into adulthood. This book, the story of his life, is possibly the greatest adventure story of them all. Beginning with Flynn's youth in Tasmania, Australia, we follow him to gold mines and plantations in New Guinea, casinos and brothels of South East Asia, the highs and lows of the down-and-out life in Sydney and Queensland, his early acting career in England and finally to the glitz of Hollywood and the exoticism of Jamaica. In these pages we encounter angry native tribes, sharks and crocodiles, con tricks and diamond smuggling, high profile court cases and tempestuous relationships. But, surprisingly, we also find reflection and philosophy. According to the introduction by Jeffrey Meyers, this book was written to be scandalous, but the charm of the subject wins through. Although I approached the book determined to take it with a pinch of salt and not be seduced, 438 pages later I was more fascinated by Flynn than ever. However, I did feel that there was something missing. The story felt incomplete without photographs and an epilogue explaining what happened to Flynn and the key characters in his life. But that might just be me being greedy. Overall, this book spans fifty years of adventure, mischief and excitement and is well worth a read by any armchair explorer or devotee of Hollywood.

'Frenchman's Creek' by Daphne Du Maurier

Despite being a work of fiction, this book feels as though it tells a real-life tale of the author's personal feelings of isolation and longing. Set in the reign of Charles II, `Frenchman's Creek' tells the story of the restless and unhappy Lady Dona St Columb, who flees London after playing a practical joke on an unfortunate countess, egged on by the rake Rockingham. Feeling guilty about what she has done and unhappy at what her life has become, she seeks isolation at her husband's Cornish estate and finds joy in the simple pleasures of playing with her children and exploring the coast. On one such walk, she encounters a French pirate, Jean Aubrey, and her life takes an unexpected turn... Du Maurier wrote this book while in Langley End, Hertfordshire, away from the wild Cornish landscape which she loved, perhaps inspiring Dona's sense of longing in the story. Also, according to Sheila Hodges, Du Maurier's editor, Dona carries many of the authors own feelings about wanting to be a boy, the Cornish countryside and her passion for freedom (P. 30, the Daphne Du Maurier Companion, Ed. Helen Taylor). This was certainly the feeling I got while reading the book. Unfortunately, this view of the female experience has become a bit of a cliché in recent years and as a modern feminist, it made me a bit uncomfortable. I stuck with the book, however, and am glad that I did because the pace and adventure quickens as the story progresses, leading to a satisfying ending. Although I don't feel this is Du Maurier's best work and wouldn't recommend it to a first time reader (unless in their mid-teens!), it was enjoyable and should be accepted for what it is - a bit of romantic escapism.

'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James

This book was one of the most difficult, irritating and intriguing things I have ever read. This novella is usually described as a classic ghost story. It tells the story of a vulnerable young woman who takes the position of governess at an Essex country house called Bly. She is to look after two angelic, orphaned children, a boy, Miles, and a girl, Flora, with the help of the housekeeper, Mrs Grose. After a letter arrives announcing Miles' expulsion from school, the unfortunate governess begins to doubt that all is as it should be with the children and starts to see signs of a supernatural cause.

This story was written in 1898, but, unlike other novels of the period, its language and style have not aged well. At some points I found it almost incomprehensible and had to read and reread some pages three or four times to get any meaning from them whatsoever. I am not entirely sure whether the style reflected the time or whether the writer was trying to imply something with the overly complex and repetitive writing of the governess. What I do know is that you should never judge a book by its thickness and assume you will finish it quickly.

Underneath the leaden prose, the themes of the book were consistent and the story is interesting. It challenged the reader to decide whether the governess was genuinely threatened or whether she was mad and does make you think.

Mad or not, I found it hard to like the governess, though I recognised the stubbornness of someone in their late teens/early twenties who is determined to show that they can do things without help. I found myself wondering why she did not speak to the local priest if the threat was supernatural. And why, after the disturbing end to the book, was she still able to work as a governess? The latter certainly just did not make sense to me.

Overall, I would say this is a challenging read, partly because its language is so complex, partly because it behaves like a puzzle with multiple solutions. Either way, it will certainly haunt the reader long after the last page is finished.

'Interview with the Vampire' by Anne Rice

It's been over a week since I finished this book and I still don't feel like I have a handle on it. Normally a couple of days is all I need to digest a volume and start to make connections that I hadn't noticed straight away. This time, however, despite being trapped in 200-odd pages of firmly printed text, I'm finding this tale as enigmatic and hard to pin down as any vampire.

`Interview with the Vampire' begins with the brilliant conceit of a young man tape-recording an interview with Louis, a two-hundred year old vampire. Louis tells the story of his life and loves, starting in New Orleans with how he met and was transformed by the self-serving Lestat. Tormented by his inherent evil but driven by his hunger for human blood, Louis attacks a young girl, Claudia, in the back streets of the city. In a complex act of cruelty and desperation, Lestat also makes Claudia a vampire, establishing the characters as the strangest of families. The story explores the relationships that these three vampires have with each other and with themselves, visiting some very dark places and sometimes taking the reader to places they never sought to go.

I neither liked nor disliked this book, but I was certainly intrigued by it. Louis philosophical ponderings on what being a vampire means offered a genuinely different perspective on a myth that permeates modern culture. However, I can see why it has retained its cult status in the last 40 years. The more brutal, visceral and sexual aspects of the vampire's existence, along with the subtle hints at what could be construed as paedophilia, could be alienating for some audiences. For me, they just sat awkwardly with what I found newer and more interesting, the more thoughtful start to the book. It's probably important however that we don't forget that vampires are supposed to be human predators rather than the damaged pretty boys so often seen on screen today.

Overall, although I'm not sure I would recommend this novel to anyone, it captured my interest enough to make me want to read the sequel, `The Vampire Lestat'. Hopefully this will be less ambiguous than its predecessor.

'Dear George and Other Stories' by Helen Simpson

I `discovered' Helen Simpson a few weeks ago when one of her short stories appeared in the Guardian magazine. It so completely blew me away that I immediately started to track down her other books and stories.

`Dear George' is a collection of short stories which explore various themes including pregnancy, child rearing and family discord, mainly from the female perspective. There is a petulant teenager who is caught out by an act of kindness, a desperate and overdue pregnant woman, a mother who finds family life to be unlike she expected and a nasty surprise for a authoritarian father on Christmas day.

There is a strange magic to these stories. Simpson deftly waves her pen and creates relationships and situations which are both realistic and recognisable, but without the reams of prose required by many authors. It's refreshing and fascinating, but above all it's a joy to find someone who creates real female characters facing everyday situations and frustrations. None of your neurotic Bridget Joneses or wan Cinderellas here! I would thoroughly recommend this book to any woman reader and probably a few men too. We need more of this sort of insight on our book shelves.

Good Gothic!

What a month!  You'd think I'd been trying to read 'Ulysses' backwards, upside down and in Ancient Egyptian it's taken me so long to get through this latest book!  Hopefully there aren't many more like that on the shelves!

I've just finished 'A Night on the Moor and Other Tales of Dread' by R. Murray Gilchrist, a collection of short stories very much in the Gothic genre.  In the 24 tales, we find love innocent, lust sinful and an awful lot of broken hearts.  Everything happens against a background of beautifully described landscapes and gardens and, of course, usually involves supernatural interference with the lives of (usually arrogant) men.

'A Night on the Moor and Other
Tales of Dread' by R. Murray Gilchrist
(Wordsworth Editions,  2006)

This was very much a mixed bag, but I probably enjoyed 'The Crimson Weaver', 'The Lover's Ordeal', 'The Lost Mistress', 'The Madness of Betty Hooton', 'Bubble Magic', 'The Panicle' and 'A Witch in the Peak' the most.  'Bubble Magic' had a lovely wry little twist which made it quite fun. 'The Panicle' and 'A Witch in the Peak' focussed on lower class characters, which made a nice change from hearing about doting young couples mooning about manor houses and formal gardens.  The trouble was that, on the whole, the stories either felt clichéd or just a bit silly.  Because of the genre and when they were written, they do seem to feature an awful lot of silly men (why on Earth abandon your fiancée for 40 years?  Of course she's going to be different when you get back!) and often typecast women as such feeble minded wretches that they're almost unbearable.

Gilchrist does have two redeeming features however.  1) He writes some extremely funny and pompous names (What's not to love about Vernon Garth, Tryphena Wilbraham, Althea Swarthmoor, Lord Frambant, Pliny Witherton and Peregrine Fury?) and 2) His descriptions of the landscape, gardens and even the ladies' dresses can be captivating.

If I'd picked up this book as a young teenager, I would have loved it.  Unfortunately, at my age, I think I've kind of grown out of these moody fairy tales.  They have a certain amount of charm as literature of their time (Gilchrist lived from 1868 to 1917), but on the whole the stories felt too bogged down in cliché most of the time to have any real impact.  There are times that you feel he sleep-wrote though them the ingredients are so similar (take one young maiden with dark ringlets and one haunting garden feature, add one cocky young man...).  But if you've got the stamina and are into dark romance, you may find something to enjoy here.  But I can't make any promises!

No More Heroes...

I have just finished 'I am Legend' by Richard Matheson, a relatively short book often cited as a classic of Science Fiction and Horror and the first book to combine the two great genres.  I've not seen the Will Smith film, but may do having read the book.

'I am Legend' by
Richard Matheson
(Film Tie-In Edition,
2007, Gollancz)

'I am Legend' is the intense and claustrophobic story of Robert Neville, (quite possibly) the last man standing after a plague has swept through the human race and made vampires a nightly reality.  Trapped in his own world and left with nothing but memories and his survival instinct, the book tracks Neville's character over three years as he battles demons without and within.

Although this was a fantastically written book, capturing and developing the character of Robert Neville to great effect, I'm finding it hard to be passionate about it.  Then again, that may just be the nature of the genre.  After all, how many people want to recommend something they know may scare?  I don't really want to give people nightmares!  To be fair, though, this book isn't particularly gory, even for my relatively low horror threshold.

Speaking for myself, I found this book completely engrossing.  The first half presents a fascinating, close quarters analysis of how someone might react and behave in such extraordinary circumstances and highlights the author's incredible imagination.  In the second half, as Neville's mood moves from despair to acceptance, the pace of the novella changes and the plot starts moving towards its almost inevitable climax and conclusion.

Also - always the sign of a classic - the book doesn't feel at all dated, despite the fact that it's 57 years old.  I love it when that happens.  It's nice to know that when change comes, it doesn't automatically make everything that came before irrelevant and obsolete.  It's horrible to think that the meaning of things we care about today may be completely lost to future generations, just as the significance of cave paintings or carved deities can only be guessed at by even the most eminent of modern academics.

Hmm, I'm clearly in a very philosophical mood today!

Anyway, back to the book.  I would recommend it if you like these sorts of apocalyptic tales, but I don't think there's enough of a meal here for even the most sharp-toothed literary analyst.  Then again, I doubt it was ever meant to be high culture, so, if you can, enjoy it for what it is.  An engaging twentieth century classic.