sweet dreams

I've been keeping a journal of my dreams. It makes for an amusing read, although it isn't at all coherent. I'm sure it reveals plenty of strange things about my soul, but probably things that I already know. Perhaps I might post a line or two here. Lately, I can't find any motivation to write, but writing about dreams is simple, and sometimes the entries turn out quite beautiful.

I've returned at last after an awfully long hiatus! I had been terribly busy with school (final exams), and I've just come back from a little trip to New York City. I'll post a few pictures. I know that this blog was meant to be mostly about books, but I simply don't have time to read with regularity and so sadly my book postings will be sparse. However, I do intend to continue posting reviews of the books I read. I'm currently reading several books, and a new review should be up soon. Gulliver's Travels, The Screwtape Letters, and Mansfield Park are all resting on my nightstand. There are only a few chapters left for me in Gulliver's Travels and The Screwtape Letters, so expect one of those. It's sort of odd that I'm finishing Gulliver's Travel's just as the movie is about to be released. It was not at all planned, in fact I had no knowledge that a film was being made until very recently. Although I will probably go see the film eventually I'm a bit skeptical about it. Gulliver's Travels is not really a comedic novel... in fact as fanciful as the subject matter is, it's rather dry... However, it seems like movie makers have run out of inspiration and are looking to literature for new material. Oh well, I'm not too bothered by it because honestly I haven't enjoyed Gulliver's Travels very much. By the way, there's going to be a new Jane Eyre film released this coming March! Mia Wasikowska will be playing Jane and Michael Fassbender will be playing Mr. Rochester. From what I've seen in the trailer the film looks quite promising. I read somewhere that the film will focus on the gothic nature of the novel, which is really exciting for me! I think a good Jane Eyre film is needed. There have been many movies made already, and while some have been true to the story, none have had the ability to appeal to anyone outside of fans of the novel. Jane Eyre is a really beautiful story and I think it deserves recognition in the film world. The Pride and Prejudice made with Keira Knightly is an excellent example of a successfully executed period/classic literature film. I know that most fans of the book still prefer the Colin Firth film, but I know many people who have never read classic literature, and probably never will who thoroughly enjoyed 2005's Pride and Prejudice. This is what I'm hoping will happen with the new Jane Eyre film. Don't misunderstand me, I love it when a film is true to the novel, but I also hate how low-budget and poor quality many of such films often are. Well I suppose that will be all for now :)

Dracula

"There, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white... something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell." -Bram Stoker, Dracula

Book: Dracula

Author: Bram Stoker

Year Published: 1897

Analysis

Dracula is a strangely beautiful, and endearing work of horror. It is composed of the narratives of five characters, the diaries and letters of Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker, Dr. John Seward, Dr. Abraham Vanhelsing, and Lucy Westerna. The book begins with the diary of Jonathan Harker, a London solicitor who travels to the home of Count Dracula to complete a business transaction. Count Dracula's house, an ancient mansion hidden deep within the Carpathian mountains, quickly becomes a prison for poor Jonathan. Stoker's description of the Count, and his brides is hauntingly realistic. Through pop culture, vampires have sort of lost their ability to evoke fear, and become cliched, even ridiculous. However, Dracula is where the icon originated. Dracula is a true horror story, and it is quite capable of inciting fear, and wonder, even in a generation that has become all but jaded with "the vampire". Dracula in many ways seems to be Bram Stoker's idea of the devil incarnate, an image that the modern reader will find in sharp contrast to Stephanie Meyer's sparkly romantic hero, Edward Cullen. However, the novel is not solely a horror story. It is a portrait of 6 fine people that are drawn together by a fearful series of events. The characters are the force that motivates the story and makes it so immensely readable. Stoker develops his characters to a level that many writers neglect, and this is what makes Dracula so enjoyable for a horror story. The story begins with Jonathan Harker, and works its way through the stories of Lucy, Mina and Dr. Seward and eventually these individuals, along with Dr. Van Helsing, Lord Godalming, and Quincey Morris, are pulled together by a common thread. In the process Stoker knits a warm, wonderful group of friends that mitigate the darkness of the novel. The only flaw I found was that the language could be a bit repetitive in some places, however, the endearing characters more than made up for this minor defect. While Dracula is filled with plenty of eerie moments that have an uncanny disturbing your peace, it is also brimming with admirable, noble characters that will linger in your heart longer than the fear.

*Spoiler Alert*

Thoughts about the ending:

I was thoroughly relieved that Dracula ended happily. Of course, there were a few deaths, but that couldn't have been avoided. I was just pleased that there wasn't a bleak, haunting ending. Everyone finds peace at the novel's conclusion, including the reader.

Favorite Passage

"Today is a gray day, and the sun as I write is hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey except the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it, gray earth rock, gray clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the gray sea, into which the sandpoints stretch like gray figures. The sea is tumbling in over the shallows and the sandy flats with a roar, muffled in the sea-mists drifting inland. The horizon is lost in a gray mist. Al vastness, the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and there is a 'brool' over the sea that sounds like some passage of doom." Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 6: Mina Murray's Journal

Soon...

Forgive me dear readers for forgetting all about A Tale of Two Cities! My thoughts have been occupied elsewhere. I'm afraid I will have to lay aside A Tale of Two Cities for now, but perhaps I will return to it in the future. Currently I am reading Dracula by Bram Stoker, and I have to admit that I'm a little obsessed. I find myself plundering the pages in every spare corner of the day. I'll be finished soon, perhaps tomorrow or the next day, and then I shall do my best to post a review of Dracula. As a side note, Dracula is nothing compared to those poorly composed Twilight books! I have attempted to read them, and while the movies are a bit of a guilty pleasure, the books I simply cannot tolerate. However, it is not my place to censure Stephanie Meyer's work, and I'll end at that.

Fictional Crushes

10 Fictional Men I would marry

1. Stephen Colley

2. Mr. Rochester

3. Captain Wentworth

4. Pip

5. Maxim De Winter

6. Frodo Baggins

7. Jim Burden

8. Aragorn

9. Joe Gargery

10. Edward Ferrars

Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men

I know this song is kind of old, but I just discovered it a few days ago. I'm completely obsessed!

Regina Spektor + the Strokes is a beautiful collaboration

"Our aspirations are wrapped up in books"

Books I want to read soon...

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Middlemarch by George Eliot/Marian Evans

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Perhaps it's a bit ambitious, but I'll get around to all of them eventually. I happen to own Gulliver's Travels, The Count of Monte Cristo and Mansfield Park so I ought to start with one of those. As you can see I'm already dreaming of what to read next. A Tale of Two Cities is monstrously difficult reading at some points. Honestly, reading it makes feel stupid. However, there is no mistaking of Dickens' boldness in the novel. The story is epic. I just wish the story had another Pip or Joe for me to have a crush on. Perhaps Mr. Darnay, he looks promising. haha.