Published on March 19th, 2009 | by lecraic
7Dracula – One City, One Book
April is One City, One Book month in Dublin. This is the fourth year of the project which is designed to encourage everyone to read the same book during the month of April.
I’ve watched many vampire film over the years, but have never read the most famous vampire book of all so I will definitely be giving this a go. I tried Gulliver’s Travels for last years One City, One Book – but found it a chore to read and I never completed it. I don’t believe in wasting time on something if I’m not enjoying it.
A few of the quotes from the Penguin Classic edition make it sound like a promising read.
Few novels have gripped the reader so irresistibly…Dracula remains one of the most sexually charged literary works ever written’ Observer
‘Nobody has ever filmed it like Stoker wrote it’ Christopher Lee
‘One of the most powerful horror tales ever written’ Mail on Sunday
‘The classic gore-sucker’ Sunday Times
The Sunday Tribune also have a short story competition running at the moment in association with Dublin City Council. Incorporate the following line from the book in a story of no more than 800 words:
“His eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat.”
Email the entry to [email protected] before Friday 27th March and your masterpiece might be published.
Finally, this week’s New Yorker has a brilliant piece entitled “In the blood – Why do vampires still thrill?” – an absolute must read if you are going to tackle the book.
I love Dracula. I will try get to it in April again.
I’m surprised you didn’t enjoy Gulliver. It’s so wonderfully bizarre.
Unfortunately I have to agree with AJ – I never finished Gulliver either.
Will definitely give this a go…
I dunno what it was – maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for it – the version I got had a tiny typeface as well which made it hard to read. I’ll be loading up Dracula onto my trusty Sony reader shortly.
I tried Gulliver’s Travels last year for the One City One Book but failed also, it’s still in my To Read pile. I’m definitely looking forward to reading Dracula though.
Also if anyone is interested in that sort of thing there is a ‘Dracula’ walk organised by Dublin City Council on 5th April in the evening followed by a free screening of Dracula in Meeting House Square – might be a good Culch.ie night out ?
http://www.dublincity.ie/Community/LetsWalkandTalk/Pages/WalkandTalk.aspx#draculas
I love Dracula, it’s one of my favourite books. I remember being surprised at how good it was when I read it for the first time, I think partly because I’d recently read Frankenstein and was SO disappointed!