100 Books

My faithful (and very patient) readers may remember than in 2010, I started reading through the books on the "Beat the BBC top 100 book list" and did not finish. Evidently, I need to work on my follow through.

A few weeks ago, I traveled by car to the west side of the state and decided to check out a couple of books on tape from the list from the library to knock a couple off the list!

Dracula by Bram Stoker was much better as a "heard" vs. "read" book. I enjoyed it - well as much as you can enjoy a book where people die. I was surprised to discover that not everyone who had their blood sucked by Count Dracula dies. It turns out that sucking their blood but not killing them is his way of turning the into a vampire. One (female) character in particular becomes a vampire & dies but is not dead. She spends the day in her grave but escapes at night to find a small child to suck their blood. "Life is in the blood" is a quote that comes up periodically. In the end a "cure" is found and she rests for eternity. I recommend this book as an interesting read and can see why it is considered a classic in literature.

I also listened to part of On the Road by Jack Kerouac. There was not enough time on the trip to listen to the entire book and I wasn't really interested in finishing. The story is about a young man's journey - well, a couple of them - with friends where they make poor life choices and have adventures. I had trouble understanding the author's point - unless the point is to have fun while your young by making poor decisions.  I don't recommend this book.