As I approached the end of Dracula by Bram Stoker, I found myself wanting to enter a time machine and go back to 1969, to South Carolina. More specifically, the TV room at our house on Shaw AFB, at 3:30 pm (or was it 4?), everyday after school to watch Dark Shadows. We sat clenched in dread and excitement as we watched Barnabas Collins and Quentin Collins and Angelique, and some lady with blonde hair as they barely escaped alive or undead from whatever new calamity was upon them. Seriously, right this second I want to watch an old episode, though it's best I not, for fear of disappointment by what I thought at the time, was so thrilling. I am a little surprised that Angie let us watch it at all. But I digress...

I am going to call my first classic read (listen) for 2024 a success. It's a long listen - 19 hours, but now that I have listened to it, I am sure that it would have been hard for me to get through it if I had been reading. It's told from the journals, diaries, etc of the main characters - Jonathan Harker and his wife Mina, Professor Abraham VanHelsing (vampire expert who happens to be from Amsterdam and he is voiced by the narrator with the speech patterns of someone who does not speak English as a first language, and with a marvelous accent), there is also Lucy Westenra (Mina's friend) and Dr. John Seward, Quincy Morris, and Arthur Holmwood (the three fellows who all love Lucy though her heart belongs to only one of them). Of course the Count (Dracula) is in there but only as he is told of by the others.
I loved (in my mind) going back to the original story and thinking about how all the tales that have come after it followed the general superstitions and "teachings" about how to keep a vampire away, what their powers are, and how to kill one. Professor VanHelsing is the one who does all the research and figures out how they should proceed in trying to get rid of Dracula.
A teeny bit of investigating into whether or not Bram Stoker's Dracula (published in 1897) was the original - led me to the 1871 novel Carmella by Sheridan Le Fanu. It could be that at some point I will read that... but not right now. I am dipping into something a bit lighter first.
Overall, I am quite glad to have read Dracula. The story will stay with me for a long time... especially since it's linked to my already existing memories of the Dark Shadows soap opera. Which, by the way, I did confirm with my siblings that we all did watch though Dottie and Ray gave it up for lent because it scared them so much. Mary Ann also recalls having to lay down and take a nap with mom when it was over and watching her mouth/teeth carefully because she had slightly pointed canine teeth and Mary Ann worried she might be a vampire! You can't make this stuff up. We all had a good laugh tonight about that one. Thank goodness for siblings and shared memories.