Weekend reading roundup

[nanila]

What did you read this weekend? If you planned on anything specifically, did you read it? (Reminder link to intended weekend reading post)

Comments

[nanila]

I read nearly all of Bram Stoker's The Lady of the Shroud. And a couple of Nature articles on Pluto.

[fred_mouse]

Do you recommend the Stoker book? I've only read Dracula, never gone looking at other Stoker.

[nanila]

Did you like Dracula? One of the things I love about Dracula is the flowery language used to idealise of Mina as Perfect [Victorian] Woman (it's just soooo brilliantly over-the-top) by Van Helsing. The Lady of the Shroud is like that except all of the characters are idealised to the point of caricature. The ungentlemanly nobleman, the gentlemanly pauper, the damsel in distress (who is brave and strong and virtuous but still must be rescued, naturally). And you'll get a strong sense of how much of a royalist and fervent believer in the righteousness and superiority of the British empire Stoker must have been. I enjoy reading it because it amuses me but I can see why its popularity has not endured the way Dracula's has.

[fred_mouse]

I do like Dracula, in a 'I read it 15+ years ago, and remember enjoying the experience enough that I wouldn't get rid of my copy'.

Given that I'm quite fond of caricature, as long as it doesn't descend into farce, it sounds like something I would enjoy.