Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula by Bram Stoker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 5 days

Pages - 382

Publisher - Signet Classics

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Dracula is perhaps almost as interesting regarded historically as the product of a specific time as it is engaging to continuing generations of readers in a 'timeless' fashion. In her introduction Byron first discusses the famous novel as an expression not of universal fears and desires but of specifically late nineteenth-century concerns. At the same time she is entirely attuned to the ways in which, however much Dracula is a Victorian text, Dracula is a very twentieth-century character, a representative of modernity and of the future.


My review

Guys this has been on my shelves for donkeys years! Cannot believe I hadn't read it before now :O We all know the story, we have saw the movies. Jonathan Harker is headed to meet and stay with Dracula as part of his job and Dracula is the client. This is a huge task for Jonathan and he is committed to doing a great job. As we all know who and what Dracula is but poor Jonathan does not and we follow his journey via his diary entries. We also hear from Mina, his fiance's through her diary entries, in fact all the entries/stories/sides of the tale are in diary format.

Atmospheric, spooky and although a bit of a slower pace than many of the books we devour nowadays it keeps your attention and the suspense throughout. I have just watched two of the movies (I had seen before) and it is interesting to see the changes and takes from the book, mostly it stays true to the important parts.

I am no a fan of the classics at all, I find them a struggle to get through yet I did enjoy this one, took me a wee bit longer than a normal book would, espesh one so thin. A different time and style of writing but I think if you are a fan of Dracula and don't mind diary entries style of writing you will also enjoy the book.

Perfect for this time of year, revisiting an old fave and of course Van Helsing is in it (I won't eve be able to visualize anyone but Price when I read him in books, indeed why would you want to). 4/5 for me this time, if you struggle with the classics but want to read one, look no further!

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The Diary of a Book Seller by Shaun Bythell

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 310

Publisher - Profile Books

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.


My Review

Who hasn't, of the book geek world, wanted to own their own bookshop? Bythell takes us on his own journey of what is it like working in a shop, how he came to be a bookshop owner. The chapters are relatively short which I love, especially now when my reading mojo is a bit hit and miss.

Each chapter he tells us how many books he has acquired and how much he has made, through sales that day. We go through how we gets books, the problems he encounters as a book seller, online sales, Amazon dealings, it is pretty interesting and stuff I never thought about.

The thing I found really interesting was the communications and behaviours of customers. You always assume book people, book lovers, would be better behaved. So many really are not, it is shocking just how many are rude and entitled! When the book was written they had a book club on the go which seems to be a thing of the past and an active facebook page, mostly kept up to dat eby his eccentric employee who is herself a bit of a character!

Interesting, charming, funny & informative in really opening my eyes to what a bookseller has to endure. He behaved and tolerates a lot of it much better than I could/would to be honest. When Covid is over I absolutely will be taking a trip to his store, 3.5/5 for me this time.

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Day by Day Armageddon Ghost Run by J L Bourne

Day by Day Armageddon: Ghost Run by J.L. Bourne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 256

Publisher - Gallery Books

Source - Amazon buy

Blurb from Goodreads

The acclaimed and eagerly anticipated fourth thriller in the zombie apocalypse series from the author of Day by Day Armageddon and Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile, for fans of the smash hit show The Walking Dead.

In a desperate bid to survive as hordes of bloodthirsty undead now dominate the ravaged U.S. population, a Navy commander discovers an incredible secret about the pandemic in this fourth novel in the acclaimed Day by Day Armageddon series.

Task Force Phoenix may be humanity’s final hope, and the narrator's agonizing decisions could mean living one more day—or surrendering to the eternal hell that exists between life and death.

Ghost Run is a suspenseful, gripping, and intelligent thriller that will terrify die-hard horror fans and reinforce J.L. Bourne’s reputation as “the new king of hardcore zombie action” (Brad Thor, author of Act of War).


My Review

This is book four in the series and I would recommend reading the others before this one as the main character in this book isn't the main in the previous ones. There is also a lot of history to be read and small kickbacks to the previous book events so I think you would be better off reading them. The book does however start off with a wee mini recap of the previous books so you aren't starting off blind.

The main character, Kil, is Navy trained and one of the top guys. He knows combat, weapons, training and it is strong throughout the book. Whilst this will be a huge kick for some readers I didn't love it. A lot of the weapons, use of items, things he came across as Joe Public I had to re read some things, google, check as I didn't know what they were. I think it makes a bit of a change to have a main character who is so knowledgeable and weapon specialist. For me I do like a main character though who would struggle with stuff like this. I loved the wee machine that was like a dog, I just could not accurately envision it but I did love it. Something that is often missing in these books are animals or we get them and bad things happen.

There is a ton of action, death scenes, attacks and of course zombies galore. We have a good bit of travel in the book too and as with the previous books it is told in diary like entries cataloguing his experiences. 3.5/5 for me, I do enjoy this series and I look forward to the next book.

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