Happy Halloween! I cannot believe it is already Autumn again. Time to crunch through a pile of red and gold leaves, sip on hot apple cider, carve pumpkins, or navigate a corn field maze…
All wonderful fall activities, but my favorite thing to do in these cooling months is curling up with a fuzzy blanket, a cup of hot chocolate, and a scary book!
I thought long and hard about what to review for October. What would suit this spooky season? I thought of Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson, and (of course) Stephen King. But one book kept coming to mind. Even before I started my Stephen King obsession (or maybe WHY I started), there was a book I read in Advanced English back in eighth grade – Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published in 1897 and was modestly successful at the time. While well-received by critics and praised for its horror and terror aspects, many thought the book was too frightening. According to History.com, when Stoker died in 1912, the novel wasn’t even mentioned in any of his obituaries. The true success of Stoker’s novel is its staying power. One hundred and twenty-eight years later, Dracula is considered one of the most influential horror novels of all time and has spawned cultural and social phenomena. This novel has not been out of print since its first publication in 1897.
We all know the basic story – English solicitor Jonathan Harker journeys to the Carpathian Mountains to help Count Dracula with real estate paperwork. Harker is immediately warned by the Count to stay in his room and not wander the castle at night. So, what does Harker do? He wanders the castle at night!
The story features multiple points of view but follows Harker’s journey closely. Told primarily through ‘found’ items (like journals, diaries, telegraphs, and articles), we learn that Harker is kept captive at the Count’s castle for several weeks. When the Count abandons him to come to London, Harker escapes and follows his captor back.
The rest of the story is Harker and others, including the infamous Professor Van Helsing, hunting Dracula. We follow along as they try to save the beautiful young woman named Lucy. Harker tries to protect his fiancée, Mina. We join their desperate chase as Dracula flees back to his homeland.
This is an extremely simplistic outline of the plot. It would take pages of academic review to fully illustrate the overall feel, meaning, and impact of this book. This is meant to be a short review, so I will not delve into the social commentary of what Dracula represents. While some argue it is simply a tale of horror meant to grab the attention of Victorian era readers, others insist it is a treatise on good-versus-evil, female empowerment, science versus faith, religion, colonization, technology, and modernity. It is not an easy read. The flowery language and the diary-travelogue-telegraph format take concentration. It is worth it, though!
Bram Stoker did not invent the vampire novel. Vampires had been celebrated in folklore for centuries before he took pen to paper. He did create a story that resonates with us still today. Whether we think of Bela Lugosi and his Hungarian accent, Gary Oldman’s evil laugh, Frank Langella’s glam portrayal, or Leslie Nielsen’s comedic parody, we all know Count Dracula and his blood sucking companions. I highly recommend reading Stoker’s novel, especially during the haunting season!
Quickly, I couldn’t resist giving you some Trick or Treat goodies!
Fun Halloween fact #1 – Did you know that Starbucks sells about 20 million pumpkin spice lattes each year? And that, until around 2015, the drinks didn’t even contain pumpkin? The powder blend we refer to as ‘pumpkin spice’ is a mix of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger, and refers to the blend of spices used in pumpkin pies. Now the company also uses pumpkin puree for a more authentic flavor.
Fun Halloween fact #2 – The United States produces over 1 billion pounds of pumpkins each year. That is a lot of jack-o-lanterns! Fun fact #2, part B – Before pumpkins, people carved turnips! I think that with their pale, waxy color, a row of carved turnips would be way more unsettling than a row of pumpkins!
Fun Halloween fact #3 – Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups consistently rank as the most popular Halloween candy in the United States. The top three are usually rounded out by Snickers and M&M’s. Here in Alabama, Skittles usually tops any list of our favorite Halloween candy!
Fun Halloween fact #4 – While over the years, costumes of witches, princesses, and superheroes remain favorites, pop culture plays a huge role in the season’s most-sold costumes. For 2025, the top costumes are predicted to be K-Pop Demon Hunters characters, Elphaba and Glinda from Wicked, Taylor Swift in any of her eras, and Wednesday Adams.
Be safe this creepy candy season! Enjoy your treat-or-treat loot, sip a warm beverage (preferably next to a crackling fireplace), and immerse yourself in a terrifying tale of the season. Happy haunting!
From Amazon – During a business visit to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, a young English solicitor finds himself at the center of a series of horrifying incidents. Jonathan Harker is attacked by three phantom women, observes the Count’s transformation from human to bat form, and discovers puncture wounds on his own neck that seem to have been made by teeth. Harker returns home upon his escape from Dracula’s grim fortress, but a friend’s strange malady — involving sleepwalking, inexplicable blood loss, and mysterious throat wounds — initiates a frantic vampire hunt. The popularity of Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror romance is as deathless as any vampire. Its supernatural appeal has spawned a host of film and stage adaptations, and more than a century after its initial publication, it continues to hold readers spellbound.
