Article Contributed on: 12/14/2007 5:34:59 PM
If you are looking for highly intellectual discussion on the great masterpieces of literature then stop reading this now! There was a time in my life when I could passionately discuss
Hemingway,
Steinbeck and
Shakespeare with the best of them. Five years as a stay-at-home mom, watching
Dora the Explorerand readingSheep in a Jeep has pretty much extinguished that intellectual fire.
I do still consider myself to be an avid reader and a true bookworm and hope to offer some suggestions and thoughtful commentary to other not-so-intellectual readers out there.
I am a binge-reader of historical fiction. I get sucked into an era for a few months and find myself on
Amazon.com at midnight ordering boxes of books on a specific topic or by an author that has sucked me in. I feast on that genre for a few weeks or months until my interest fades.
One of my latest binges involves vampire fiction. This interest came as a huge surprise to me! I can't stand horror movies and don't really have much of a dark side. I prefer wearing pink to black clothes and never really got into the Bram Stoker thing.
I fell into this topic after picking up the book
The Historian, by
Elizabeth Kostova.
I happened upon this book while shopping in the literature section of my neighborhood Super Target. The title grabbed me since I was a history major at CU, former history teacher and also a self-proclaimed history geek.
The story details the search for the ruthless and bloody Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula, who is still alive and well after 600 or so years of sucking the blood of curious academics from the U.S. and Europe.
Much of the story takes place in Eastern Europe. Dust off your passports after reading this one! The descriptions of exotic places so rich in history will inspire you to explore places like Istanbul, Budapest and Bucharest!
I have a better chance of exploring Epcot Center so feel free to share stories and let me live vicariously!
Don't forget your garlic because lurking behind every Ottoman temple is a vampire harboring a 500 year old grudge!
The Historian is also a captivating love story detailing multiple relationships developing during the dark and violent months spent searching the world for Vlad and his fearsome friends. This mesmerizing thriller will appeal to those who love a good romance with a twisted dark side. I couldn't put this one down and proceeded to buy Amazon out of the genre.
The Diaries of the Family Dracul series by Jeanne Kalogridisshared the same compelling bloodthirsty (disgusting) themes but lacked the beauty and intensity of
The Historian. My attention has since shifted away from the macabre back to the daily business of carpools, daisy scouts and Henry VIII!
Off to read!