The Historian

While I may have much more free time now that I have moved, I have significantly less internet. Actually I have no internet at my apartment, as I'm waiting until I can get internet and cable connected at the same time, and currently don't have a fully-functioning TV. All this to say that I'm getting a lot more reading done, but also a whole lot less blogging.

Case in point: I finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova back in early August, but haven't had the chance to write about it until now. It was a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but as I've read three books since then, I can't remember it well enough to give it a complete and well-thought-out blog post. And that really is a travesty, as I literally could not put it down and attempted to read while cooking dinner, which happens to be really hard to do when the book is a hefty 689 pages and you're trying to hold it in one hand and stir pasta with the other.

The book revolved around the tracking of the vampire Dracula, mixing fact with fiction and lore to create a hauntingly believable tale that crossed centuries and borders. There were times that I would have to stop myself from reading it at night because while it was absolutely compelling it was often really creepy. It was also very reminiscent of classic novels, featuring multiple family generations and often told through letters. Before I even finished it I recommended it to my sister, explaining it as a combination between Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and Tracy Chevalier's The Girl with the Pearl Earring. It's full of history, legend, academia, mystery, and a dash of romance.

Multiple friends of mine whose literary taste I trust had recommended this book to me, so despite being hesitant about reading a bestseller about vampires (been there, learned that lesson), I added it to this year's list anyway, and am glad that I did. This was a great novel.