An Early Look at 2016's Book List

I haven't made it a habit of listing, or commenting on the books I've finished reading until I've put them on to the final book list published, on either New Year's eve, or New Year's day. Today, however, I'm going to list the books I've finished reading during these first ten days of 2016.

There are four on that list:

Dracula    Bram Stoker
The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave
 William Brown
The Jewel of Seven Stars     Bram Stoker
Write Away      Elizabeth George

Two of the books (Dracula and Write Away) were begun in December, but only finished after the 1st. Those two are books that I've read before.

George's book deals with the craft of writing a novel. I'm using it for a text book, of sorts.

I have conflicting memories about my reading of Dracula. Sometime during the 1970's, one of my cousins gave a very nice, illustrated and annotated copy of the novel. I know I began reading his copy. Over the years, I've told myself that I finished reading it at the time. I remember being annoyed by Bram's epistolary format and in all likelihood, I actually book the book down, not finishing it then. There were several scenes in the novel which I was unfamiliar with. I'm sure it's not a matter of having forgotten what I read, but a case of never having read those sections to begin with.

The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave is exactly what it says it is - a narrative of a fugitive slave. The book was interesting, but it does not compare to Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave, or any of the books written by Frederick Douglass.

I've begun reading another book by Bram Stoker (Dracula's Guest) in spite of the fact that I was less than pleased with The Jewel of Seven Stars .

I can't say in what direction my reading will take after this latest attempt with Stoker. I can only say that it will be an e-book.