DRACULA - Bram Stoker

After watching Dracula movies for 50 years I finally got to read the book.

The young lawyer Jonathan Harker goes to Dracula's castle to assist with expediting the Counts move to England.  It is here that strange behaviour is noted and from here the story unfolds.

The story is told by way of diaries,letters and newspaper articles.  The diaries and letters are written by Harker, his wife and others, notably Dr Seward and Van Helsing who are all main players in the story.

What surprised me is that its not Van Helsing who is the star of the story but rather Mina Harker.
She is a true hero and I am surprised that she does not feature more when female heroines are mentioned as is often the case these days.

This is a true horror story and I should have read it years ago.

FALCONER - John Cheever

Ezekiel Farragut, college professor, junkie and a killer is sent to Falconer Correctional Facility to serve his sentence.

Cheever tells us of the  "vice, misery and degradation of prison" and he writes beautifully.

At the beginning of the book while being transported to prison a fellow prisoner, deformed by boils and acne, laments that he has never had sex that wasn't paid for; it is heart breaking to read and Cheever is able to do that to the reader over and over through the book.

The ending of the book has been done, most notably by Dumas in 1844 but the writing is brilliant so this is a small quibble.

SCOOP - Evelyn Waugh

This is a many times read book and will be read many times more.

A country columnist, William Boot of the Beast, is mistakenly sent to the African nation of Ishmaelia and becomes the super star of British Journalism.

This is very very funny and is satire at its best while still being a damning indictment on newspaper journalism.

One can only guess how Waugh would view the state of the worlds media today.  At least in his time journalists left the office and went on assignment rather than re-writing press releases in the office.

THE FINAL SOLUTION - Michael Chabon

It is 1944 and an 89 year old man living in retirement the English country side becomes involved in trying to recover a stolen  African grey parrot belonging to a nine year old boy.  The boy and the bird have escaped previously from Nazi Germany.  There was a murder committed when the bird was stolen.

This bird constantly repeats a code which has several agencies clamoring to get their hands on it.

The retired consulting detective rises to the challenge and becomes involved in the case and despite his advanced years his mental abilities have not diminished too badly.

This is novella in length, very clever with a very sad ending but worth reading.

THE GOOD SOLDIER - Ford Madox Ford

No book for years has unsettled me as much as this has.

The story is narrated by John Dowall telling the story of two couples and their relationship over a period of nine years.

As the story unfolds you realize what an 'unreliable" narrator Dowall is and nothing as described can be trusted.

Many reviews states that Dowall is naive and those about him are the manipulative ones but my conclusion is Dowall is one the the truly evil characters I have ever read, outstandingly evil.

There are no laughs here but an outstanding novel and very unsettling.

BANDITS -Elmore Leonard

An ex-con, an ex-nun and an ex-cop band together to dis-attach a Contra thug of several million dollars that he has raised to take back to Nicaragua.

The CIA and the IRA also poke their noses in.

There's no such thing as a bad Elmore Leonard only varying degrees of fun.

DEEP SOUTH - Paul Theroux

Sub title -Four Seasons on Back Roads.

This is a travel / social commentary on areas of the southern United States.  Theroux makes four separate trips into the south travelling the back roads meeting the poor, the strugglers, living in areas where the work has gone to Mexico or China and there are very few options for those living in these localities.

He meets people and then re-visits some months later, we hear if things have changed; whether money for projects has come through; usually it hasn't and more people are being helped with the same resources.

This could be really depressing but its not.  Paul Theroux has the ability to stay realistic and this stops his reportage becoming mawkish.  The thread on the state of and the ownership of  the many motels he uses is worth the price of admission alone.

Mr Theroux, like the rest of us is not getting any younger and while this isn't as good as " Dark Star Safari" its quality writing and more of the same is needed.