Dracula

 Dracula by Bram Stoker, 399 pages.

I would say that nobody needs me to summarize the plot of a hundred year old novel, but I was surprised to realize when I started it that Dracula himself is pretty much the only part of this book to have bled into the public imagination, and almost all of the plot was a surprise to me. 

I should also probably address before my review that I read this book in a very weird way. Although I did read the whole text, I did so by having it emailed to me chronologically on the dates that correspond to the dates on the letters and journal entries in the novel (which takes about six months).

I really enjoyed this novel! I thought it was genuinely spooky, and it did some really interesting things thematically. I really liked the characters, and definitely got invested in some of the relationships. I also now feel informed enough to properly appreciate how weird many adaptation choices are (Van Helsing was EXTREMELY different from what I was expecting).

Note: If you are also interested in reading this classic novel in easily digestible chunks (and in a way that several times really manages no hammer home the dread of waiting) I highly recommend Dracula Daily, which was the service I used. It just ended for this go round, but it will start up again next May, and you can always subscribe to their emails now.