DRACULA (Bram Stoker) - November 4/12

Oh, man. This is the opposite of that last book. It's just so boring and so pointless that I wound up skimming the last 50 pages or so. I'm not sure why Stoker felt that this seriously simple story needed such an epic length, but the book features so much padding that it quickly becomes an oppressive read. Page after page is devoted to the characters' planning and scheming, and there just reaches a point at which the reader wishes Stoker would just get on with it already. This is probably the most interminable novel I've read in ages, which is a shame, since there are a handful of good scenes here (including a compelling moment wherein Van Helsing and his fellow vampire hunters corner Dracula, who absconds by jumping out of a window). no stars out of ****