Dracula by Bram Stoker – one of my notes on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/dracula-by-bram-stoker.html where you find hundreds of other reviews - 7 out of 10

 

Dracula by Bram Stoker – one of my notes on this is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/dracula-by-bram-stoker.html where you find hundreds of other reviews

 

7 out of 10

 

 

It is difficult to assess why this fundamental book does not appeal to me, maybe because I have heard about it so much, indeed, had to talk about it ad nauseam, or just because I am not into vampires, however much I had to explain myths, traditions in the job I had, running tours, many of them concerning…Dracula

 

Ergo, this note does not really concern the literature, impact on this reader, what I had to say is above already, the story, the character have had a tremendous influence on my life, because I have made money in the hospitality business, then invested it in the company where I am a minority partner, and a lot was centered on the count

After the spoiler alert, now that readers have abandoned this space – as if they would not otherwise, I mean I could write about Dracula per se, and it would still have the same effect – I can go on about the surprise I have had to find the book on the list of the greatest books of all time, a new site, with interesting data

 

I have read about the greatest books of all time as a new approach in The Economist, which was praising this new idea, they use a different algorithm, and they loom at the relevant lists, give points, use some new rules and then you can access the site and see what you have read, how you feel about it, what you want to read next

The Economist has in an article the estimated time it takes to read one of these masterpieces, but it seemed wrong to me, they have The Mahabharata down with a couple of hours or so, when in fact, it is more like a day or so, it is a long narrative, or else I may have taken the plunge and see if I manage it, as it is, I am afraid

 

Indeed, the books to try are on some lists, but the priority is for promising magnum opera, which has the advantage of not taking days out for making sense – the aforementioned article mentions that one book took a reading club many years to finish, I think it was James Joyce, and my memory says it was not Ulysses

The latter is on many compilations the crème de la crème, nec plus ultra, or else number one, alas, it is almost certain (99% or more) that I will miss that chef d’oeuvre, I have tried nevertheless, read through some pages, but then realized that it is beyond me, and then, on the other hand, it is not as if I have to finish it for some reason

Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/08/one-fat-englishman-by-kingsley-amis.html had issues with reading Marcel Proust, and then this is one of my Holy Trinity, Kingsley Amis had on that list Saul Below, I think Samuel Beckett, and then, towards the end of his life, he would only thy thrillers

 

As it is, Dracula is quite long, way more than I would assign to it, but again, I had to spend so much of my professional life talking about that weirdo – since I have mentioned it, Dracula was a sort of Trump, or vice versa…hey, I just used that awful, God damn name for the first time in so long, given that I now prefer Orange Jesus

The difference is that Dracula is just some fiction, somehow negligible, harmless, whereas this real monster has more chances to become the next leader of the free world than his opponent, and he will do real damage if he gets there, let us try and not think of the gloomy scenario wherein he sucks the blood of multitudes

 

One of the masterpieces that one must read is The How of Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-how-of-happiness-by-sonja.html by Sonja Lyubomirsky and we get twelve wonderful rules from there, which have been listed after intense, serious research in positive psychology

‘Happiness Activity No 2: Cultivating Optimism - you can keep a journal where you write about the best possible scenario for you coming into being’ studies show that positive, optimistic people live longer, have more successful professional and private lives, they get sick less often, and if they get sick, they recover sooner

 

I just realized that in some way, we should actually avoid Dracula, going away with this silly conclusion, it must be due to this omnipresence of the infamous count in my professional life that I got depressed at some point, even contemplated terminal solutions…no, actually that was due to…Miss Romania, I was her lover for a while

Well, in a manner of speaking, we have been together for maybe eight months, but if love had anything to do with it in her mind, or heart, it is hard to say, I was crazy enough to think that I have a shot, and I could be up to that level, or taking it from another side, that she would be so fantastic as to rise up to my standards

 

Whatever the case, when she said ‘sorry, but I went to Las Vegas for the Miss Universe pageant, took photos with Jack Nicholson, arrived at the top world, and you are not part of my future’, or words to that effect, I felt like ending it all, in fact, my sister took me to see a psychiatrist, it was so bad, and also largely deserved I guess

That story is for another time, although now or whenever, the same audience (0) will be impatiently waiting to hear what happened next…the gruesome fact is that there was even this story, from a reliable source, who says it is from somebody else he trusts, that this love of mine attended an…orgy, while there, in the gambling capital of the world, and I actually disbelieve this inuendo, if not for anything else, because they used to have chaperones!

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”