On The Bedside Table: The Swan Thieves and Dracula in Love

I wanted to start sharing some posts about good reads I tackle each month. Everyone has their own personal tastes in literature, so please take my reviews with a grain of salt. Hopefully it can give you some direction if you are looking to pick up a new book or two at the library. This past month I enjoyed reading the following...

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

This book follows the mystery of why a modern day artist has slashed a particular canvas at the National Gallery. The book is primarily told from the viewpoint of the psychiatrist treating the man... and he becomes intertwined in the mystery and the story while trying to assess his patient's obsession for a particular artist and painting.

I found myself getting immersed in this book while it jumped from the viewpoint of various characters in various eras. It was a historical novel, a mystery novel, a slightly suspenseful novel and yes - a love story - all in one. I think the author can be very wordy at times when setting the scenes (read: it's a big ass book) but it so clearly paints the characters in doing so, I can't fault her for it. This book was intriguing enough for me to skip back a few years and start reading The Historian, Kostova's original book that brought her to fame. I'm only partly into that one, but I can see it's going to be a very similar web of stories and I will be just as immersed!

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

Definitely a book for the female crowd and it's a quick easy read.  This is the story told originally by Bram Stoker but now written from the perspective of Mina (Murray) Harker. What if she didn't want Van Helsing and Arthur Holmwood and Quincy Morris to defend her? What were her thoughts of Jonathan Harker versus the Count? I thought it was an interesting romance story (or maybe a lust story...? I never got to the full impression of the characters being deeply in love) but it was a mindless, easy read.