2005 book 71

elizabeth kostova's the historian
did this book just come out today, and did i read all 642 pages in one sitting? yes and yes. i love books about scholars researching stuff, what can i say? anyway, this one is about a young girl who discovers a mysterious book and some letters in her father's library, leading to all sorts of research about dracula, who her father believes is still alive. needless to say, it gets tense and skin-crawly at parts, although it wasn't as bad before-bed-reading as i feared. it is a teeny bit slow at parts (scholars discovering and reading manuscripts and all) and the end is hardly unexpected, but i think kostova did an excellent job on the whole (i especially liked all the stories-within-stories, and all of the endearing scholar characters. well, all the characters, really). plus, there are lots of librarians and libraries--of various sorts--so all the library-affiliated people and wordnerds out there should definitely check it out. one character is constantly referred to as "the evil librarian," but it's ok, there are lots of nice librarians as well.