I particularly like the stylistic choices in the diary entries and how it ties directly into the characterizations. And the whole concept of the rising terror/catastrophe… as characters go about their regular lives while the unavoidable encounter with Dracula approaches in the background of their lives. The terror that we already experienced in Harker’s opening entries, so we know what lies ahead.

Frankenstein is certainly a more thematically satisfying book, for sure.

Edit, I also added Bret Easton Ellis books to my list in my original post. They’re certainly not for everyone, but if you appreciate dark comedy and pop culture satire, these are for you… American Psycho is a book about fitting in and the construction of a persona. There are tons of ASPD things in there, such as mirroring, the mundanity of the grotesque but extreme anxiety around awkwardness. The whole book is told from inside the head of a mad man.

My reading globe is still in good shape:

Happy New Year everyone!

To say it bluntly, without video games as 'escape' the 80s and 90s would have royally sucked!
Like the most talked about book in school was Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, how depressing is that...

From the perspective of games/movies/tech it was indeed the best time to grow up.

Fun thing about Harry potter, one of my best friends from school lived in a cupboard under the stairs. Or rather his 'bedroom' was a bed on the landing under the stairs going up to the next level with a curtain as 'door'. Nothing malicious about it, they were Vietnamese refugees, whole family sharing a small house. The uncle slept on the floor downstairs between bookcases. My friend was the youngest. (His parents did well with the shop they ran and later bought him a house when he moved out!) As kids growing up we found it awesome, then Harry Potter shamed us in retrospect... So many epic nights at their house playing Risk and 1830 with the whole family!

Board games, movies, video games, the 80s / 90s had it all. People not being attached to their phone left tons of time to have fun together! And bullying at least stayed at school, no online bullying. In that sense we had it a lot better.

Also from 1974. Also Dutch.

Probably the best thing about being this old is knowing life without a mobile phone /social media is perfectly possible.

It helps having some perspective when the next new media 'outrage' happens. It calms the hearth.

Even as a relative young'un from '89, I fondly remember those days. 

Writing stories by hand, reading a book or going for a bike ride down the creek with friends instead of scrolling social media for hours. We didn't get the internet at our house til I was 17, now I can hardly live without it.