I’m joining in again with the Friday 56 for a second posting of vampire fiction.

Two weeks ago, I posted on that oh so rare genre of vampire teen fiction.

This week I thought I’d give you an adult selection.

Given it’s a vampire-themed post, I’ve got Draculaura, my all things vampire dolly co-host at my side for the evening.

Since it’s a Friday 56 post, here’s a refresher on the rules:

Grab a book, any book.

Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.

Find a sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it)

Join the link up.

So with that said, here’s the book I’ve just finished:

The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova (2003)

Summary: Late one night, exploring her father’s library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to ‘My dear and unfortunate successor’.

Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of – a labyrinth where the secrets of her father’s past and her mother’s mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history.

—

After a couple teen fiction books, it was nice to read an adult book and I enjoyed this one (although it is certainly the subject of mixed reviews on GoodReads).

It tell the story of Dracula through the eyes of historians searching for him, providing quite a bit on the historical man on which the legend is based: Vlad III, ruler of Wallachia in the latter 15th Century, better known as Vlad the Impaler.

It covers his ongoing conflict with the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Empire who continually tried to get Wallachia under their control due to its strategic location.

And then, of course there was the big question: Is Dracula still alive today as a vampire?

It was good fun – if a bit long.

Here’s a selection from 56% on my e-reader:

I asked him where he would go when he left our village at the end of five days. He said that he was going to a country called Greece, which I had heard of before, and then back to his own village in his own country. Drawing in the forest earth, he showed me that his country, called England, was an island far away from our country. He showed me where his university was – I did not know what he meant – and wrote the name of it in the dirt. I still remember those letters: OXFORD. Afterward I wrote them down sometimes, to look at them again. It was the strangest word I had ever seen.

I then supplemented my reading by renting Dracula Untold (2014), the Dracula movie that came out in theatres last Halloween.

Given its historical bent, it was nice to have watched it after reading The Historian. I felt I went into it with a bit more “knowledge” about the grudge match between Mehmet II and Vlad III that played out on-screen.

Finally, to leave you with a last piece of vampire flotsam and jetsam to tie up the week, I’m happy to report we found Draculaura’s arm.

A few weeks ago, I noticed my eldest’s dolly was missing half her arm. My daughter was, of course, less than helpful in figuring out where she saw it last, so I figured Draculaura would just be added to our list of dollies with missing body parts.

Then, we had a bit of an ant incident earlier this week that sent me on a cleaning rampage. During vacuuming I initially vacuumed up, then managed to rescue, Draculaura’s arm.

Good to know event during an ant invasion, I can focus on the things that really matter, right?

Read any good non-teen vampire books lately? Let me know in the comments so I can add them to my reading list!