Re: The North – the new book thread : Sat Sep 14, 2013 1:58 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

Yep, the ship sailed into Whitby at the height of a storm, crashes into the dock and there is a rumour of a large black dog leaping ashore, other than this the only person on board is the ships captain who is dead, with a ship full of soil and mould from Transylvania.

Thats the extent of my knowledge ...

In which case, it seems to me that your knowledge is pretty close to 100% of Whitby's involvement in the book.

But I'd be willing to bet that a tour would point out many and various locations unprovably "thought" to be the "inspiration" for various aspects of the book.

Long, long ago, when La Senora was still of a such an age that she would still come camping with me, we camped in a site on the clifftop just South of Whitby and walked to town for a pint and a meal.
In one pub on the dockside, a local tried to tell me that Bram Stoker missed out most of the "local legend" from the book ... and warned me against crossing St Mary's churchyard at the top of the 199 steps at midnight, he couldn't tell me why, just that I ought to heed the warning as, with trembling finger, he pointed at the floodlit church upon the opposite clifftop and said that anyone who had been up there at that time would concur.

As chance would have it, when heading back to the campsite, we were crossing that very churchyard at midnight when the floodlights switched off on the stroke of midnight.

"Never again" is all I will say.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sat Sep 14, 2013 2:29 pm  

El Barbudo wrote: As chance would have it, when heading back to the campsite, we were crossing that very churchyard at midnight when the floodlights switched off on the stroke of midnight. "Never again" is all I will say. So they were on a timeswitch then http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/york/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8121000/8121579.stm is fairly definitive - might give the book another go and see how far I get this time.

El Barbudo wrote: As chance would have it, when heading back to the campsite, we were crossing that very churchyard at midnight when the floodlights switched off on the stroke of midnight. "Never again" is all I will say. So they were on a timeswitch then http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/york/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8121000/8121579.stm is fairly definitive - might give the book another go and see how far I get this time.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sat Sep 14, 2013 4:04 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

So they were on a timeswitch then ...

Yup.
Surprises you a little bit, that's all.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:42 pm  

Dracula is a fascinating read – not least as it's clearly about modernity, female emancipation and sexuality, and the threat of STDs (specifically, syphilis).

Mind, you could try Anno Dracula, Kim Newman's fun alternative version. I've also just read the sequel, Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron, which is a romp too.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:54 pm  

Just read James Lovelock's more recent books - Revenge of Gaia and Vanishing Face of Gaia. Not looking good for humanity if he's right.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:21 am  

El Barbudo wrote:

No not really.
But it might add to your own imagination when reading it.

I deliberately read Greene's Our man in Havana and Hemingway's The old man and the sea whilst in Havana, Greene's Brighton Rock in Brighton and Shute's On the Beach in Melbourne.
It did actually add to the imagination when reading the books ... even if erroneously.

I have just finished his Fiesta.
And I liked it, I liked it a lot.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sun Sep 15, 2013 6:17 pm  

Mintball wrote:

Dracula is a fascinating read – not least as it's clearly about modernity, female emancipation and sexuality, and the threat of STDs (specifically, syphilis).

Mind, you could try Anno Dracula, Kim Newman's fun alternative version. I've also just read the sequel, Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron, which is a romp too.

That is interesting: I re-read Dracula a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed what I took for a gripping adventure story. I am hopeless at allegory, metaphor and so on, and only see the blatantly obvious.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:43 pm  

Recently read The Hacienda by Peter Hook and just finished reading Stephen King On Writing. Currently reading Neal Gablers biography of Walt Disney which seems interesting so far.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:02 pm  

Damo I read the Hacienda book too. Amazing it lasted so long despite all the chaos.

Re: The North – the new book thread : Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:12 pm  

Astonishing wasn't it?

How on earth their decided to open a bar alongside the main club is beyond me. It just goes to show was drugs and music can do! Good if your in but terrible for everyone else who has to deal with the mess.