Re-reads of Vampire Legend

While I was in the midst of reading "Hunting Prince Dracula" my husband started making fun of me because I gave up on reading Bram Stoker's "Dracula"...It was too much old English for me, and yes I read Jane Eyre at least once a year, I know, but that book speaks to my soul and is completely different. We then went on to talk about his favorite vampire novel which is "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice (rest in peace girl you are a legend). I got super sad because in my "purge everything" phase, I barely read anymore anyway phase, I had let go my copies of the first three books in the series. My adorable husband then goes on to ask me ten minutes later if he can purchase something (I keep track of our bank account so he checks with me to make sure we have spending money and it's not allocated to bills). I say yes as usual and he says cool, great. The whole set will be here Tuesday. This beautiful man, heard me talking about a book he recommended that I liked and proceeded to buy me the entire series. 

On a side not that is completely unbook related (sort of)...find yourself a man who may not have the same interests or hobbies as you but encourages them to a fault. This man buys me bookshelves when I run out of room. Is constantly saying yes buy that book, you deserve it, simple because he knows books put a smile on my face. I mean, just, find yourself a man who doesn't say you have a huge tbr pile when he asks what you want for Christmas and you say books. 

Anyway back to vampire books. I've only re-read the first book so far. It's been years since I read it and I wanted to start from the beginning of the series, I then of course got distracted and read another book because I had pre-orders come in...

Re-opening the pages of "Interview with the Vampire" was like opening an old friend. Do you ever
have those moments where you read a book you haven't read in years and it transports you back to the person you were when you first read it? I was barely 21 when I first read "Interview with the Vampire". Reading it more than 7 years later, with a new perspective, a fresh set of eyes, was a trip. 

"Interview with the Vampire" follows a boy who meets a vampire in a bar. He then goes back to the vampire's apartment with him and records the vampire telling the boy the story of his life, from when he was a young mortal man, through being turned. I love the way Anne Rice looks at vampires. She doesn't portray them as all good or all evil. She plays with her characters, exploring the different angles of them, the different ways in which a vampire might not only behave, but might feel emotionally or psychologically. She explores how they would view immortality. How some vampires such as Lestat embrace it with a fullness and passion that is almost irritating. Or others like Louis (the main focus of this novel) are wracked with guilt, due in part to the high amounts of religious guilt heaped upon people from his original time and due in another part to the humanity that he obstinately refuses to let go of. 

Before I read this novel for the first time, I never really questioned how vampires feel. *Yes I know we don't know if they are real or not*. But every book I read about them chose a stance, they were good, or they were evil. Anne leaves room for life. She embraces the part of the legend that says they were all human at one time, explores what happens to their humanity and how they handle the change. Which in all honesty is extremely intriguing.