Charnel House Blues: The Vampyre's Tale - Suzanne Ruthven

**I won this book through Goodreads First Reads**

Have you ever wondered how a 19th century vampire would react to the blood suckers in today's world? Well here's your chance to find out.

This book gives us a look at vampire culture from the perspective of a real (fictional) vampire, Lord Ruthven. He credits his prolonged existence to the vampire rule of not letting yourself be known, although, I believe he just disobeyed said rule.

Among the things discussed in this book are: TV (Buffy, The Vampire Diaries), Movies (Dracula, The Vampire Lovers), Books (Salem's Lot, Interview with a Vampire), and Music (Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi is Dead, Meatloaf's Hot Summer Night). But that's just a few of the topics.

I was actually a little surprised at the fact that I learned of some new folklore that I hadn't heard before, because I have read quite a few books about vampire folklore. It also has sections on werewolves and real life medical diagnosis' pertaining to vampirism and lycanthropy.

I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in vampires, the folklore, the literature, or the movies.

"And believe me, my friend, you have never fully lived until you've seen a vampire smile."