I started reading The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux last week. I'm running low on books in our house that I haven't read and we got it a while ago as part of a classic horror pack with Frankenstein and Dracula, both of which I read years ago. I figured it's getting close to Halloween so it seemed an appropriate.
It's an interesting story. I've seen the 2004 film and I vaguely remembered the story before reading it. The book is not nearly as dramatic as the musical. It's presented as kind of a report of events surrounding the phantom after-the-fact. The author claims to have put together eye witness accounts and police reports to draw the conclusions surrounding the Opera Ghost. It's an interesting way to approach a story I sort of already know, but I find that that combined with his writing style (or maybe the style of the time) tends to draw out some of the slower parts and skip through some of the more exciting moments making the story less intense overall.
I also downloaded the movie soundtrack to listen to as a soundtrack to the book. Most of the main plot points are the same and the music in general is awesome. I love the main theme. It's very dark and powerful; pretty much perfect for the character of the Phantom.
I've only got about 90 pages left so I guess I'll have to look for something else to read for Halloween. Maybe I'll look for an H.P. Lovecraft collection. I've never read anything by him and I've always wanted to. I guess if I do you can expect a Cthulhu/TMNT crossover drawing.
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