Semi-seconding this. I only read it once when I was very young and thought it was amazing–so assuming I knew what amazing was when I was quite little, this book is amazing!
Yeah, I think we’ve agreed on books before, in other threads. Which means that I hied over to Amazon and bought the Friedman book. 
I’d like to mildly recommend They Thirst by Robert McCammon. It’s one of the first vampire books I read, and I was tickled just to be reading a vampire book. Other horror fans quibble about his writing in this book, it’s one of his early ones, and maybe not as well-written as it could have been.
Also mildly recommending Afterage by Yvonne Navarro. I’d give it a 9 out of 10. It would have been a 10 except for a special character that IMHO needed some fleshing out.
As you can see by my Username, I’m a big fan of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s St. Germain series. And I enthusiastically endose Robin McKinley’s fir novel for adults, Sunshine (as well as all her YA novels).
StG
Don’t miss The Golden, by Lucius Shepard.
Shepard is, in my view, one of the very finest SF/fantasy authors of our time. His Green Eyes, a zombie novel, might also be of interest to those who enjoy vampire tales.
D’you think Sunshine is her first adult novel? Deerskin doesn’t seem like a kid’s book.
McKinley has said that she knows lots about what happens to Con and Rae after the end of Sunshine, but doesn’t know if she’ll ever write a sequel. Grr!
Deerskin isn’t really a kids book, it’s quite adult.
Robin also says she knows more about Damar. Darnit! We want more!
I loved Green Eyes! Not sure how Shepard feels about it though. He participated in an on-line chat a few years ago, and he didn’t want to talk about that book, changed the subject whenever it came up.
I just read that the other day. It is really funny. Not your typical scary, spooky vamp story.
Did you know Fox wrote a sequel, Bride of the Fat White Vampire?
Nope. I didn’t even know about the first book until my parents gave it to me.
I liked The Last Vampire by Kathryn Meyer Griffith. End of the world plus vampires - boo ya.
“The Stake” by Richard Laymon isn’t bad, he’s also written a few other books about vampires. If you like Stephen King, you will enjoy Laymon.
“The Keep”, by F. Paul Wilson is a good psuedo vampire story with Lovecraftian overtones.
Other vampire books that I have enjoyed include “Dracula the Undead” by Freda Warrington, which is as close to a proper sequel to Bram Stokers original as it is possible to get.
“The Journal of Edwin Underhill” by Peter Tomkin for a great first person perspective on becoming a vampire, much better than an Rice IMHO as she is like Dan Brown in as far as she has one story which she repeats ad nauseum.
I’m not a particular fan of vampires, but I was impressed by the story “Penance” by Stephen R. Donaldson (from his collection Reave the Just and Other Tales).
Sorry I haven’t responded sooner. We went away this weekend.
Thanks for the suggestions.
The book I was looking for was Anno Dracula.
Shoot, I thought the “anno something” was the name of the doper who recommended the book.
Agyar by Steven Brust is a great Vampire story. A modern vampire is trying to break the link between himself and his master, another vampire. This is complicated by him falling in love, and his efforts to save his love, from himself not least of all.
Along with Anno Dracula were the sequels The Bloody Red Baron (set during WW II of course) and Judgement of Tears, A… D… 1959 (aka Dracula Cha-cha-cha). Google up Kim Newman to find some A… D… short stories scattered about the Net (“Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula” is my favorite- imagine Apocalypse Now fused with Stoker’s Dracula). Of the book sequels, I really liked Judgement over Baron. Another one is in the works, titled I think Johnny Alucard (which is also the title of a Net-based novella in the series which will probably be the core of the next book.)
Jeffrey Sackett’s Blood of the Impaler - excellent sequel & prequel to Stoker’s Dracula- a modern young Harker descendant suffers the resurgence of the tainted bloodline.
Christopher Pike’s The Last Vampire series- written for teens, a six novel saga about a Hindu girl’s several thousand year vampirism & her uneasy relationship with Krishna.
A thread in which I can contribute, but alas my suggestions have already been given! I’ll second both the ** Anita Blake**series and the Undead and Unwed series.
The last book I’ll mention starts with Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. This is a fun series, with a witch for a main character - and yes she has a death warrant on her head. That’s always a fun way to start a series. I don’t recommend this as highly as the Anita Blake series - although it’s a fun read I didn’t feel as drawn into the world, but I’ve only read the first two so that may change.
There are only two so far (three by the 28th)!
Right now I’d recommend Kim Harrison’s series over Laurell K Hamilton. Laurell’s early books are good, but the later ones (past Obsidian Butterfly) are just sex all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy them… but I like Kim’s books a little better.
I like the Darkangel trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce. It takes place on the moon in the distant future. It’s in the young adult section, but it has nice mature themes (sacrifice, what do you do when your husband doesn’t love you, saving the world).