Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 219 pages

2018 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of the classic book Frankenstein and it is on the PBS "Great American Reads" list.  I figured it was a great time to read this classic book for the first time.

Many people, including some of the librarians I work with, love Frankenstein and their encouragement helped me finish it.  I mostly wanted to thump Victor Frankenstein on the noggin throughout the book and tell him any problems that arose in his life were indeed his fault because he panicked and couldn't love what he created.

Didn't enjoy it, but glad I read it.

   

To The Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey, 417 pages

  This work of historical fiction is loosely based on real 1885 Alaska exploration under the command of senior U.S. Army Officer Henry Trueman Allen.

  The novel toggles between Colonel Allen Forrester and his young bride, Sophie. After being stationed near Vancouver, Colonel Forrester accepts the challenge of leading a small group of men into Alaska to explore territory unknown to the U.S. government, leaving Sophie behind in a wilderness outpost with military personnel and a few women. 

  Also woven into the story is the development of a letter-writing relationship between a present-day descendant of Colonel Forrester and an Alaskan museum employee who lives near the area where Forrester explored.

  The words of this novel are a pleasure, vividly describing majestic scenes, abutting cultures, the light and dark and ins-and-outs of 19th Century photography, privation, emotions, and personalities. It includes adventure, monotony, survival, supernatural mystery, and important thoughts relevant for today.

  This is my first book (technically audio book) with an Alaskan setting. I enjoyed and recommend it. 

John Adams by David McCullough, 751 pages

  This story was a journey for me, having read more than three-quarters of it before accidentally leaving it behind in a waiting room, losing it, and then mourning my lack of closure with the Adams family on and off for a few years before excitedly finding the book in audio form on our library shelves.

  Political biographies don't typically appeal to me, but I decided to give this one a chance because the piece was set in the context of a family and included people critical to the birth and early years of our nation.

  While John Adams was the first U.S. Vice President, second President, and father of a U.S. President, his service to our country included much more. John (I feel as though I can call him by his first name after all the time I spent with him) was an imperfect farmer, husband, father, neighbor, and scholar who felt a great deal of moral responsibility for his community and the people who lived in the colonies/new nation. His sense of moral responsibility was so strong that he couldn’t bring himself to not use what skills he had whenever called upon; and he was called upon . . . again and again and again. He was a servant who sacrificed personal gain, pleasure, and even well-being for most of his life for the common good. Everyone who lives in the U.S. today benefits because of his service.

 Right next to him was Abigail who was just as wise, kind, hard-working and giving to the point of personal poverty.

  This is the story of Abigail and John together and individually, their families, life, minds, and love. The book is pieced together from their private letters to each other and from other documentation of the time. I’m glad to have learned through the extensive research and writing of David MCullough, and I’m glad to have finally made it to the memorable closure of the book.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 160 pages

I have seen "A Christmas Carol" and many movies based on the premise, but somehow had never read it.  I am so glad the Library Book Clubs are reading it. 

This is a classic that really is a treasure.  It took away any visions of scrooge I had towards this year's Christmas and entire holiday season.  I definitely recommend this slim little volume for anyone's reading pleasure in the deep dark winter. 

In The Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides, 454 pages

  For the record, I never ever ever ever want to explore the Arctic . . . ever.

  This is quite the story . . . and true stuff . . .  fact-is-more-amazing-than-fiction kind of true stuff . . . based on ship records and extensive research. I feel as though I must have been walking around with my ears closed to have lived in the U.S. my entire life without having heard about this arctic voyage aiming for the North Pole made on behalf of our country beginning in 1879 before now. Just wow . . . I’m awed by what the men on the USS Jeannette experienced in the name of exploration. If this were fiction, I would have said that some of the story line was a bit too much to accept as possible.

  To be honest, I don’t think I would have made it through this book if I hadn’t listened to it in my car as an audiobook. Even as a listener, I wasn’t sure I was going to have enough patience to wait for the promised journey to begin. If I remember correctly, the story of exploration itself didn’t start until sometime during the fourth out of 14 CDs. I kept listening, though, because I learned something new and interesting every five or ten minutes or so, and I decided that, alone, was worth the experience, even if the promised adventure was never addressed, which, it ultimately was, in wonderful detail.

  Now that I (and my husband) have reached the end of the USS Jeannette’s story, I highly recommend it . . . but not if you prefer generalization over specifics.

The Bondwoman’s Narrative: A Novel by Hannah Crafts; Edited By Henry Louis Gates, Jr.-338 pages

  I’ve never before encountered a book with an introduction that goes up to one unnumbered page beyond lxxiv . . . which means 75 pages (I know because I Googled Roman numerals to double check) that I actually read and then felt ended too abruptly. The story by Hannah Crafts is a good story and something that I would have been glad to read, but, thanks to the introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this is a book I want to keep on my shelves to read again.
  The story: fiction with action and suspense, told by a female slave about her life on a southern plantation and her attempted escape toward freedom in the northern U.S.
  The introduction: the true story of how Crafts’ unpublished manuscript made it into the hands of Gates and how he came to believe that “Hannah Crafts” was a real, pre-Civil War, literate female slave.
  The story itself is published as the manuscript was written, complete with some crossed-out words. A few publisher’s additions appear in brackets to help the reader. If the author of the story was, indeed, who Gates believes her to be, “The Bondwoman’s Narrative” is the earliest known novel to be written by an African American woman and the only known novel to be written by a female slave without having gone through the filter of white abolitionists. I expect to reread the story (and the long introduction) again one day.