Frankenstein

An absolutely gripping novel, "Frankenstein" continues to be read-and assigned-at a prodigious rate. But the simple truth is that for many modern readers, the original is difficult to get through-when it is possible to get through at all. This adaptation, which makes use of as much of Mary Shelley's original language as possible, takes a frustrating, agonizing reading experience and turns it into the page-turning thriller that Shelley clearly intended. Whether the person reading it is in high school or college, or merely always wanted to read the novel but tried without success somewhere along the way and gave up, this is an adaptation that successfully makes one of the most important books ever written in English into one that is also accessible. Not only that, it turns it into the thought-provoking, gripping, and spine-tingling experience that the extraordinary genius that Shelley was produced at the age of 20, against all odds. The book offers a trip through the Arctic, continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and back again, at a time when the author's thoughts on the hazards of science without conscience are as apropos as they were 200 years ago when she set them down.