Pemberley Digital, the company behind web series "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries", "Emma Approved" and "Welcome to Sandition", is teaming up with PBS Digital Studios to step away from the fluffier side of Romantic Literature, and delve into the Gothic by creating web series "Frankenstein M.D.": an adaptation of Mary Shelley's famous novel.
That's already cool, right? Frankenstein is one of my favourite classics - in fact it's one of my favourite novels period - so I'm already pleased, but Pemberley and PBS are making this particular adaptation even better.
How? Well, the main character of this particular adaptation is Victoria Frankenstein. Victoria is described as: "an obsessive, eccentric prodigy determined to prove herself in the male-dominated fields of science and medicine." That's right. This adaptation is blessing us with a female lead!
Am I excited? Hell yeah I am!
Some people might think there's no need to genderbend the main character of such a classic (and you can guarantee most of those people will be men) but actually this is an adaptation which really, truly suits a female lead.
Upon writing Frankenstein, 18 year old Mary Shelley basically created the genre that is modern day Science Fiction, and yet today it's a predominantly male orientated genre. My hope is that this series breathes life back into the roots of Sci-Fi, and encourages women everywhere to feel welcome in the genre.
All hail Mary Shelley: the mother of Sci-Fi and all-round bad-ass!
When it comes to the books on my TBR list there's always one that jumps out at me: the copy of The Count of Monte Cristo that I've owned for around five years and still haven't read. Eek!
Usually I don't find myself being particularly intimidated by a book's size - I love big books and I cannot lie - but this book in particular is quite a beast; my edition has 1,462 pages, the pages are thin and the font is teeny tiny. Sacré bleu!
Needless to say, I'm intimidated.
Still I very much want to read this book - I mentioned it in my 2014 Booket List as the classic I'd most like to read this year, not only because I've owned it so long and the story sounds amazing, but also because I have yet to read any French Literature, and that's something I'm very eager to change!
I had a thought that this book might be a little easier to read if I don't read it alone! So whether you've already read the book, want to read it, or you've never heard of it but want to join in, I'd love to read it with you!
If I get at least two or three people who are interested in a Monte Cristo read-a-long then I'm aiming to read it over the course of July and August: from Monday 30th June - Monday 1st September. I know that's a pretty long time, but it's a pretty big book, and I want there to be plenty of time so people can read the book as quickly or as slowly as they like, and still have time to read other books alongside this beast. I don't want this read-a-long to be stressful, I'd like anyone who participates to enjoy it!
Because the read-a-long will be running from a Monday to a Monday, I'm hoping that you - the participants - will post weekly updates on your blog, on Twitter, on Tumblr or even on YouTube - whatever your preference! - with the tag #MonteCristoMonday, sharing how many pages you've read that week, how many pages you've read in total, and your thoughts on the book so far.
This read-a-long is open to readers of all ages from all over the world! I don't care if you're a 13 year old who primarily reads sci-fi or an 85 year old who loves non-fiction, I love talking to people and sharing opinions about books.
You don't have to finish the book or think it's a masterpiece, my hope is simply to breathe some fun into a rather intimidating classic. So whether you read classics, horror, YA, graphic novels, fantasy or anything inbetween, I'd love it if you'd consider joining in this read-a-long!
Leave me a comment down below if you're interested!
(Alternatively, you can also find me on Tumblr, Twitter and Goodreads!)
J.
