“The Internet of Animals” by Martin Wikelski

 This book was much too wordy so I mostly skimmed it. It was about the development of the Icarus project which will use satellites to retrieve data from tagged animals, which will help us track what is happening on our planet. My favorite part was the author’s reference to Western civilization’s biggest failure… ignoring the world of animals in its philosophical systems, concentrating only on physical sciences. 

“Rosemary’s Baby” by Ira Levin

 I enjoyed this book more than I expected. It really is well done. No need to repeat the plot. It’s well known.

“Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus” by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

As I read it, I began to think of this book as a comedy. One after another, Frankenstein’s dearest died, and he experienced overwrought passions yet again. 

I liked the idea of the book being a comedy because the deaths were actually very sad. And I was failing to see why this book is so popular and a classic. Then I read the monster’s soliloquy at the very end, and I suddenly loved the book. The monster was despised for what he looked like, by people who were no better than he was. In fact, the Monster was a refined being with deep feelings. This ending turns the entire book over on its head.

“Stone Blind” by Natalie Haynes

 This book about Medusa was choppy, and some of the mythology was unknown/forgotten by me, making parts a bit tricky to follow. For example, I don’t know if Perseus did as much killing as Medusa’s head states. Also, what was it with the weird ending, where a lonely Athena commits suicide by looking at Medusa, whom she herself created into a monster.

On the other hand, the book had a pleasantly ironic sense of humour, which made me laugh in parts. And making Medusa’s head sentient was quite clever, but it took a bit long to get there.