Written: Wednesday. March 11, 2020.
Date of Purchase : January 12, 2020.
Price:
War of the Worlds - 125 Pesos.
Frankenstein - 125 Pesos.
Bought these classics at the Book Sale branch in Gateway, Cubao. I've never come across War of the Worlds until that day. So there was no chance I'd let that second-hand copy slide. Though I did hesitate in the first moments of finding the book.
I've had bad experiences when it came to reading classic sci-fi books. Examples: I tried reading the first Foundation novel, and I just couldn't comprehend what story it was trying to tell to its reader. I've read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, also a classic sci-fi-heavy novel, and I didn't like reading it because of the writing style. Stranger in a Strange Land went towards such a ridiculous route in its story, plus the guy who wrote it was probably obsessed with writing about girls obsessing over a Martian who just happened to have a bigger stick than the rest of the men on Earth; just an observation.
The writing-styles of these old authors were pretty much the let down for me. The classics tend to become outdated, it's part of the process of evolution, I guess. We comprehend different styles of writing now than the generations before us used to.
So I picked War of the Worlds up with caution. "Am I blindly gonna purchase this classic sci-fi novel and not even consider the writing-style first?" Of course not. So I went on and read the introduction. Luckily, it was more than enough appetizer to satiate my craving for more. Hence why I bought the damn thing.
For Frankenstein, I've already read the book once. And I've always wanted to re-read it in the near future. The only problem was, the version that I had was by Collins Classics, which is, coming from experience, not the best edition out there. They have sloppy translators who don't know how to do their job.
So I went with buying this copy, which is an honest Penguins Edition. I'm not gonna say that I like Penguin Books, cause I haven't tried reading from one yet. But I somehow already have a few of them waiting in my shelves. So I'll probably change this part once I do.
I liked the story of Frankenstein's Monster. Especially when it came to finding out that this dude was, not just literate and could articulate words, but actually be sounding like Shakespeare in some of the chapters he narrates. And he narrates a bunch of chapters in the middle of the book. He basically takes center stage once he and Victor find each other.
And he referred to himself as Adam at one point, and is wanting of an Eve. Very biblical stuff.
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