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“They never say, I love you with all my kidneys. I love you with my liver. They never say, my gall bladder is yours and yours alone. No one says, she broke my appendix.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Frankissstein: A Love Story

#luckyinlove #kiss #frankissstein #jeanettewinterson

I have mixed feelings. The story is imaginative and compelling. There are two storylines, one following Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein, and a parallel thread set in the future. I loved the part about Mary Shelley, and wish the entire book had been written about her. The other thread was less successful. I found the treatment of a transgender character and female characters in that storyline were problematic.

I liked this journey into Mary Shelley‘s world, and the possible future of her creation. Some characters became caricatures in the modern retelling. Is Ry Shelley supposed to represent moth Mary and Percy? Victor Stein is Ry‘s, but is not Percy. Silencing if marginalized voices has not changed in 200 years

I was hoping to send this one out to @phantomx today (along with the #Round12 book), but it is horribly transphobic and I decided to switch to Gender Queer. #Round13 #GroupP #LMPBC

I‘m 240 pages in, but enough is enough. Severely disappointed in Winterson for her treatment of this character.

Mary Shelley dreams up a monster novel in the 1810s, and a man two hundred years later ponders over what constitutes life and death. This wasn't the right book for me, but it is a good book. I didn't enjoy the ongoing existential conversations about whether life was still life if you were in a new body. I also didn't appreciate the sex robot guy (but I think that's the point). I really liked the dual timeline element! #Adaptation #Scifi #LGBTQ

This book is so imaginative it inspires me to take more chances in my own writing. It's so erudite that it confirms my decision to, after finishing my WIP, devote myself fully to a year or more of intense literary and philosophical study. Its transgender POV also reaffirms that we CAN write about those not like us - something I've been criticized for doing. And Winterson's observations about artificial intelligence are spot on. A riveting read!

Fascinating! I really loved this book!!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is a very cerebral book. It is thought-provoking and entertaining. I would like to read more by the original thinker who created it.

Mary Shelley was surrounded by boring men who were full of themselves.

It is astonishing the kinds of personal questions people will ask someone who is transgender.

The character of Ron Lord the sex it creator is great satire on all men.

So I think it's a pick, but a qualified pick. I enjoyed the sections written about Mary Shelley. I thought Winterson's writing genius really worked here. I would have liked a whole book on that. But the present day (or near future) part of the story felt too light for the topics it was addressing. It felt more like the author was sacrificing story & character to get some thinkers out there on gender, death, body identity, sex, etc etc etc ⬇

Sunday vibes. Kitty snuggles while I finish the tagged book! You can also see a little bit of my new book sleeve (not that I needed a new one) but I needed it 😂

Not for me. 47% in, and I‘m bored. Perhaps I‘ll try this author another time, but I‘m DNFing, banking my cents for #PennyPerPage, and moving on.

So this book.... It's a retelling of Frankenstein. Sort of. It's about mind vs. body. Sort of. She basically covers every social issue imaginable, both current and in the past. It's well written and it flows well. The characters are mostly likeable except maybe the guy with the sex doll company. But I think he serves her (the author's) purpose. I do like this author.

#BookSpinBingo square 17
@TheAromaofBooks

Reading companion of the night.

I wanted to love this book so much. I really did. But there were too many times where I felt like the author was trying to smack me in the face with symbolism and metaphor, and there were a few too many graphic sex scenes for me personally.

Any book with lots of anti-Trump gags is a winner in my eyes!!

Winterson is a queer woman, a queer author, and in writing Frankissstein clearly sought to queer a canonical work of literature. Unfortunately, she missed the mark by a long margin. In real-life, she has made public comments that were deeply offensive to trans communities, and it would seem that those attitudes have parlayed into her work. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/frankissstein-jeanette-winterson/

Intrigued by the premise. Also Winterson is a damn fine author.

So far this year, I have read 12 books with LGBTQIA+ characters. 9 of these are #OwnVoices books.

My favorite (so far) of these #OwnVoices books with an LGBTQIA+ character is Frankissstein (tagged).

I have also read another 5 books by LGBTQIA+ authors that are nonfiction or didn‘t have any LGBTQIA+ characters. My favorite of these is The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne.

#IntegrateYourShelf

Loving the WhatsApp info this week! ❤️

This was a fun ride and a creative spin on Shelley's Frankenstein but I felt like it just barely skimmed the surface of so many of the important topics it tries to explore. It opened up so many questions for me but didn't provide any answers. The plot itself is well done and it's a great read to spark debate on the body, the importance of not of corporeality, the dangers or advantages of AI and cryogenics, and the creator vs. creation.

Not loving this book. The writing style is too pretentious, and disjointed; feel like the author is trying too hard. With that said, there are gems of wisdom to be gleaned. Will finish, but it‘s a 4/5, if I‘m being generous.

Frankissstein was hands-down my favorite, followed closely by Trust Exercise.

Oops, and I just realized I missed City of Girls in my graphic, so 14 for the month.

#aprilreads #aprilwrapup

New read! Let's see how I get on with this one. Winterson's writing isn't always for me but I'm using this for a school paper and I hope I enjoy it.

#Netgalley #ARC
The concept is great- 2 timelines: Mary Shelley writing her novel and Dr. Ry Shelley a trans person who is figuring out their identity. The mere were some parallels but absolutely no action in the story, just a lot of back and forth conversations on post-humanism, religion, technology, sexbots, creation, and men versus women. Nothing too new. Very close to DNF-ing.

I‘m not much of a fan of romance novels, so this is the closest I get to a #KissOnTheCover

#AcrossApril @Eggs

Listened to this #audiobook while driving too and from work this week. Enjoyed the novel that examines a myriad of issues surrounding artificial intelligence. Very heavy on philosophy and short on plot, which normally would not be my cup of tea, but the issues raised were so thought provoking and engaging that I liked this one.

This was my first Winterson book. This is another dual timeline book. We are following Mary Shelley as she creates Frankenstein in the past and a man in the future who makes sexbots for lonely men.From there there is a lot of talk about sex and what it is to men and women, transgender doctor and sexbots with enhanced AI. Too much going on got my taste. Less is more. I didn‘t mind reading it but its real intention is not particularly clear to me.

“Is Donald Trump getting his brain frozen?” Max explains the brain has to be fully functional at clinical death. “I‘d love to get my Mom frozen...” Hilarious and touching take on Artificial Intelligence as a new form of Frankenstein‘s monster, Mary Shelley as she finds inspiration for her tale, and a sex doll purveyor, all discovering what it means to love life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Frankenstein is one of my favorites, so I wasn‘t sure about this concept. BUT, it‘s so clever, and kind of fucking brilliant. Winterson rehashes portions of the original story and its inception while creating a modern day version with sex bots, cryogenics, and reanimation, raising the question of who/what we really are. My favorite bits are when Shelley herself was a character. Bold and strange, but I‘m 100% on board.

I loved, loved, LOVED this book!

Smart, funny, and a little bit romantic, with some gothic vibes and plenty of Frankenstein. Perfect rebound book for me. The narrators are both excellent, and I relistened to a bunch of passages. So good!

My full review is on my blog: https://sprainedbrain.blog/2020/03/07/review-frankissstein-a-love-story-by-jeane...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Next up! I'm excited for this one! #queerbooks

Picked this up from the library today. I‘ve read mixed reviews so I‘m interested to see what I think.

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I was entertained before the seriously eloquent promotion of sexbots. The world of Mary Shelley is linked to our world of humans playing with AI - both full of sex, selfishness, the quest for eternal life and philosophical mess it all makes. Fun heady stuff.

Five stars! Toggles back and forth between Mary Shelley‘s life during the time she wrote Frankenstein and a trans doctor named Ry Shelley in modern times and his relationship with a Dr.Victor Stein. An exploration of life, death, A.I., and some bawdy farce, Matrix, and Brezit commentary. Loved!!! Would be a great book club read.

A new audiobook and a good start (thankfully)

1. I have too many books going right now! Top reads are Frankissstein and The Dutch House. Audio include Permanent Record and Milk Man. Also an annotated edition of Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein!!
2.Carmen Maria Marchado‘s amazing memoir In The Dream House.
3.too many resolutions! Read more Russian classics. American history, Native American & African American history. Good genre fiction by diverse writers—sci-fi, thriller, mystery.

"What is the point of progress if it benefits the few while the many suffer?"

This is my first book by Winterson and I greatly enjoyed it. Sharp, funny, lots of food for thought. Toggles back and forth between the near future (sexbots and the rise of AI) and the past (Mary Shelley conceiving Frankenstein!). Many layers and ideas.

(However, TW for a pretty intense rape scene)

#WeeklyForecast - I finally got started on Frankissstein, so that‘s my print pick for the week. I don‘t think I‘ll have time to read another print book this week, but I have some audio picks lined up:
🎧 American Kingpin by Nick Bilton
🎧 Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood

Have a great Sunday Littens! ❤️

Adult, sci-fi, strange, LGBTQ, cryogenics, and sex dolls - story including Shelly, Byron, and Stein. Good -very good.
For those who like something out of the ordinary.