Spinning is so much cooler than not spinning.

I might need to double up or add the EPs and/or other single female characters from P&P to fill out the albums....but for now...

Mary Bennet = folklore
Kitty Bennet = 1989
Jane Bennet = Lover
Lydia Bennet = reputation
Lizzie Bennet = Red

First off I got this copy of “Pride and Prometheus” for free in exchange for a review (color me THRILLED!)

    This review is MOSTLY Spoiler-free so read at your own risk

To be honest I still feel like I need time to process it all (and that's not a bad thing). I'll admit right now that I've never read the book "Frankenstein“ by Mary Shelley but that didn't stop me from reading the short story (which I read because Mary Bennet is my favorite character from "Pride and Prejudice") I felt I had to see what all the fuss was about (it had already won awards by the time I first read it).


The story is told from the point-of-view from the characters Mary Bennet, Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s Creature (whom later calls himself Adam).

The beginning of the story sees a 32 year-old Mary and a nearly 30 year-old Kitty thirteen years after the end of “Pride and Prejudice” in 1815 (in this timeline P&P ends in 1802)

The year finds both Kitty and Mary in want of suitors. Mary has almost resigned herself to the shelf while Kitty clings to the possibility of finding a husband during her last season in town. Then they meet Henry Clerval and Victor Frankenstein at a ball in London that would end up tearing their world topsy-turvy. and nothing would ever be the same for either Bennet sister again.

No two chapters are ever told from the same person back-to-back and some scenes replay though the alternative POV’s can be a bit dizzying but we get to see more of what is going on and some previous scenes that the other character’s may not have been privy to (nor the reader).

The plot is very similar to the short story (written, of course, by John Kessel) that inspired this novel. Some character’s are exchanged for other newer characters in order to make the most of the plot. If you’ve read Frankenstein or perhaps the Pride and Prometheus short story then you have some idea what’s going to happen in the novel but how you get there, that’s the real shocker.

Although at first I felt sorry for Victor but rather quickly I found myself wanting to throttle him most of the time (and the Creature as well) especially near the end. By that point I had almost completely lost all sympathy for Victor.

You want to know who makes an appearance in the novel? Don’t worry it’s not important to the plot.....Mr. Collins! Charlotte Collins had died about six months prior before the ball (along with their second-born son) don’t worry he marries again but it’s not Mary or anyone else we know.

Victor does indeed give into the Creature’s threats and makes him a bride (it’s not Charlotte)

Mary meets Victor again in Matlock while he’s there with Henry and invites them to dinner one night at Pemberley (she and Kitty are visiting the Darcy’s after a trip to London). After dinner a series of Spoilerific Events happen that sends Mary back home with her parents before she starts on her journey to find Victor and demand answers.

Mary runs off from Longbourn to begin her search for Victor and the Creature searches for Victor as well to see what’s taking Victor so long with his bride. They meet up and reluctantly join together to find him after the Creature saves Mary from highwaymen. (Yes I do believe that is Mary and the Creature on the cover)!

By the end of the novel we find Mary in Lyme again, with her precious fossils six years later, as she learns of both Victor’s and the Creature’s final fates.

This novel was everything I hoped it would be and I STILL wanted more.

I hope this review wasn’t too all over the place. I’ve never really done one before like this.

-Wickham may be a complete cad but once he marries Lydia he calms down a bit, especially once she gets pregnant

-He is surprisingly kind to Mary gifting her with the occassional book or someother ting he thinks she may like.

-Once he's resigned his commission he and Lydia remove to town (Cheapside) where he decided to earn an honest keep (Uncle Gardiner takes a chance and gives him a job a one of his shops) Wickham refuses to spoil Lydia (financially) as she was at Longbourn in hopes to curb her spending. He gives her a (modest) monthly allowance and not a penny more (unless it's for absolute necessities)

-Mr. Gardiner pays him a little more than a normal wage for the job, for he loves his niece and wants to see her taken care of

(I've had the basic idea of this running around my head for awhile, so I'm typing this out to get it out there, it's not a story yet but a rough idea. I'm not typing EVERY idea out here, some things have to be a mystery hmm?? Naturally it's Mary Bennet-based. Mary may or may not have a twin brother in this, I'm not sure yet.)


Mary Bennet always feels over-shadowed by her 2 younger sisters and her 2 eldest sisters, so she focuses on what she loves most, her music. She practices nearly every spare moment she has (when she isn't reading or writing for that matter) until her mother threatens to throw out her precious keyboard Her paternal grandfather bought if for her when she was younger and felt she had promise after she was constantly caught noodling on her late-grandmother's piano. Her sisters nor her mother don't thank him for it, her father is just simply amused by his wife's reaction.

Pre-P&P: She is offered a job making instrumental piano versions of popular songs (she was discovered on youtube doing just that, under a stage name which she continues to use) which she takes (she uses an actual piano at the studio she records at, and uses her keyboard to compose and tweak it but uses a real piano to listen to the final product and to make any tweaks if needed) and even writes and performs her own compositions (which turn out they're quite popular)

Then the plot of "Pride and Prejudice" happen though just a bit modern-ified, but during that Mary's mother (the morning after the Netherfield party) after hearing playing one too many times for her liking she yanks the keyboard from her, demolishes it and tosses it into the garbage, Lydia (Olivia) laughing all the while and Jane looks horrified for Mary, Lizzie looks indifferent and a bit relieved (none knowing that she needs that keyboard in order to help her do her job). Visibly upset she runs upstairs to her room and locks the door. She cries but not so anyone can hear.

(It's so hard NOT to write this story right here and now!)

Eventually she gets another keyboard top of the line because with all the money she's making with her work (her family doesn't know what her job is, Jane might suspect) she can afford it but she is saving up for a place of her own but she's keeping that secret too).

Skip forward to the end (for now) After most of the story is over Mary catches an earful about the new piece of music Georgie is working on (Georgie still loves the piano in any universe) in a conversation between Lizzie and Darcy (Mary is hidden from their view). They both talk about how beautiful and elegant the piece is (one of Mary's favorite of her own compositions) and how even Georgie is having a little bit of difficulty in learning it (Georgie is always up to the challenge claims Darcy)

Out of nowhere (it seems to the happy couple at least) Mary starts giggling before she comes out of hiding, thanking Darcy and Lizzie for their excellent taste in music. Mary wrote that particular piece in a moment of pure happiness. When Lizzie didn't believe her (Darcy stood there looking as if he didn't know what to think). Eventually to prove her claim she pulls out her keyboard and without the sheet music starts playing the piece in question with ease. Since the piece was just released just a month ago, no one could master it so quickly, at least not well enough to play it without sheet music.

But there was Mary playing it as if she had played it every day of her life

----
I'm going to stop here for now I'm wiped out and I need to sleep. Maybe more notes later?

So today, for me was a book day. I started reading "The Witches of East End" by Melissa de la Cruz. So good so far. I haven't gotten very far yet though. But I'm liking it. It's not very thick though, a mere 269 pages (that's 47 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue) I'm just mid-way of chapter one I think. Yet through my entire reading of it so far I can't help but hear Amas Veritas from the Practical Magic soundtrack (you might remember it as the "Hanging" scene for the Owens' sister ancestress, Maria.)




I also bought a few e-books for my kindle. Mostly cheapies; a few based off of "Pride and Prejudice" and something I'd been wanting to read for ages but I never got the chance to until now. "Harry Potter Should Have Died" by Mugglenet Staffers. I'm reading this too and half of it I feel like is making my brain melt, but at least the other half makes sense to me, ha!


So the kindle books I bought today are...

-Unlocked by Courtney Milan (99 cents)
-Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Jennifer Becton (99 cents)
-Maria Lucas: A Short Story in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice Collections by Jennifer Becton (99 cents)
-First Impressions: A Tole of Less Pride & Prejudice by Alexa Adams (about $5)
-MuggleNet.com's Harry Potter Should have Dies: Controversial Views from the #1 Fan Site (well it's says by Emerson Spartz but it's really just a collaboration)


Went to pick up a copy of the Ultimate Edition of HP and the HBP on DVD yesterday (as well as True Blood Season 3) but....surprise surprise surprise. Guess what they didn't have but was there at least 2 or 3 days before? Thats right! But they had the BluRay version (how is that fair) They send the DVD's back to the company but leave the BluRay's untouched? I'm beginning to hate Walmart solely on their DVD practices! SO I didn't order it from them online. Instead I ordered it from Amazon so NOW I have to wait until the 29th of this month, at the latest to watch the ultimate edition *sighs* At LEAST they had TB season three or I would've been spitting sparks!


BTW It kinda sucks that JKR won't release the Kindle version of her books directly though amazon I don't have a credit card to access it though Pottermore (I'm assuming you need one) I like my system of using gift cards though Amazon, thank you very much *pouts*

With any luck by this time tomorrow I'll be reading Dawn of the Dreadfuls, the "prequel" novel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I don't care what so many Austen bloggers (meaning the most of the Austen blogs out there, not just the one with the AB name) I thoroughly enjoyed PPZ, and PPZ: TDE (The Deluxe Edition) I can't wait to get my paws on dawn of the Dreadfuls. The way I see it I think Jane herself would be quite amused at the Austen Monster mashers (what I call the "crossovers").

Now Wal-Mart has been stocking the Quirk Classics books ever since PPZ became a huge bestseller. So I'm hoping that DotD will be there tomorrow, or not I will not be pleased!

And of course I do wish that there were more novels about Mary Bennet (as a sort of sequel to P&P) that appealed to me, so far I've not seen a one that has truly piqued my interest. *grumbles*

I found out that there's going to be a Pride & Prejudice comic! I'll certainly do my best to convince the credit card holder in this household to let me use it just this once so I can have all 5 issues! I seriously doubt the local comic shop will have it in. $20 for a 5-issue subscription. I'd love to have my hands on it! Maybe they'll eventually have it in a graphic novel. To tell the truth I'd much rather have it that way but for now I'll take it anyway I can get it! Even if Elizabeth and Darcy didn't look like Keira and Matthew (they do! Even though Matthew has blue eyes) I'm even more amused that Charles and Caroline Bingley look like their 2005 movie counterparts (with no Louisa and Mr. Hurst in sight) Hmmm since this is a 5-issue deal I doubt they'll be in it at all. But will there be a Charlotte or a Mr. Collins? Surely there will be, they help move the plot along. I am so amused at how much plumper Mrs. Bennet looks than in the 2005 movie version (or the version I imagine when I read or listen to the book)

Which reminds me I really should pre-order Pride & Prejudice & Zombies on Amazon soon. I doubt Wal-Mart will stock it and I don't go to the out-of-town bookstore (about 30 or so miles away, we don't have a bookstore here in this small town anymore) very often.