I'm sure I've read this before, because in elementary school I went on a classics reading binge, but because of memory loss who knows... Anyway, experiencing for the first time in my memory the 18-year-old mother of science fiction was an otherworldly experience. God, can she write prose.

I knew the gist of it from popular culture, but the original is something else entirely. Most people know that Frankenstein is the creator, not the monster, but the myth I want to bust now is that the "monster" is a grumbling, violent creature. He reads Paradise Lost, for goodness' sakes! He's literate and moral and so, so lonely and devastated. 

Yes, this is science fiction, but it's a (capital-r) Romantic tragedy above all. It's not so much bubbling test tubes and grave-robbing (though those things do happen) but death and morality and metaphor. I devoured this and then thought about God and feminism and historical context (my favorite things to think about).

This edition has a lovely introduction and footnotes! If yours doesn't, I recommend researching the author and the circumstances of the book's writing, or just watch Crash Course's two videos on this book. You don't have to be familiar with the books/places/people that characters reference, but you might have to do a few Google searches if you don't have footnotes. 

Overall, not-too-long, not-too-complicated classic that's so worth it.