Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Assigned to Read in School

Happy Tuesday everybody! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve participated in this post. Whoops?

Anyway, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Books I Was Assigned to Read in School. These can be books you loved or hated. Or just tolerated. Bonus points if a tiny review is given!

So here are ten of the books I had to read for school! In order from when I read them!

Dear Levi by Elvira Woodruff: This is an oldie, both the book and when I read it. This was the first required reading I did for school – way back in fourth grade! I remember enjoying it well enough, and it was I think the first epistolary style novel I read?

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: This is the next earliest book I remember reading for school. (I’m pretty sure, at least. Can’t think of any others right now at least.) I loved it then, and I still do.

The Giver by Lois Lowry: I remember reading and enjoying this in middle school. So much so that I read the two sequels that existed at the time – Gathering Blue and Messenger. I don’t think it really holds up as an adult, though I don’t hate it as much as some people I’ve seen.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: I remember having to read this in eighth (and again in ninth) grade. I enjoyed it so much at the time that I read ahead, before rereading it again with the rest of the class. It was one of my favorite books as a teenager.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: This is one of the only things I remember reading in high school. I remember liking it, though parts of it made me sad.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: I remember reading this for college. I enjoyed it well enough whilst reading, and I’ve remained miffed to this day that we finished up the book in class and never had a final discussion about it! The instructor had one for every fifty pages or so and then just didn’t for the last bit of the book! It was infuriating! We just went on to the next required reading, unceremoniously!

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: I loved this when I read it in college, and I still love it today. (I also enjoy retellings of it, as we’ve seen.)

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: I remember enjoying this novel eventually. It took me some time while reading it, though. It was sooo slow.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: The main thing about this book I remember is that it was boring. (To me.) I didn’t even care for the modern retelling of it – The Wife Upstairs – that I read a few years later. I ended up DNF-ing the retelling.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: I remember being bored by this one too, though not nearly as bored as I was when I read Jane Eyre. I guess I kind of felt more neutral towards this one.

The Glass Scientists: Volume Two by S.H. Cotugno | Book Review

Mornin’, Doctor. Having a happy haunt today are we?

The Glass Scientists: Volume Two by S.H. Cotugno

COMIC: The Glass Scientists

LENGTH: 240 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, YA, LGBT+, Graphic Novel, Fiction

PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

RELEASE DATE: 24 September 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The second book in the YA graphic novel series about star-crossed lovers and misunderstood monsters, which is already a webcomic phenomenon!

All Dr. Henry Jekyll wanted to do was make London a safe place for rogue scientists. That’s why he and his best friend Robert created the Society for Arcane Sciences in the first place, and why their upcoming exhibition to show the public all the incredible things they can do for the world is so important. But ever since Frankenstein arrived, nothing has gone according to plan….

And now Jekyll’s dirty little secret is about to become a huge problem. Hyde, his devilishly devious alter-ego, is fed up with being jerked around and Jekyll not letting him out to play. And he’s just discovered a new trick that will allow him to take the driver’s seat of their shared body. With Hyde behind the wheel, it’s not just the impeding exhibition and the future of the society in jeopardy. The ruffian threatens to destroy something that’s even more dear to Jekyll: his relationship with Robert. Will Jekyll be able to regain control of his mind, body, and life, or will he lose everything he has been fighting for?

Volume Two collects Chapters 8-12 of this beloved webcomic, which is available in print for the first time ever. It also features loads of exclusive bonus content including a brand-new prequel story (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Meet Dracula!!!), a behind-the-scenes look at the comic’s origins, and more!

My Review

“Who are you, Mr. Hyde?”

As I mentioned in my review for volume one, I absolutely love this comic. And that hasn’t changed at all with the second one. The Glass Scientists is still amazing. Sage is still going incredibly strong with their retelling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Everything I said in my previous review for this graphic novel still stands, so I’m not going to talk much about the story and the characters, as I feel it’s a little redundant. But! The way that the story and characters evolve during this installment is sooo good. And the angst begins here – though it hasn’t even gotten close to the way it is currently in the original webcomic. (It’s getting real, guys. These last few weeks – oh boy.)

There’s also a bit of a slow-burn starting to happen between Jekyll and Lanyon at the point of the comic that volume two covers, and it’s wonderfully written. (And it’s gonna make the angst coming up so much sweeter.) We also learn a lot of interesting things about several characters, and Jekyll and Hyde’s relationship is currently deteriorating beautifully. I can’t get enough of this world.

And of course, the art is still gorgeous. S.H. Cotugno is a fantastic artist with a lot of experience and it definitely shows. I enjoy their art style quite a bit. Oh! And I almost forgot, I loved the little extra added here (that being the little prequel story). I loved the one added to the last installment too, but in a different way.

So yeah, I realize that I didn’t really have as much to say about The Glass Scientists this time around, but I both didn’t want to spoil anything nor be redundant. Rest assured, I still super enjoyed this volume and definitely recommend it to fans of volume one, gaslamp fantasy, comics and graphic novels and the original Strange Case novel.

This book is also perfect for the upcoming spooky season, so if it sounds intriguing to you, I’d give it a shot. The vibes are excellent for October.

And, as always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

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Book Review: “The Glass Scientists: Volume One” by S.H. Cotugno

“Here there be monsters.”

The Glass Scientists: Volume One by S.H. Cotugno

COMIC: The Glass Scientists

LENGTH: 240 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical, Graphic Novel, LGBTQIA+, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Razorbill

RELEASE DATE: 3 October 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The gothic worlds of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and more collide in this graphic novel series about buried secrets, mad science, and misunderstood monsters. For fans of stylish reimaginings like Lore Olympus and gaslamp fantasies like The Night Circus!

London isn’t the safest place for mad scientists these days. After that whole ordeal with Frankenstein, angry mobs have gotten awfully good at hunting down monsters and wiping out anything they don’t understand. In fact, if it weren’t for one extraordinary young man, every out-of-the-box thinker would have been locked up . . . or worse.

That young man is none other than Dr. Henry Jekyll. He believes mad scientists would thrive if they could just fix their public image, which is why he founded the Society for Arcane Sciences, a place where like-minded eccentrics could come together to defy the laws of nature in peace.

But everything changes when a mysterious stranger arrives, bent on taking the Society in a radical new direction. With everyone turning against him, Jekyll’s life starts to spiral out of control, shattering all his carefully laid plans and threatening to expose his darkest secret—one that could destroy everything he has built from the inside out.

Volume One collects Chapters 1-7 of this thrilling, humorous, beloved webcomic, which is available in print for the first time ever. It also features a brand-new side story, a behind-the-scenes look at artwork, and more exclusive bonus content!

My Review

“I am Dr. Henry Jekyll. At your service.”

I’m not going to mince words: I love this comic. I discovered it a couple of months ago via some text interview online somewhere (I can’t remember where), and immediately fell in love.

I’ve always loved Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ever since I first read it a few years ago, and to see it reimagined in such a colorful and fantastic way was beautiful. Sage Cotugno does such a wonderful job retelling this tale, and you can tell how much they love the source material, and how much love they put into the comic.

Pros

The characters ▼

Dr. Henry Jekyll is, of course, our protagonist. He’s kind and polite, and the idealized gentleman. But of course, he’s hiding a dark secret.

Mr. Edward Hyde is that secret. He’s everything that Jekyll wants to hide (*cough*) about himself – everything that he’s ashamed of. So, Hyde is rude, unashamed, and a free spirit who likes to go out and do debauchery nightly.

There are other characters here too, of course, but seeing as I love basically all of them, this post skins never end if I talked about them. I will say that I loved Cotugno’s interpretation of Robert Lanyon, and their new characters of Rachel Pidgely and Jasper Kaylock. They’re all very good characters.

The story ▼

The skeleton of the comic is the original Strange Case, but all the embellishments and additional characters and plot is new. I love all the changes and stuff that has mostly stayed the same, and just Cotugno’s interpretation in general.

I also really like the setting. It’s pretty much the same kind of setting as in the novella, but the vibrant and varied colors of the art and designs really make the gaslamp fantasy aesthetic pop.

The art ▼

The art is gorgeous, but that’s usually to be expected with a comic. I personally just really like Sage Cotugno’s art style. It really appealed to me. I love the character designs, and the 19th century London aesthetic.

The colors were all vibrant and beautiful. They were awesome in the original webcomic, and they translated really well to the physical version. They’re just as bright and striking as they are digitally.

Cons

The waiting game ▼

I pretty much absolutely love this webcomic, and this bound book version of the first third of the story. Because of this, it’s really hard to think of something I don’t like about it.

The only thing that I can think of that is even mildly irritating about this webcomic, is that it only releases weekly. As such, it’s gonna take a few more years until it’s finished. And we’re all going to have to wait to see how the rest of the story unfolds. But yeah, that’s honestly the only thing that I can think of that bothers me about The Glass Scientists.

Final Thoughts

Before I close off this post, I just want to let everyone know that this is just the first of three physical releases of an ongoing webcomic. So if you end up liking The Glass Scientists: Volume One, or you’re interested in it but not sure if you want to commit monetarily yet, you can check out the webcomic here.

Anyway, I’ve already gushed about this graphic novel more than enough. It’s very obvious that I really enjoyed it. I definitely recommend it to people who like fantasy and sci-fi and graphic novels, but also to those who really like the original Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

My Links:

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