Her Dark Curiosity/The Madman's Daughter/The Island of Dr. Moreau

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Kirsten & I have decided to buddy read The Madman's Daughter and invite anyone that would like to, to join in.
As the book is inspired by H.G. Wells The Island of Dr. Moreau we thought we would read that book first this week and start The Madman's Daughter next week (Feb 9th-ish).
If you are participating in the Goodreads Choice Award challenge, The Madman's Daughter would count towards your goal. It was nominated for Best Debut Goodreads Author, but did not win the category.
The Island of Dr. Moreau is available free on public domain at the follow address,
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/159

**Update** In March we will continue the series and read Her Dark Curiosity
Please use spoiler tags whenever appropriate.

[Alycia]

I've read both of these...I'll happily join in the discussion! :)

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Awesome :)

[Anima]

I would gladly join in. This sounds interesting and I have Madman's Daughter on my tbr :)

[Tracey]

Fantastic. I've read the Madman's Daughter, but not The Island of Dr. Moreau yet.

[Kirsten]

Hello! Sounds like we'll have company. I got Madman's Daughter from the library, which we'll start next week. I've already read five chapters of Dr Moreau. I'd read this many years ago. I have a collection of H.G. Wells' stories. (I've always loved War of the Worlds)

Does anyone remember the movies from the 70s based on Wells' stories. I remember Empire of the Ants (with Joan Collins!), Dr Moreau (with Burt Lancaster and Michael York), even Food of the Gods.

70s movies were kind of trashy, but in some ways better than today's.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I have The Madman's Daughter on my Kindle and would love to join, but I don't think I'll have time this month. :( I'll try to add to the conversation when I have a chance.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

It only takes reading a few pages of Dr Moreau to see why this book would have been controversial upon release.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Dr. Moreau is currently unavailable on Amazon for Kindle. Formatting errors or something. :/

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

The Project Gutenberg link at the top has a Kindle file, Kristie. Does that work?

[Kristie, Moderator]

It should! Thanks.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

You're welcome :)

[Becka]

I'd love to join in for these please :)

[Rida]

I'll try

[Kirsten]

How is everyone doing on The Island of Dr. Moreau? What do you think of the narrator? I've got 60 pages left -- it's been a while since I read it. What do you think the motivations of everyone are?

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

I have about 70 pages left.
I'm actually having a really difficult time reading this. I have been a vegetarian for the past 7 years and an animal rights activist for as long as I can remember.
I'm telling my brain it's fiction but I still feel disgust.

[Anima]

I'm in 40% and I am astonished how powerful the descriptions are. I shivered when reading about puma and I was really scared when the narrator met the creatures. It is a difficult book due to this atmosphere and although I like to read a horror story from time to time, this one is making me really creeped out so far.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

I agree Anima, not many books have the ability to creep me out! This one has, it is truly disturbing.

[Kirsten]

Animal rights first came to prominence in Victorian England - when H.G. Wells was writing. It was originally a fight against vivisection the animal rights activists protested. It says a lot about Wells that he still has the power "to creep" us out!!

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

That is interesting Kirsten.
I keep thinking of a quote from Jurassic Park, the whole "Nature finds a way" thing.
Definitely will be checking out more H.G. Wells work in the future.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

I am finished! How's everyone else doing?

[Kirsten]

The Olympics is getting in the way. And my eyes aren't working very well today. But I should be done tomorrow.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Sounds good!
& I totally get it. I love watching pairs figure skating.

[Kirsten]

Me too! But I love nearly everything about Winter Olympics (except curling). Love womens hockey!

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Haha! Curling is my favorite! But it's part of rural Canadian culture. Also I worked at a curling rink once upon a time and it grew on me.

[Kirsten]

Yeah, you guys and the Scots. I always told my dad it was the most boring sport. But I can get it for you guys.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

I was taught if you find it boring, you aren't drinking enough. Haha! All the different languages screaming to sweep and hurry is highly entertaining as well.

[Anima]

Well, Ladies, I'm from Poland and I love curling, I wonder why, perhaps I have some roots I don't know about LOL.

BTW, I finishe Island of Dr. Moreau, I'm working on Cress today, and tomorrow I want to start Madman's Daughter, all on schedule :)

[Kirsten]

LOL!! My dad never drank and used to love it. (Of course, I never liked cribbage either.)

Congrats, Anima on your ski jumpers!

I should finish Moreau today and then go on to Madman's Daughter tomorrow.

[Anima]

Thank you, Kirsten. We are proud of them, indeed!

[Patti]

Just started reading island of doctor Moreau because of this thread. I love it so far!

[Anima]

I'm in 50% of The Madman's Daughter. So far I'm mainly concentrated on tracing differences and similarities with Island of Dr. Moreau LOL

[Kirsten]

Patti wrote: "Just started reading island of doctor Moreau because of this thread. I love it so far!"

Wonderful! It's always a good thing to expose people to the classics.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

10% into The Madman's Daughter. Enjoying it so far. :)

[Kirsten]

Finally finished Dr Moreau! Starting Madman's Daughter today. (Did anyone notice she's got a sequel out already?)

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Yes, I saw Her Dark Curiosity on a new release list. Apparently book three is supposed to come out 2015. We could read the second book in March if people are interested and just keep this thread ongoing.

[Kirsten]

That'd be good. I'll have to check library availability. I hate buying books new. LOL!! I'm so cheap -- and broke!

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

That's fine, I would wait. I have about 100 books to read in the meantime :P

[Kirsten]

The library and the Overdrive system have it! So, I'll put a hold in ... unless you would like to wait.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

I don't know if I'll have time this month.

[Kirsten]

That's okay... I put a hold on the e-book and I'm #5 in line w/ only 2 copies. It'll probably be a while

[Anima]

Ok, so I finished The Madman's Daughter and I'm not particularly thrilled or overwhelmed by this book. I gave it three stars in the end (view spoiler)[ as I believe there was nothing specifically new to the story in comparison to the original. I liked the daughter's POV, and that it added some details to the original story, but apart from that I found it highly repetitive. I also felt that the romans part was somehow incongruent with the rest of the story. (hide spoiler)]

Still, I would be interested in reading sequel and I opt for March :)

[Kirsten]

Just started Madman's Daughter. I am definitely glad I read Dr Moreau first. It really adds to the book having the background. It is reading fairly fast.

I agree with Anima that it isn't overwhelming me very much, but it is enjoyable so far.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

I'm at around 40%. I'm really enjoying TMD. Juliet is a strong female character. I appreciate that. I've read too many books lately where the females are weak, poorly represented or damsels in distress. Based on the era she is a firecracker! I hope she doesn't lose that!

[Kirsten]

I like what she did to the loathsome medical professor.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

AGREE!

[Patti]

I just finished Dr Moreau and will be getting a sample
of Madmans daughter.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

I'm done The Madman's Daughter. I think this might actually be my favorite read so far this year. *GASP*

I think the author did a really great job putting a new spin on a classic. The creep factor was definitely still there. The world building has to be my favorite part of this book. WOW.

[Anima]

I must admit that if to see The Madman's Daughter only as a variation of the classic, it is indeed a good book, the author did a good job on adding, but not loosing the original atmosphere.

I'm intrigued by the second installment. I read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a long time ago, so perhaps I will not be that irritated by the repetitivness of this part :)

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Dr. J and Mr. H... interesting. I hadn't read the synopsis for book 2 yet. I'm intrigued.