In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein

Oops. I've just noticed the next episode of this online has expired. I guess that makes this officially a DNF.I was listening to the BBC Radio 4 abridged audio version. I thought it would be interesting to at least vaguely listen to and learn a bit more about Mary Shelley's life, having recently re-read [b:Frankenstein 35031085 Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498841231s/35031085.jpg 4836639] and with it being the 200 year anniversary of its publication.Honestly, it wasn't great and I think that's why I let it expire. I had listened to the first two 15min episodes (of 5), but was in no rush to continue. You'd be better off skimming Mary Shelley's Wikipedia page. It felt flat and dull, failing to capture my attention, and it just didn't have to be written that way. Yes, it's non fiction, a biography, but all of my favourite non fiction books are written fluidly and beautifully, and this is definitely important for the reader to get the most out of what they're learning. Indeed, I don't think I learned much anyway (not that I'm a Mary Shelley expert or anything!) and it felt more like a list of events. Worst of all, the audiobook narrator was terrible; she spoke in a way that sounded incredibly patronising and, for some reason, when reading out their letters etc., she decided to put on “voices” of people who had been really living. I could not understand that decision at all and it was awful. I found myself waiting for the “letter” or whatever it was to end so she'd stop with the voices.In conclusion, I think this audiobook edition was not up to BBC Radio 4's usual standards, but I also don't feel the source book is that great. I won't be reading it in full and cannot recommend it to others.