June 2024: Margaret Atwood

In June, we are leaving the island where we had been stuck for the last few months and going to Canada to explore the work of Margaret Atwood (1939-11-18).

These days she is probably best known for The Handmaid's Tale. My introduction to her work was The Blind Assassin (a very long time ago and in translation) and since then I had explored a lot of her other work.

What do you plan to read? If you had read her before, which of her works is your favorite? And if she is one of your favorite authors, what would you recommend to someone who is about to meet her for the first time?

I've read lots of Atwood, especially her novels up to The Handmaid's Tale. My favorite is probably The Robber Bride. Of her recent books I thoroughly enjoyed Hag-Seed, a modern re-telling of Shakespeare's The Tempest. I also enjoyed her book on Canadian literature Strange Things.

I plan to read either The Heart Goes Last (a novel) or Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2022.

I have only ever read The Handmaid's Tale, maybe 10 years ago. I would probably re-read it and then maybe the sequel.

Only read Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale and was not impressed. It may have been because I struggled with the flow as she did not use quotation marks. I really have no desire for a re-read as I found the theme to be overused and predictable. I have The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus on my shelf and will probably give Atwood a second chance with this. If my library has Hagseed, I may take kathy's rec and try that.

>4 Tess_W: I had read The Tempest before I read Hag-Seed, and Atwood's novel actually helped me understand the play even more. Her book is set in a prison, where a director (not an inmate) volunteers his time to coach the inmates to put on The Tempest. So you learn even more about the play as he's teaching it to his actors/inmates. And there are some funny bits, too.

>4 Tess_W: I didn't remember that, but I too find it very annoying when authors do things like dropping quotation marks, scrunching dialogue into continuous blocks of texts, having excessively long paragraphs or no chapter breaks. I don't know if they think they're trying to be clever, but it does not work for me.

>4 Tess_W: I hadn't really been contemplating participating in an Atwood read, but had forgotten The Penelopiad, so thanks for the reminder. I've just read Pat Barker's two books The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy, and they reminded me that these myths are well worth exploring.

An interesting Atwood book that may not be read much anymore is Alias Grace, which is well written, but doesn't feel as if you are reading her - you can just enjoy it.

>7 SassyLassy: Yes, Alias Grace was another one I enjoyed, and it's loosely based on a real person in Canadian history.

I've decided to join the goup because by happenstance, I've been reading some Margaret Atwood. My favourites so far have been The Edible Woman and Cat's Eye. Earlier this year, I read Bluebeard's Egg, collection of short stories many of which are inspired from her childhood - I really enjoyed them.
Right now I'm reading Payback, an essay on debt: moral and financial. I'm loving it; she weaves so many concepts as they've emerged through time and it's fascinating.
I have a couple other of her books on my shelves, so I'll pick one for June.