A is for Margaret Atwood

I assume you've heard of the Blogging from A - Z Challenge - I've introduced my theme for the month here. Please take a look if you're unfamiliar with this challenge.

Link to Margaret Atwood's Goodreads Page

 The first Margaret Atwood book I read was The Edible Woman. I loved the prose and the rhythm, something that I enjoy within most of Atwood's books. Looking back, I see it as a feminst novel, although Atwood descibes it as protofeminist. I was under sixteen when I read it, so neither term would have meant much to me. I just saw the possibility of creating wonderful and challenging images with words.

One of the descriptions I remember vividly is that sponge cake reminded Marian of human lungs. It was probably the first novel I read that dealt with themes and the internal dialogue of the character - before that, I'd read a lot of children's novels and quite a lot of 1960s romance that my mum was given and passed on to me.

I was hooked. And I read a lot more Atwood. My favourite is probably Cat's Eyes (which, I realised as I was taking the photo above, I don't actually own) and a short story collection called Wilderness Tips (the third book down - phew, I own that one).

What I most admire about her is that she isn't pinned into a genre. She's written contemporary, dystopian, speculative and historical. Each book seems to be wildly different from the last, although I believe it's mostly the speculative fiction that she enjoys the most - The Handmaid's Tale being the most famous. And I'm so excited because a new collection of short stories is due out this year!