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!

National Short Story Day - 22nd December

This is just a quickie post. I'm just not getting to my laptop much at the moment, for all the obvious reasons.

The 22nd has been declared National Short Story Day by Arts Council England and Creative Scotland.

(The web site states 22nd is the shortest day, which would make sense as short stories are also short, but I'm sure the shortest day is the 21st, so to be on the safe side - in case the dates have been messed up somewhere - I'm posting this today! If I'm wrong, then I'm simply giving you a day's notice.)

Check out the website, listen to some short stories, follow some links, grab your favourite short story collection and read. I'd love to hear who your favourite short story writers are and what your favourite story/collection is. Mine is Margaret Atwood, and my favourite collection is Ali Smith's The First Person.

In case this is my last post before Christmas:

Books I wish I'd written

Inspiration seems to have frozen as deeply as the weather outside, so I thought I would share a few of the books I wish I'd written (which are also some of my favourite books, so also take this list as books I recommend).

Fight Club by Chuck Palanhuick - Obviously this book was made into that film with the gorgeous Brad Pitt and incredibly talented Ed Norton. I first read the book after I watched the film, and I believe it's better. The ending makes so much more sense in the book! The prose is highly stylized and rhythmic, with the kind of repetition of words and ideas that I sometimes employ myself. It's a joy to read and very satisfying when you reach the end.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom - I've mentioned this book in other posts and also, I think, on Facebook. It's a very happy and uplifting book, which gives a new take on Heaven. The main character is a lovely old man who doesn't feel he's achieved his life's ambitions due to outisde influences such as WWII.  I'm not sure I can say much more about this book, but I highly recommend this book. I should also mention that I bought this book entirely based on the title, which makes me realise how important titles really are.

Quite Contrary by Suzannah Dunn - I found this book in a discount book shop just after I'd read an article about it where the author mentioned it was only 56,000 words long. I bought it because of its length basically, but the writing is so rounded and believable, and the dialogue rings very true.

Snake by Kate Jennings - Set in the Australian outback it charts the life of a dissatisfied couple. Again, I picked this book up because it's very short, some of the chapters are barely two or three paragraphs long, and it's good for me to know that there are some publishers who are willing to take risks with prose. Kate Jennings is a poet, first and foremost, and you can definitely tell by reading this novel. The writing flows so well and so powerfully, so many emotions are shaped with so few words.

I need something by Margaret Atwood on this list, so I'm going to chose The Robber Bride. I think this was the first Margaret Atwood book I read, then I worked backwards. Whenever I read her, I mimic her style, which is long and descriptive and flowing and veers off in so many tangents. My style mimicking her style works very badly, but it's a lesson for me in how to write more expansively. In The Robber Bride, for example, she has a character who likes to reverse her words and sentences (if I remember correctly, it's been a while since I read it) - which is a perfect devise for writing everything out twice and doubling the word count!!!!

And lastly, Paradise by Toni Morrison - I was surprised to enjoy this book, because at school I read Beloved, and found it very difficult to get past the first page without being totally confused; there was just something very peculiar about the prose that didn't agree with me. Paradise, on the other hand, did everything I love about reading about foreign countries - it toally immersed me and made even the most mundane things about daily Deep South life seem exotic. Whenever I read it I always embark on an exercise to make South East Cornwall seem exotic - I haven't achieved it yet.

That's my list. I hope you search out a couple of these, or perhaps share your favourite books with me.