Author: Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is the third author that I am featuring on Great Authors, and one of my all-time favourites. She is a Canadian author, and definitely worth checking out.

I rarely come across an author with such a distinctive style of writing. It is so descriptive, and I love that she tells the story by describing what is happening, rather than using a lot of conversation. She is the sort of author that delves so deeply into the characters minds that it can become hard to remember that you are a different person.

I often describe reading Margaret Atwood as like being on a roller coaster. Sometimes it is frustratingly challenging but when you finish reading it you have to sit back and marvel at the wonderful experience that you have just had. I don't know about you, but for me this is like a roller coaster. When I am on one, I am terrified and want to get off, but as soon as the ride is finished, the rush of adrenaline makes me want to get straight back on.

I have had many different reactions to her books.

• I read The Handmaid's Tale in high school and didn't really enjoy it as much as I know a lot of people did. Perhaps that might just be because I had to read it, rather than chose to.


• The Blind Assassin feels like it was the first Atwood book I ever read, and I can definitely say that my love of her books can be traced back to this story. I just felt a part of what was happening as I read it which is very special.

She is also very varied - writing novels, short stories, poetry and non-fiction.

• The Tent is a wonderful collection of short stories, all well written and with beautiful messages that make you think beyond what you have read.


• The Penelopiad is also wonderful. It is a short novel, telling the story of Homer's Odyssey from Penelope's perspective, and that of her maids. It blends in prose and gives a totally new and fascinating spin on an old story.


• Payback is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read, without a single doubt. It is a theoretical discussion about the concept of debt, not just financial debt, but non-financial too, and Atwood explores the issue of debt through literary discussion. It is this book that read me to read The Mill on the Floss which I reviewed when I first started Page Turners. I found her discussion of the concept of debt in The Mill on the Floss so interesting that I couldn't help but read the book for myself. I genuinely hope that more people read this book because I think it is very relevant in this day and age.

I own many many of her books and recommend them all:

• Alias Grace
• The Tent
• Payback
• The Blind Assassin
• The Robber Bride
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Bodily Harm
• The Penelopiad
• Moral Disorder
• Oryx and Crake
• Negotiating with the Dead - A writer on writing

I haven't finished the last book mentioned, and I think that I try and read it for the Bibliophilics Book Challenge that I am participating in this year.

What keeps me going back to Margaret Atwood is her distinctive story telling style and the way that she crafts her characters. You can't help but become part of the story so deeply and in such different ways that reading her is like a never-ending journey that I hope never ends.

I hope that everyone gives Margaret Atwood a try.

Originally posted 9 February 2010 Page Turners