Blurb on back cover:
"A leathery bog-man transforms an old love affair; a sweet, gruesome gift is sent by the wife of an ex-lover; landscape paintings are haunted by the ghost of a young girl. This dazzling collection of ten short stories takes us into familiar Atwood territory to reveal the logic of irrational behaviour and the man textures lying beneath ordinary life."

From Amazon.com:
Set mainly in Toronto or in the Canadian woods, the 10 beautifully controlled tales in Atwood's new collection testify to the unpredictability of life, its missed connections, unsolvable mysteries and the lightning passage of time. Most of them are refracted through the sensibilities and memories of female protagonists, who reflect on the moment when they realized that "nothing has turned out" as they expected. Past and present coalesce seamlessly in these stories; Atwood is particularly good at capturing the feelings of adolescence and the exact details that typify the culture of the decades from the '50s to the '90s. Events are seen at a distance, related in emotionally muted but acutely revealing prose. The hard-edged tone of "Hairball" perfectly conjures up the ruthless, manipulative protagonist who suddenly realizes that she has been bested by her obnoxious protege. Susanna, in "Uncles," has a similar comeuppance, as she, the consummate trickster who "can fake anything" is betrayed by her mentor. In both "The Bog Man" (the least successful tale, as here Atwood uncharacteristically veers toward melodrama) and "The Age of Lead" a body uncovered long after death serves as a metaphor for buried desires, opportunities and hopes. In the title story, Atwood observes the interrelationships among three sisters and the randy foreigner who has married one of them and made love to the other two. Atwood's uncompromising eye is enhanced by her sinewy, taut prose.

One of the books from a massive lot that I won off eBay! I thought it would be good for it to go travelling first before it comes home to me for me to read :) This bookring is still open, Australia only, PM me if you would like to join.


BookRing Instructions:
1. When you receive the book, please make a journal entry so everyone knows it has safely arrived.
2. When you finish the book, please make another journal entry to share some of your thoughts - enjoyed the book, or absolutely hated it?
3. Continue the BookRing by checking this journal entry for the latest list, and sending a PM to the person after you on the list requesting their postal address.
4. Please try to send on the book as soon as you can, preferably within a month. If you need more time, that's not a problem at all. Either send me a PM or write a journal entry to let me know that the book is safe with you. Thanks! :)
5. Most importantly, ENJOY!

Participants:
1. hunnyb
2. xoddam
3. deense
4. dolphin-au
5. theadi

Back home with me, thanks everyone! (^_^)

RELEASE NOTES:

Off on its merry way! Mailed out to the first participant, hunnyb, enjoy! :)

Received today - thanks leeny37! Have got xoddam's Oryx and Crake to read first but will get to this one soon :)

Must confess I read this before Oryx and Crake - I thought I would just read the first story but then got hooked :) I thought "Hairball" was hilarious, and "Death by Landscape" really haunting. Another stand-out was "Hack Wednesday" - although I admit... what happened?? It's the last story in the book that talks about different coloured underpants. Oh, and "Wilderness Tips" (the title story) was excellent as well :)

Am sending along to xoddam now - thanks leeny37 for sharing this!!

Collected from the post office yesterday. Thanks leeny37, hunnyb!

PS I'm over-bookringed at the moment and won't read this for a bit, if you think I need prodding feel free to PM me.

There are a few delicious paragraphs in here:

"Battered women. I can see it in lights, like a roadside fast food joint. Get some fresh. Sort of like onion rings and deep-fried chicken. Would Molly have laughed? Yes. No. Yes. Battered. Covered in slime, then dipped into hell. Not so inappropriate, after all."

And this man reminds me very much of myself:

"Eric is sitting at the kitchen table having his morning rage."

Atwood is a beautiful writer, not afraid to remind us to be mindful of ourselves and of what is going on around us.

PMing deense; I'll hand it over on Monday if she can make it.

Next on the bookring, picked up at the meetup last night!

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending off to dolphin_au

This arrived safely. Looking forward to another Atwood! Only one other bookring to compete with this one, so it shouldn't be too long.

I think I like Atwood's novels better than these short stories. She is brilliant at times, especially the way she can bring a character fully to life in a few well chosen words, but overall I found these stories a bit too depressing. Most of the main characters have a very bleak outlook on life. Maybe it is the Toronto winters that do that to them? I certainly hope I won't end up as gloomy as these characters. Growing older is not that bad! Like Xoddam I recognised myself in Eric. The rage against the world may be impotent, but like George from the story Wilderness tips, he is one of the few characters not worn down too much by his experiences and has some fighting spirit left. It is curious that the women in these stories, even though acting 'independent' and 'emancipated' end up with so little in the end. This seems like a somber assessment of the achievements of women's lib.

Arrived safely today along with a surprise RABCK. Thanks leeny37 and dolphin-au!
I'm nearly done with my current book, so I'll get started on this one shortly.

I always have time for Margaret Atwood, though like dolphin-au I think I prefer her novels. Atwood's writing unfolds so carefully and with such delicious wording that I feel that the short stories almost don't allow enough room for her tales. Almost.
Favourites?
"Hairball", "Death by Landscape", "Uncles" and "Wilderness Tips".

Thankyou for sharing such a worthwhile read, leeny37!

As I am the last person in the ring at this stage, I have PMed leeny37 for further intructions...

This book has returned home to me, thanks everyone for being a part of my bookring! :) Back onto Mt. TBR it goes...

Hmmm... I'm not sure what I thought about these short stories. To be honest, half the time I'm thinking, what's going on here? I was left feeling more baffled than satisfied sometimes. Like most others, my favourites were 'Hairball', 'Uncles' and 'Death by Landscape' -- although the latter was one of those that made me go, huh? Maybe my thick brain is missing the deeper meaning of some of these stories...

RELEASE NOTES:

Released via BookMooch.com.

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