I got this good-condition softcover from Better World Books, after craving it for some time; it's a collection of reviews and essays by Atwood, on various science fiction topics.

It opens with Atwood's explanation of her earliest endeavors in science fiction - along with her childhood prejudices: "I wasn't much interested in Dick and Jane: the creepily ultra-normal characters did not convince me. Saturn was more my speed, and other realms even more outlandish. Several-headed man-eating marine life seemed more likely to me, somehow, than Spot and Puff." She seems to be something of a kindred spirit - and I felt this even more strongly when she described her superhero rabbit toys, as I had some little dinosaur toys that became superheroes too with the addition of little capes {grin}.

She explores connections between Shakespeare and superheroes, describes her changing reading habits as she grew older (she still mapped a lot of mine, from M. R. James to John Wyndham), the nature of myth, and the changing use of "science fiction" as a marketing term.

In "Dire Cartographies" she discusses utopias and dystopias - including her own, in The Handmaid's Tale and other books. (Her comments on the different reactions to that novel in different countries were quite interesting!)

The book includes a number of book-review columns, on such titles as H. Rider Haggard's She - which, it seems, was something of a foundation book for Atwood, and one that I've actually never read, so our reading-lists aren't in lock-step any more. There's also Ursula le Guin, George Orwell, and Kazuo Ishiguro (for Never Let Me Go), and more, each article with personal insights as well as comments on the authors and their work.

At the end of the book are five short items of Atwood's work, including a tale-within-the-tale from The Blind Assassin and an amusing bit of cocktail-party conversation about cryogenics (!). And the book wraps up with "An Open Letter from Margaret Atwood to the Judson Independent School District," which had opted to ban The Handmaid's Tale: she opens by thanking them for their efforts, as "it's encouraging to know that the written word is still taken so seriously." Ahem!

Very good collection, this.

I'm adding this book to the Authoress bookbox, which will be on its way to its next stop soon. Hope someone enjoys the book!

Taken from the Authoress Bookbox - Atwood's take on things is so, well, "Atwoody" - this looks interesting!

I'm sorry that I've taken so long to get to this...I really enjoyed it! I'm going to see about getting a copy to keep, then set this one free. Bubonicon is coming up in late August (Albuquerque's annual con); I'll save this to release then.

I've never read Haggard's "She", but now I'm intrigued. The local public library does not have a paper copy (only an eBook - ugh)...although they do have the Alan Quartermain books - even a copy of "Kong Solomon's Mines" in Vietnamese!!! I love that :-) But the University library has a copy of the annotated edition, so I'm going to give it a whirl.

Thanks for sharing!

Mailed as part of the "Books I've Read" VBB.

Thank you for sharing the book. Also, it was very thoughtful of labmomnm to include a photograph of Albuquerque, my hometown!