Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Margaret Atwood (1-2)

Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021 by Margaret Atwood

Dearly by Margaret Atwood

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Burning Questions This is the latest collection of nonfiction from Margaret Atwood which comes from the years 2004-2022 or so. She mentions early on that she’s published a version of this book for each 20 years of her writing career, and given that she’s rounding the corner on 85 years, I am imagine there won’t be another collection of the same, but I wouldn’t put it past her. Among other things, there’s no doubt in my mind how ridiculous sharp she still is, and this […]

Bonus books after my Cannonball! A short Margaret Atwood story

My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

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This is apparently an Amazon Original Story, whatever that means? I knew that it was free and it was a short one, that’s for sure. I’ve read a bunch of Margaret Atwood’s books, so I thought I’d give this one a try, since it was only an hour long. I basically only read kindle books and audiobooks, so my books are measured in hours, not pages! Our main character is fifteen and growing up in the fifties with a mother who basically claims she’s a […]

Some

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

Hiroshima by John Hersey

Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe

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The Penelopiad – 4/5 This short book was written as part of a mythology fiction project in the early 00s where contemporary writers took on classic myths. Karen Armstrong wrote an overall history of mytholy, David Grossman wrote about Samson and Delilah, AS Byatt wrote about Ragnorok. As she did with the Shakespeare project when she wrote Hag-Seed based in The Tempest, she knocked the ball out of the park with this one. I think this is in part because she already has written numerous […]

Adaptations are a net good

The Handmaid's Tale by Renee Hault, Margaret Atwood

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I forget when, but I remember I tried to read Atwood’s original book and couldn’t get into it. Since then, I’ve watched an episode of the show and seen how it’s reflecting our day-to-day lives more and more, so I thought the graphic novel adaptation would be a perfect avenue for a second attempt. I was right; the story does work much better for me in this format. Then again, that comes as no surprise because I tend to prefer graphic novels; I’m absolute bunk […]

The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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The other day (it’s 2022 by the way) a Republican candidate for office thanked Donald Trump for protecting “white life” and the crowd cheered. Her campaign later said she meant the “right to life” but sometimes you say what you mean, instead of saying what you meant to say. It happens. In rereading The Handmaid’s Tale, I am struck again by how profoundly dishonest Conservatives are. They are trying to preserve white life, and always have been, but they will just lie to your face […]

My Evil Mother

My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

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This was a great short story by Margaret Atwood. I haven’t been able to get into some of her stuff like “The Heart Goes Last” but this was wonderful. It’s honestly a great short story showing how much a mother did love her daughter, and how much though a daughter did not understand her mother, she realizes in the end how much she was loved. Mixed in was some fantasy elements which you have to figure out where real or not real.



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