Our Shared Shelf discussion

After reading The Handmaid's Tale I have fallen in love with two things: the first one is this book club. It's so Amazing Reading and discussing books with such brilliant people, with their perspectives on feminism from all over the world. I find it very enlightening and educational as well as inspiring.
The second thing I've fallen in love with is the writing style of Margaret Atwood. This is the first of her books I've read and I want more. Therefore I would love if all of you, who have read more of her work, could give your best recomendations for the next Atwood novel to dive in to after Handmaid's Tale! Since this is a feminist book club, maybe especially books that suits that theme?

The Blind Assassin is good, there is a novel within the novel and it's basically about 2 sisters who are brought up not to be independent. Like The Handmaid's Tale this novel shifts between different times and as I have mentioned, between the two stories taking place. The narrator is writing a book about her sister and the story that her sister wrote and why, very interesting.

Alias Grace is another great story, it is about another female lead who is also imprisoned due to her gender limitations but then also because of a crime that is committed. I should mention that this novel is based on true events that happened in the 1840's. It centre's around mental illness and during Grace's POV we never really know when she is either speaking or thinking. Another great story that will stay with you for a very long time, is Grace a murderess or is she suffering from a split personality illness?

I have only read Oryx and Crake a few years back. I have to say Atwood does an amazing job writing dystopian societies. I wonder if she wrote any books on utopian societies...

I have read most of her works. She is a beloved Canadian author and her writing is a wonderful thing to experience. I highly recommend Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, and The Edible Woman, in particular.

Cat's Eye is my very favourite Margaret Atwood book!!

Sarah wrote: "The Blind Assassin is good, there is a novel within the novel and it's basically about 2 sisters who are brought up not to be independent. Like The Handmaid's Tale this novel shifts between differe..."

Sorry, but is not just good, it is brilliant and a winner of the Booker Prize!!!!! So, it is a must-read :)

Wow thank you for all the recommendations and your views on the books! I'm really looking forward getting started with the Atwood reading :)

wow! My TBR pile just got bigger

You cant go wrong. Alias Grace if you lile the TV component because that will soon be a mini series. Blind Assassin is also quite good. Her poetry is fantastic as well. I just finished Moral Disorder which i liked but I think its more so because I am a huge fan and it feels autobiographical. MaddAddam Trilogy I loved. Again, dealing with an unbalanced society. I feel like the way she paints one character is definitely a portrait of smart men who claim to be accepting but use micro aggressions and actually do more harm than good to equality. That was just my impression. The Heart Goes Last was also good. Short, one off book. It plays heavily on marraige and I think it isnt so much feminist as a realistic portrayl of marraige in a possibly predictable future. It deals mostly with prisons for profit.

Good!!
Bon!!

I didn't care for The Blind Assassin, for some reason. But despite that, I look forward to reading her other books, because I've heard that most of the others are up to the caliber of Handmaid's Tale, and since I found that one brilliant, I'm sure I will enjoy the others. Every author is entitled to an "off" book every once in awhile.

Unsuccessfully looking for "The Handmaid's Tale" in my public library (I bought it a few days later), I found a lot of books of Atwood there, in French and in English. It's a shame I didn't know her work before, fortunately OSS is here :-) I borrowed "The Stone Mattress" and extremely enjoyed this book, composed of nine (not-so-)short stories. The style is great and many stories are purely brilliant!

I highly recommend The Robber Bride. It was the first Margaret Atwood book I read and it still is a favorite today!

A lot of people have already weighed in, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity. The Blind Assassin is definitely my next fav after Handmaid's Tale. Then I would probably recommend Alias Grace and The Robber Bride. I enjoyed the MaddAddam Trilogy, but I would recommend these others first. What I haven't tried yet is her poetry. Anybody have any recommendations there?

I agree Keith, I barely remember what the book was about, because I was so bored with it.

But Handmaid's Tale is so good and I've heard other works of hers so highly lauded that I figure it's her one bad one of the batch and I'm not scared off from her :)

Personally, I loved the Blind Assasin. It took me a while to warm up to the book, but the story gripped me and I was incredibly invested by the end. As a twenty-something, the way she described being old was fascinating but also heart breaking.

Cats Eye as well as The Robber Bride. Both wonderful novels.

I loved Alias Grace.

The Blind Assassin is certainly not her bad one, it won The Booker prize!!!! It kind of seems boring at the beginning because of the description of the time, the people, the loneliness of an old lady but I think it also adds up to the story to stress what the main character has lost from her younger years. But most importantly, once you have passed this stage of description, the story delves into a mystery, which Kate describes as gripping and I agree. It becomes a real page-turner and I personally was gobsmacked by its ending. Atwood's writing is so rich that it plays with the readers and what looks like a boring story becomes an absorbing and fascinating love story. A must-read!

I highly recommend The Edible Women, which is about a young women named Marian who gets engaged and regrets it. Also Alias Grace!

I like the blind assassin it obviously a very different work from Handmaid. There is a feminist theme as there is with all the authors work

Keith wrote: "Kate wrote: "....As a twenty-something, the way she described being old was fascinating but also heart breaking"

This is an interesting point.

As someone who is some thirty years older than Kate..."

That's definitely a good point, and something I would encourage everyone to do! I personally have talked a lot with my grandmother about her past, but older people sometimes aren't as comfortable in expressing their feelings. It's only been in the last 20 years that she was able to talk about events that happened in the war (I'm from Austria, so she was in the middle of the second world war), and while I know the timeline of her life, she will never tell me in details how she feels right now or how she felt back then.

Interesting how some people really didn't like the book! I can understand it if you've stopped halfway though.

I'm currently reading year of the flood which is really good.

The Atwood I read after handmaid's tale was the edible woman. It's very different than the dystopian nature of HT but it has a feminist undertone in what appears to be a contemporary situation of a girl who doesn't know what she wants out of life anymore.

I read the Edible Woman when I was growing up and it was my first favorite Atwood book. The book that made me a fan. I also loved Surfacing back then.

Since then I've read many and really loved Crake and Oryx, The Year of the Flood and The Stone Mattress.