Books

~ MaryG

Which author would you love to have dinner with?

The two novelists I follow on Instagram are living legends—one American and one Canadian. Ideally, I’d have dinner with both of them and silently listen to them talk to each other.

*Barbara Kingsolver, 71, is an acclaimed American novelist known for works like The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, and Demon Copperhead, blending rich storytelling with themes of social justice, family, and the environment. She’s the first author to win the Women’s Prize for Fiction twice (for The Lacuna and Demon Copperhead), and Demon Copperhead also earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2023.

*Margaret Atwood, 86, is a celebrated Canadian novelist known for works like The Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eye, and Oryx and Crake, blending speculative and dystopian fiction with feminist themes and sharp social commentary. She’s won the Booker Prize twice (for The Blind Assassin and The Testaments) and remains one of the most influential English-language authors of her generation.

(*Bios by Claude)

Speaking of contemporary fiction, I highly recommend Absolution by Alice McDermott.

Really good!

22 thoughts on “Books”

  2. Thank you for showing “Stamped from the Very Beginning” on your shelf. There are multiple versions of it now that can be used with very young readers so people can facilitate conversations about race with them.

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    1. You’re welcome! That was not an easy read. I actually had to form a small nonfiction book club with two friends just to make my way through it. We read and then talked about a couple sections at a time. It’s good that Dr Kendi put out an easier version!

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      1. Hahahahaha. I get it. I read lots of studies and articles and such; although, it is dense, I understand what you’re saying.

        I like that he has a collaborator who helped him get the history into the hands of children. Seems truly important at this moment.

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  3. I agree with you on two of these and disagree on two! Ha, my typicaly difficult response. I love Atwood and looked closely at her (with two other writers) in my thesis in the early 1990s. Love Kingsolver, as well!

    Why did you need to go to AI to get their bios, when great bios by their publishers are so easy to find on the regular internet? So, Claude is the third one I don’t really like. We all talk about hating data centers and being worried about the power of AI over our lives.

    Alice McDermont has bugs me with her self-effacing (is that a thing?) awe shucks, little-ole-me attitude. This book is really that good, though, huh?

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      1. Let me know what you think! My parents are the exact same generation as the main characters (married in ‘62) and also devout Catholics, so I felt like it was a good book for understanding the historical context of my life. I have vague recollections of Vietnam being discussed by my parents & relatives.

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  4. So cool that you did your thesis on Atwood! But see, that’s a difference between us. I never would’ve written a thesis – or even gone to grad school. I’m lazy! AI is quick and so concise.
    I don’t know much about McDermott personally, but I really did like this book a lot. Two of my trusted reader friends also loved it.

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    1. She’d be a great choice too. And she’s so funny…you’d be laughing a lot. I still think of my cellulite-y thighs as “two dear aunties” because of one of her books.😆

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  8. I’ve never heard of Barbara Kingsover and I’ve only heard of Margaret Atwood because of the series A Handmaids Tale. I’m guessing this is cultural difference again. I would have chosen J R R Tolkien without any hesitation and probably Harper Lee which is definitely someone whose writing made it across the Atlantic and still features as part of the English literature syllabus here

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    1. Interesting choices. I read a lot of contemporary fiction. (That’s my sweet spot.) Always a great selection of modern Irish writers to choose from too!

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