Margaret Atwood

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.

Daily writing prompt

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

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The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck gave me a much better understanding of the Depression and the Dust Bowl and that whole chapter in US history. The take home message that people were poor to the point of starving, with no safety net, is something that stayed with me.

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi was not an easy read, but I’m glad I made it through. It was one of several books that became bestsellers during the worldwide racial justice reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. It’s a survey of the history of anti-Black racist ideas throughout American history. It helped lift the veil from my eyes.

I was having a hard time making it through this very dense and challenging material, so I started a short-term nonfiction book club with two friends over Zoom. I’m glad we read it together in the summer of 2020.

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood came out when I was in college and was a huge bestseller. This dystopian novel describes a Christian fundamentalist theocratic regime in the former United States where some women are forced to conceive and bear children in the most horrific way. It really motivated my involvement with the pro-choice movement of the 1980s. I recently read the sequel: The Testaments, which was published in 2019.

So much of Handmaid’s Tale horror has re-surfaced and resonated loudly since the Dobbs decision by the MAGA Supreme Court. It’s scary—and infuriating.

50 Happens

GenX Mom Keeps Calm & Carries On

Books

Three books