Simply by being female I was excluded from the lists of potential usurpers, since no woman could ever sit on the Council of the Commanders; so on that front, ironically, I was safe. My life might have been very different. If only I’d looked around me, taken in the wider view. If only I’d packed …
I read The Handmaid’s Tale a few years ago before this blog existed. It has really shaken me, especially the fact of how easy it would be to introduce the rules described. How very fragile is the balance in which we operate. And in late October I’ve had my worst fears confirmed, for the Polish …
This year's challenge finished on the 3rd September, so typically I am a few days behind on the summary post. And more than a few days behind on the reviews. Cathy at 746 Books as always was a fantastic host, thank you!!! You can find her opening and closing posts here and here. So how did it …
I read this book for the first time as a teenager and loved it. It was my first book by Margaret Atwood and I'm happy about it, Handmaid's Tale would be too obvious 😉 I was curious if it would make such an impression on me now, almost twenty years later. Sadly it didn't. The point of …
As the heatwave scorches continental Europe, the UK finally enjoys a few days of decent weather with the sun. I'm writing this post on my balcony basking in the sun like a cat and finally making use of the reclining chairs I bought in the winter. The second quarter of this year was surprisingly long. …
I had this book on my shelf probably for the last 6 years. I've been reading Margaret Atwood's books since my first year in university, I go at a slow pace I probably read one every two years. The first one was Lady Oracle and I loved it, I don't remember much of it now, …
July was a busy month, I have been with my mum to a Rolling Stones concert in Warsaw, which was amazing despite absolutely horrible acoustics in the stadium (but then who came up with the idea of stadium concerts is beyond me, clearly they are designed to echo). Then on the following weekend I happened …
It took me a while to review this book. I could not make up my mind about it, to be honest, I still cannot, but I've been procrastinating for so long that finally I decided to start writing and see what happens. The first book by Atwood I read was Lady Oracle, when I was in …
Whoosh! And July is over. I was on vacation in the first week of July, have been back for three weeks now, but it feels like it was just a second ago. This month most of my reading was done while on vacation and since I had time I read plenty of books, this probably …
“Do you think we’re brittle?” she’s been known to ask him. Terrific sense of humour is one thing, but brittle is another. “Of course we’re brittle,” he has answered. “We were born brittle! But seek the bright side: you can’t have much taste unless you’re brittle.” He doesn’t add that Jorrie fails to have much …
