The grottiness and expense of London began to get to her; she got tired of gorging on the canapés at literary launches in order to scrimp on groceries, tired of the fuggy smell of cigarettes ground into the red-and-maroon carpeting of pubs, tired of the pipes bursting every time it froze in winter, and of …
A collection of short stories that does not disappoint. Taking us on a trip down the paths where reality meets imagination and the world becomes a bit weird. On one hand, each of those stories is very normal, things that would totally happen to people every day. But then each of them also has the …
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 …
