8.20.2010

Hang On to the Words

Reading now: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
"Hang on to the words," he tells himself. The odd words, the old words, the rare ones. Valance. Norn. Serendipity. Pibroch. Lubricious. When they're gone out of his head, these words, they'll be gone, everywhere, forever. As if they had never been."
One of my all-time favorite books is Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, a wonderfully creative dystopian novel. Oryx and Crake is my second Atwood and so far, it's just as good as my first. After I finished The Woman Warrior I was looking at books on my TBR pile trying to decide what to read next. I picked up Oryx and Crake to read a page or two and get a feel for the narrative - 70 pages later I realized I had inadvertently decided.

9 comments:

  1. Ahhh, I am so excited to read The Handmaid's Tale! I am participating in a read along that starts next week, and I've been biting my nails in anticipation of the start! I had heard Oryx and Crake to be fantastic as well, and I'm all atwitter and aflutter -- I'm ready to read some Atwood, I've never read her work before! (I know, I'm embarrassed by that!) :)

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  2. I'm so excited for you! It's fantastic.

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  3. I love the look of your copy of this book- mine is rather plain. I loved that quote you included - definitely piqued my interest with regards to this book. Hmmm...I haven't read it yet, but I've been meaning to place it higher on my TBR list and then follow it with Year of the Flood...hmmm. Thanks, Brenna!

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  4. I absolutely adored The Handmaid's Tale, and yet I still haven't picked up another Atwood. Clearly, I should.

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  5. Nadia, It took me awhile to get around to this but I'm really happy I picked it up!

    Trisha, I was the same way! I read The Handmaid's Tale at least 4 or 5 years ago and it wasn't until now that I picked up a second.

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  6. This was also my second Atwood novel after reading The Handmaid's Tale and I really enjoyed it. I have recently purchased Year of the Flood with is the prequel to Oryx and Crake.

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  7. I'm so glad you visited my blog so I could discover yours! I haven't read Oryx and Crake, but loved Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace. I lover her writing style.

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  8. Brenna, I have been anxious to read a wonderful "grown up" book for a while now and I think Oryx and Crake may be the one for me... I just finished reading your full review and it sounds amazing! I wanted to post under your mini-review b/c I LOVE all of your part-way-through-the-book, fabulous quote, teaser intros to your current reads. They always get me looking forward to reading your final review a few days later. I actually thought of you when I just posted the S. Alexie quote from the very beginning of TADoaP-TI! Thanks for the inspiration :)

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  9. Jessica, I'm eager to purchase The Year of the Flood! I keep a lookout for a review on your blog :)

    Shelley, I haven't read Alias Grace but I'm starting to think I should probably read all of Atwood's novels at some time.

    Katie, I'm happy to hear you like my small teaser quotes! I usually post one after I'm 100 or so pages in. I'm even happier I've inspired you to do the same!

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