Margaret Atwood writes about story-telling and how the books she read in her youth led her to become a writer. Atwood grew up a voracious reader. She loved Sherlock and Oz and science fiction. Atwood read H. G. Wells, Verne, and more contemporary SF writers like John Wyndham. Her analysis of the differences between Wells and Verne are enlightening. Atwood tells how she came to write dystopian books like The Handmaiden’s Tale, Oryx and Crake, and Year of the Flood. I found Atwood’s insights clever and thought-provoking. GRADE: A
This one goes on my Christmas list.
Margaret Atwood is a marvelous writer, Patti. IN OTHER WORLDS will delight you.
Terrible cover.
The text is laid out in strange patterns, Stan. But the colors are bright!
I agree, awful cover. Not just the text layout, but the imagery as well.
I think the cover on IN OTHER WORLDS is some art director’s idea of what a science fiction cover should look like, Rick.
I like Wells, early Wells at least. But Verne, not so much. Maybe I’m not reading the right translations.
I prefer Wells over Verne, too, Drongo. According to Atwood, Verne dismissed Wells because Wells wrote about things Verne thought could never happen: time machines, Martian invasions. Verne wrote about things he thought would happen: atomic submarines, etc.