Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Women I Love, Part 5







Margaret Atwood is so cool.  Her books were the first ones I started reading when I decided that I could no longer read books for "Young Adults".  Thirteen or so?  The first one I remember really loving was The Edible Woman.  Then Cat's Eye.  Then The Handmaids Tale.  Then Surfacing.  And on and on for the next decade and more.  I think there might be a couple of ones I haven't read - a non-fiction one, a collection of essays, maybe.  But I'm pretty dedicated, and never disappointed.  She is just so brilliant and clever and knows human beings uncannily well.

She has this voice, too.  Whenever I hear that voice, usually on CBC radio, it's so recognizable, kind of raspy, a little deep, and so smart.  Mary gave me her biography, and the most excellent thing about her is that she has aways been totally herself.  Even from a young age when she was kind of a tomboy and a little brainier than might have been desirable in a woman.  And she always had that halo of dark curly hair and that wry, knowing smile and those eyes that seem like they wouldn't turn away from anything.

It's hard to imagine what life is like with that kind of brain...

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