Welcome to Week Three, MARMers: the midpoint of the sixth iteration of this reading celebration. And, of course, there’s cake to come, because it’s the birthday week. But, in the meantime, back to the books. Coincidentally, I also discovered Margaret Atwood in the Giller-nominated Girlfriend on Mars (2023) by
When Nell comes home just before dinnertime as “First Aid” opens, many readers will recognise her immediately, as I did. I first met married couple Nell and Tig in the linked collection Moral Disorder (2006). I read that collection on the subway, mornings and early evenings; the rhythm of
Reading this, the Take 30 interviewer’s comments from 1977 circled in my mind: an unrealised conversation, where declaration replaces exploration. The interviewer said the stories filled her with sadness, all those rotten situations and dismal romantic relationships; however, she mentioned no details and referenced just one story dedicated to
Initially, I watched Hana Gartner interviewing Margaret Atwood on “Take 30” Sept. 27, 1977 as a complement to Dancing Girls, and ostensibly that’s the subject. But it’s more interesting as an example of the kind of preconceptions and judgements Atwood’s faced throughout her career. You don’t learn about the
It’s a tough industry when a magazine as amazing as Freeman’s can’t make it. I said the same thing about Tin House, The Believer, and Bookforum too—the latter have resumed publication recently—and I don’t subscribe to them all myself. In the recent Lithub piece, “On the Ending of a
