Of course it started with a conversation. We were chatting about Margaret Atwood’s books – the ones we haven’t read yet and the ones we want to reread – and it quickly became clear that we could spend a year at this. Why not start with a month? So, here is Margaret Atwood Reading Month: November 2018.

Margaret Atwood Reading Month is hosted by Naomi at Consumed by Ink and Marcie at BuriedInPrint and inspired by decades of reading Margaret Atwood’s words: journalism and fiction, poetry and comics.

From November 1, 2018 through November 30, 2018 we’ll be reading Margaret Atwood, and we invite you to join. (On the 18th, Margaret Atwood celebrates her birthday and quietly we’ll be celebrating along with her, by reading her work. That also might be an excellent reason for cake!)

Want to join in the celebration? It’s easy. Just read one thing by Margaret Atwood or one hundred things (well, poems add up). Something. Anything. Printed page or audiobook: whatever tickles your fancy.

Post about it where you love to bookchat and then leave your link to that post in a comment below – here or on Naomi’s site. Either on this page or, as the month unfolds, on one of the event posts yet-to-come. We will curate the content and share at the end of the event.

Looking for more structure? We’re also planning weekly posts on our own sites according to the following themes.

Feel free to join in, either by commenting or creating your own contributions, on:

Week One: November 1, 2018
Beginnings
Your first Margaret Atwood

Week Two: November 8, 2018
Covers
Remarkable cover images

Week Three: November 15, 2018
Favourites
The ones you love or admire most

Week Four: November 22, 2018
Quotations
“A word after a word after a word is power.” etc. 

Week Five: November 29, 2018
Endings
What’s next: another book? a TV adaptation? a speech?

We first discovered Margaret Atwood through her writing, so we do want to make that the core of our reading month celebration. But there are so many platforms for her work now: videos, mini-series, TV series, films, theatre, podcasts, choral works. So once you’ve read something, if you’re inspired to watch/listen/attend something: feel free to share those experiences as well.

Looking for inspiration?

Here is a complete bibliography on the author’s own site

Our previous posts on Margaret Atwood:  Alias Grace(M); Alias Grace (N); The Circle Game (M); The Door (M); Hag-Seed (M); The Handmaid’s Tale (M); The Heart Goes Last (M); The Heart Goes Last (N); Maddaddam (M); Moral Disorder (N);  Negotiating with the Dead (M); Oryx and Crake (M); The Penelopiad (M); Stone Mattress (M); Stone Mattress (N); and The Year of the Flood (M).

Here is the Wikipedia page for Margaret Atwood

So if you’ve never read one of her books and are looking for a comfortable nook to try? Here’s an opportunity. And if you’ve read them all and are looking for a reason to reread? This could be it. Or if you’re curious about something of hers you’ve never tried (maybe her essays or children’s books)? Why not now.

We’ve got some ideas (of course we do – that’s what started all this in the first place, too many ideas about reading and rereading) but we’re waiting to see how interested you are, and what you’re most interested in reading before we announce what specifically we’ll be reading and discussing for #MARM

Hope you’ll join! But, if not, we’ll just be over here, reading (and having cake) and reading some more.

PS If you would like to use a badge to join in the celebration, there are three sizes below.