Year in Reading

A Year in Reading: Margaret Atwood

By posted at 11:00 am on December 6, 2010 2

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I’m bad at picking such things as the favorite book I read this year. There are so many. What to choose? An already well known book such as The Known World, by Edward P. Jones, or a lesser-known one, such as Alberto Manguel’s All Men Are Liars? Or some poetry, like Robert Bringhurst’s Selected Poems? Or perhaps Lisa Moore’s February, or Alice Munro’s latest collection, Too Much Happiness?

coverNo: best to avoid living authors. The others hear about it and think you don’t like them. So my choice is Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, the urspring of the modern thriller. I read this book with one eye and a flashlight when I was too young to appreciate it, so I was pleased to revisit it as an adult, and pleased also to discover why it hasn’t been out of print since its first publication in 1860.

An intricate story told from the point of view of many characters, including a tombstone; a mystery to be solved; a sinister but compelling villain; a noble and athletic young hero; and a resolute and courageous female protagonist – all this and landscapes too. And a madhouse. And a boathouse! What pleasures!

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2 Responses to “A Year in Reading: Margaret Atwood”

  1. 2010 December 06 | Quill & Quire
    at 12:09 pm on December 6, 2010

    [...] Margaret Atwood likes Wilkie Collins [...]

  2. Emily
    at 2:01 pm on December 6, 2010

    And don’t forget the burst stuffed buzzard! And Aunt Drusilla’s “Satan Under the Tea Table” and “Satan In The Hair-Brush” and Sergeant Cuff’s roses! Such an excellent book.

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