I have to confess that I do love an excuse to rummage amongst my bookshelves; so the fact that I managed to get involved in Margaret Atwood Reading Month, and also that so many people have been sharing pictures of their Atwood collections kind of spurred me on to take down all of my copies of her books with a view to providing some gratuitous book images. What I hadn’t quite taken on board was the number of Atwoods I actually own… Here they are, firstly, in a little row:
So – quite a few…
And here are the lovely Green cover Virago editions:
I prefer to get the Green Virago versions when I can, though they’re becoming harder to track down. I read these decades ago, so memories of them are fairly fuzzy. There are a couple of what I would class as Green Viragos, although they only have a green coloured spine, and these are they:
As you can tell, “Conversations” was picked up from the Loros charity shop on a visit to the Offspring and if I recall correctly was spotted by Eldest Child.
And here are the non-Green Viragos:
Some are much older than others, and I *do* quite like the modern style ones. As not everything she wrote is available in Green, there’s not much I can do about it, is there??? 🙂 These two, however, are big chunky book club editions:
The image on “The Blind Assassin” is striking, but I don’t find the format particularly nice.
Then there are the hardbacks:
I don’t think I bought all of these new, although I’m pretty sure I picked up “Alias Grace” as soon as it came out – it’s one of my favourite Atwood books. They’re bulky and heavy to read, but I do like a chunky hardback.
Last but not least are the oddities!
“The Tent” is a small format hardback; “Lady Oracle” is an American edition with a striking cover which I don’t need as I have a Green Virago but I don’t like to get rid of it; and “The Labrador Fiasco” is the Bloomsbury Quid I reviewed a couple of days ago.
So there you are. My Margaret Atwood collection. She’s a very prolific author and I don’t have anywhere near all of her books. Except – I have a collection of her poetry (and I know this because I’ve reviewed some on here) and it’s not with the rest of the books and that’s most annoying…. 😦
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Nov 30, 2018 @ 07:09:57
Wonderful! I like the Viragos too:)
Nov 30, 2018 @ 09:54:55
They’re much the prettiest of the lot! 🙂
Nov 30, 2018 @ 09:08:14
That IS quite a amazing collection. I think I only habe one, and borrowed the rest from the library. But it must be nice to have them all close to hand.
Nov 30, 2018 @ 09:54:43
It’s lovely to have them all – I’ve gradually built the collection up over the years and I would find it very hard to part with them….
Nov 30, 2018 @ 09:42:57
A lovely collection, and isn’t it remarkable that someone could be published as a VMC in the very early days and still be writing and relevant today?!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 09:54:14
It’s quite wonderful – she’s still such an inspiration after all these years!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 11:43:22
I was a little gutted that #marm conflicted with #germanlitmonth. Try as I might I couldn’t find anything she’d written in German. 😂
Nov 30, 2018 @ 15:52:36
LOL! I’m just glad I managed to squeeze in both German and Atwood this month!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 12:26:52
Good grief! I had no idea she’d written so much! Lovely collection
Nov 30, 2018 @ 15:52:14
She’s *very* prolific (have a look at the list on Wikipedia!). And I don’t have everything. There’s perhaps an unexpected amount of non-fiction, and I do love her non-fiction writing!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 13:06:55
I love seeing all the different covers! There are a few I’ve never seen before.
Nov 30, 2018 @ 15:51:25
She’s been through a lot of editions, that’s for sure! And different publishers. I must admit to being quite fond of that odd American edition!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 15:00:21
What a lovely collection! Having so admired similar posts you’ve assembled for traditional classic authors, I admit that I was rather hoping to have a closer peek at your Atwoods. I’m intrigued by the dual edition in the second-last photo by Bloomsbury – is it really a pairing of Cat’s Eye and Life before Man? What a strange duo to select!
I admire the Handmaid’s cover you’ve got, too, as my copy has two hadndmaids too, but not standing together, and that changes everything: they can be (and likely are!) whispering in your cover. In mine, they can only THINK as though they are side-by-side (and maybe aren’t even doing that, under the circumstances). Thanks for posting these to coincide with MARM and I’m glad it inspired you to pull your Atwoods off the shelves for a jaunt into the outer room!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 15:50:54
If you click on the pictures you can get to see a slightly bigger version of the images, and yes, that *is* “Cat’s Eye” and “Life Before Man” in one volume. I can’t remember where I got it, and I can’t imagine why they would release them like that – most odd. She’s certainly had a range of interesting covers.
I have two “Blind Assassins” for an odd reason – I bought a copy for my Eldest Child last Christmas and it came damaged. I got a replacement but was allowed to keep the damaged one so I have a big book club version and a battered new version. And yes – I do like the old “Handmaid’s” cover!
Very tempting though to start picking them up and reading or re-reading…
Nov 30, 2018 @ 15:53:24
This was good fun. Being Canadian, it was almost like a glimpse of an alternate universe, with some covers looking very similar (The Blind Assassin) and others (Oryx and Crake) unrecognizable. I knew Virago had published Atwood in the UK, but had no idea there were so many!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 15:55:25
There are *so* many Atwoods! And I’d be equally keen to see a collection of Canadian editions! 😀
Nov 30, 2018 @ 17:43:20
Damn, I don’t have one Virago Atwood! Guess they weren’t prevalent here. I’ve loved her from the beginning. Wonderful collection.
Nov 30, 2018 @ 20:15:00
Pretty much all of her books seem to be in Virago over here, but I don’t know who published her in other countries. Although I do have one American edition which I rather like! 😀
Nov 30, 2018 @ 19:00:50
Oh I am a bit green over your greens, despite loving my own editions. Those covers are fab! You have several Atwood books that I don’t have yet, there are a number on my wishlist.
Nov 30, 2018 @ 20:13:34
The Greens are very lovely – but of course Atwood has been writing for so long that not all of hers were published in those editions! I still have plenty of her titles missing from my collection, so lots more of Margaret to look forward to!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 20:24:39
That’s a lovely collection. I’ve only read three of her books so far – I obviously have a lot to look forward to!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 20:27:48
She’s written so many varied books over the years – really, we’re spoiled for choice! 😀
Nov 30, 2018 @ 21:04:20
A magnificent collection, Karen. I especially like those green Virago editions! 😊
Nov 30, 2018 @ 21:15:55
Thanks Paula! And yes – the greenies are very special!
Dec 01, 2018 @ 04:21:43
Dec 01, 2018 @ 14:19:32
I see you’ve found your copy of Moral Disorder ! I didn’t find Hag-Seed in your collection, though, could it be that you haven’t bought it yet ? I’m having great fun reading it, however implausible the story is.
Those green Viragos were gorgeous. The choices that were made were not always easy to understand, but they made you think. More often than not you would discover an artist you didn’t know. They should be ashamed of what they put on their covers nowadays.
Dec 01, 2018 @ 20:43:16
What’s embarrassing is that it was in the picture all the time but while I was composing the post I didn’t notice it… I blame it on overwork (ahem). I obviously need to engage brain a bit more when writing. As for Hag-Seed, no I don’t have this yet, so it’s another one for the wishlist. And I have to agree about how interesting the green covers were and how non-interesting most of the modern ones is. Such a shame.
Dec 01, 2018 @ 17:30:22
What a hoard! The green viragos are lovely, especially Dancing Girls. I haven’t read any MA for a while, but I think it’s about time I went back to her
Dec 01, 2018 @ 20:41:33
They are rather pretty I think! And yes – y ou can never go wrong with MA!
Dec 02, 2018 @ 18:56:34
Lovely Kaggsy! I do like a nose through other people’s bookshelves and your green Virago Atwoods are especially lovely 🙂
Dec 02, 2018 @ 19:45:04
Happy to oblige! I love to rummage through other people’s books – you can never have too many gratuitous book pics in my view!