Paperback, 1986 ed. Guess I missed something.

Mail released on 7-6-04 to Katt66. Hope you like it!

Recieved this in the mail from GrammarBroad thanks :)

This was my 1st experience w/Atwood .I did see the movie several yrs ago but had not read the book.
I found it to be very thought provoking.And it is not such a far fetched notion women all over the world are oppressed and it is usually due to someones interpretation of religion.Some parts of the book do drag a little but all in all it was a good book.

Sending this out to calvarez4
Hope you enjoy the book.:)

A very generous RABCK! It is going straight to the top of my TBR list!

Thank you so much!!

A well-loved book, now "on the road" for a bookring. Thank you to BCers GrammarBroad and Katt66 for their generosity.

The order of the bookring:

Arjay1977 (CA)
theory19 (CA)
tuff517 (TX)
Tiredngrumpy (FL)
mitziyah (WA)
Sidney1220 (MN) (removed by request)
Bunnybee (TX)
Helly77 (UK)
Scarlett17 (UK)
tangledthreads (UK)
sparklefaerie (BC)
Antof9 (CO)
huntersmith (GA)
...and back to me, calvarez4 (CA)


Bookring details:
1) Journal that the book has arrived, so we're not wondering where it is, if it got lost in the mail, etc.
2) Read it, but make sure to do so within 3 weeks or so.
3) When you're nearing the end of the book, PM the next person on the list for his or her address.
4) When you finish, journal something about the book. Your favorite character. Your general impressions. What you liked, what you didn't. Give us your impressions!
5) Make release notes, and send it on its way!

Released on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 at Controlled Release in Escondido, California Controlled Releases.

On its way to Arjay1977, as the beginning of the bookring! :)

Recieved book from calvarez through mail, thanks! A great book, more interesting now that we see the directions modern feminists are taking concerning women's roles and choices. Will be mailing to next bookxer soon.

Released on Friday, August 27, 2004 at US Mail in Escondido, California USA.

Released to theory19 through snail mail... happy reading!!

Got it! I passed by the movie the other day at the video store, but left it there, because I didn't want it to influence my reading!

I realized today that with this book I am a *bad bookring-holder-upper* and I need to pass it on! :)
So I contacted tuff517, whose profile states a vacation status ending soon. I will get the book all ready and waiting to move on. Thanks for the chance!

on it's way to tuff517!

Just received this today, will start tonight.

What a great book. It was also a scary book. You know, you would think something like this could never happen, but look at what horrors history holds. Books or movies like this, where the future holds some form of tyranny, scare me. Towards the end I did get anxious to get ahead and skimmed some parts, but for the majority of the book it held my attention. Tomorrow it will go out to Tiredngrumpy. Now I can watch the movie and see how that holds up to the book! Thanks for sharing it.

I received this in the mail today. It goes on top of the stack to be read next.

A chilling story of life after religious fundamentalists take over what was once the United States. This story seems a particularly good choice to read in light of the recent election results in this country. Iran, Afghanistan, could we be next? I could feel the horror of Offred's life. Her husband, her child, her mother, her money, her job, even her name - all gone. And all in the name of religious morality. Excellent novel.

This is ready to be mailed out to mitziyah as soon as I get her address.

This is being mailed to mitziyah today.

Woot!! There's nothing like returning from a vacation to find THREE bookrings waiting for me. How exciting. I can't wait to read this...I've never read any of Atwood's work before, but have heard good things. This copy seems "well loved" so I'll do my best to be gentle. *smile*

Woah, I feel so emotionally "wrung-out" by this novel...this is probably not helped by the fact that I stayed up WAY too late each night this weekend because I couldn't put it down. I really knew very little about this story before reading it, and I was continually amazed at how eerily prescient (sp?) the premise is. I kept having to tell all of my roommates about it...and they kept asking "When was this book written again?" We were all continually suprised to see the copyright date as 1986. (I admit that I went back to verify that a few times). I mean, the way in which this religious fundamentalist takeover of the USA went down has SO MANY parallels to what has been happening in the US these past 5 years. A terrorist attack on the government that is blamed on islamic fundamentalists (in the novel this turns out to be not the case), people willingly "suspending" many of their rights as well as the CONSTITUTION in order to be "safer," the army takes over due to martial law, next thing you know, women can't own property or have jobs, and then we're merely chattle. Eek!! I agree with Tiredngrumpy's journal entry. I just remembering screaming at my television set on september 12, 2001 when a commentator was saying that "people will have to sacrifice some of their rights in order to be more secure." NO!!! You can't have my rights because I AM STILL USING THEM!! When discussing this novel with my roommates, I said (sarcastically) how Canada must be nice this time of year. But then one of them said "But, I love this country. I want to stay and fight and make it better." yay!!

Anyways, I hope I have not alienated anyone here. My journals are always just stream-of-consciousness accounts of my personal experiences with the book. This one was an excellent and chilling read. It was fun getting to discuss it with my mom afterwards. She read it when it first came out, and had thought it was this really freaky, crazy, impossible story. Now, as I recounted the plot, she said it was much more frightening because you can see examples of this type of oppressive-theocracy in several countries around the world, and you can see the seeds of possibility here in our own country. So, again, Eek!! And thanks for the bookring. Wheh! What an exhausting experience.

Mailed to Bunnybee yesterday. Thanks for helping out and I hope that you enjoy the book.

Received this in the mail yesterday! I think this is absolutely the fastest that I've ever received a book after signing up for the ring! lol I know- I signed up just to tuck myself in here as an international shipper- but hey... it's still the fastest-arriving ring book! ;-)

I have one book I'm reading already, then I will start on this one. For sure I should be finished long before the end of January though. Thank you for getting me into the ring! Happy Holidays!

Update- 12/30: started reading!

What a disturbing and creepy story of an awful society! What scared me the most about it was the part about the banks. And just how easy it might be for a bank to just cut someone off from their money like that. And what proof would we have that the money was ours? A bank statement? What if they said that the statement was incorrect and refused to accept it? Just how COULD you prove or disprove anything the bank said? It's scary- in the days of credit cards, debit cards, checks, Paypal... and no one really using actual cash much anymore. All it would take was one click and we could be cut off from our own sources of money. And then what?? Scary!!

I wanted the story to go on though- to see just what happens to "Offred" and if she was actually getting rescued. And that's neat if it really was Nick's doing- to know that there WERE some people who could still feel for others and risk themselves for others in a society like that. And the "Eyes"... like 'Big Brother' at its worst- and not knowing if you can trust ANYONE. What an awful way to live.

It's a good book, even if the story is disturbing. It pulled me in and I read it much faster than I thought I would. I found it hard to put down because I kept holding my breath for the next part, hoping she'd never get caught.. hoping nothing REALLY weird would happen to her...

Anyway, thanks for the ring, calvarez4- and this one will be on its way today to Helly77!

arrived safely this morning. I am looking forward to it, I hope it grabs me more than Alis Grace did:o)

Thanks for sharing

I started this today, sorry its taken a while - had lots of University work to get done! I am loving this though and think I should be able to rattle through this in no time!

This really was intriguing and disturbing, and unfortunately I can see similar things happening in the future, although hopefully not as extreme!
I did enjoy this although it wouldnt be one I would read over and over.

Thanks for sharing and I will get it on to the next person as soon as I can
:o)

RELEASE NOTES:

off to scarlett17

Book arrived this morning to be read after the book I'm currently reading.

I think what was most disturbing about this book is that it could happen, and probably does in some parts of the world. I found the style strange at first because I felt it read like it was set in the past and not in the future which took me a while to get used to. Once I'd got over that I really enjoyed it. Very dark, sinister story.
waiting for address from tangledthreads to send the book on.

Received with thanks earlier this week (sorry for delay in journaling). Will hopefully be able to begin reading next week and will pass on as soon as I can...

Apologies for having held onto this book for so long. After several failed attempts to get into it I'm afraid I am giving up on it for now rather than hold the ring up any longer. I will PM the next ring member and hopefully be able to get it sent off this weekend. I enjoyed 'Alias Grace' by the same author so maybe it is just one of those books I will have to come back to at a later stage...

On way to huntersmith (no reply from PMs to sparklefaerie & Antof9 asked to be skipped) - apologies for enormous delay in moving this book onwards...

Just recieved. Thanks.

Sorry this took so long! As always, this book always horrifies me and definitely generates a shiver. Especially now that I have a daughter, and I have an atm card. It's amazing how when I first read this book I didn't have an atm card, and I thought that it would never be that easy to transfer everything over like that.

I really like this book, if only because it reminds me to be vigilant.

This book has been on the road for a bit over 2 years, and has finally made its way home. I can't believe it! I hope everyone enjoyed reading it.