Margaret Atwood's my favourite author. I just bought this book The Edible Woman 2 months ago and I'm planning to read it on New Year's Day. I would love to send this out for a big journey after I'm done reading it to share my love for Atwood's works :)

(EDIT: Thank you bearyfriend for mentioning about the cover. Oh, it does look like romance on the cover which reminds me of never judge a book by its cover challenge lol. The book actually has nothing to do with romance and it's very funny to read. I hope everyone will like it!)

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'Clara,' she said, 'Do you think I'm normal?'

'I'd say you're almost abnormally normal if you know what I mean.'

Marian is determinedly ordinary, waiting to get married. She likes her work, her broody flat-mate and her sober fiance Peter. All goes well at first, but Marian has reckoned without an inner self that wants something more, an inner self that calmly sabotages her careful plans, stable routine - and her digestion. Marriage a la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can't stomach...

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This is an international ring :) If you'd like to read the book too, please post here and state your shipping preferences :)

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OK, now we have 10 participants! I'll start the ring by sending the book to bearyfriend next week! :)

And here is the order of the ring, I included everyone's shipping preferences as best as I can, I apologize for any inconveniences caused.

1. bearyfriend - Singapore/Int'l
2. tempestsans - US
3. Tori58 - US/Int'l
4. londondungeon - US/Int'l
4. laure69 - France/EU
5. elpis - Greece/EU
7. katacs - Hungary/EU
8. okarih - UK/EU <---- book is here now!!! :D
9. arturogrande - UK/Int'l


Enjoy the book! :D

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Dropped this book to bearyfriend in post today! :) Our bookring is starting, yay!

Book arrived, thanks. The cover is different from the pic here - it's apple-green background with a porcelain bride on a doily. Looks like chick-lit & romance kind of novels, I'll get it read as soon as I can. Thanks Jneni for sharing.

I've received tempestsans' add and will post book to her on Mon. Didn't really enjoy this Atwood's prob because it's a chick lit, very similar to Bridget Jones' Diary kind of book where one talks about relationship, finding Mr Right, and some more working in a mktg research co where the conversations keep revolving around doing survey, distributing forms, making phone calls, the different kind of toothbrushes and dentists they met etc - so boring :-P

Read that this is Atwood's first book, it's definitely very different settings from the one I read 'Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelopiad & Odysseus'. Sorry Jneni for not finishing reading, though I do like the author's writing style - make a quick reading. It's just the subject that puts me off.

Sent Feb 2nd (Mon) via Air

has finally arrived safely today and i have already both begun to read and PMed Tori58 for her mailing address so we can keep it moving at a reasonable pace. seems it must have been held up in customs for a bit and by the looks of the package was opened and inspected. it's in fine shape though and i should be done reading quite quickly based upon the pace the first 50 or so pages have gone.

more when i've finished reading.

75 pages in and i just plain cannot get into this story, nor see a real point. this is very unlike the other Atwood i've read. other than playing the game of apparently wanting to fall in love and marry, while pretending to her matrimony fearing boyfriend that she really is just his gal-pal trying to read what needs to happen to support this (like not cooking at his place, only to be belittled by him because she does not!), there seems to be no real plot building.

sadly, the story holds no interest for me at all at this point. luckily Tori58 who is next on the list has already sent me her address as requested in anticipation of my quick read so i'll be packaging this one up unfinished and sending off on saturday to be enjoyed by others.

thanks jneni for sharing!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

sending off by mail to Tori58 who is next in this ring/ray

Received today. I'm looking forward to reading it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If it had been written this year I would think it was an extremely clever way to address a fear I believe many women have when they get married; will their individual identity get "swallowed up" in their new identity as a couple? Given that Margaret Atwood wrote this when she was 24 years old in 1965 before there even was a women's movement - well that's sheer brilliance.

I thought some of the characters were extremely intriguing. Ainsley, for instance. Is she the ultimate feminist or just a selfish and manipulative little twit? And Duncan. Is he the feminist fantasy of the ideal mate (prefers the real Marian to an overly glammed up version of her, loves the landromat, begs to do her ironing) or is he just a little nuts?

And the commentary on the world of advertising? Loved it!

I think those of you who gave up on this book may have made a mistake: this is genuine Atwood all right - she's just mounting a "stealth attack" with this one! LOL!

Thank you, jneni, for offering this as a ring. It will continue on as soon as I get an address.

I've just received the book. Thank you.

Things are so much easier when you can be satisfied with the way of life people are expecting from you ! This book was written 40 years ago but are things very different nowadays ? I was on the verge of stopping in the middle of it because it's too much writing for what's really happening but I wanted to know how it was going to end and I liked the idea. I found the second half better than the first but I'm not sure there's one character I find really likeable.

I've just received elpis' address. The book is leaving tomorrow.

in my hands
i've already started reading it!

well it's a bit odd book.
it's amazing the fact that she wrote that book back in 1965 and although her thoughts and topic are contemporary and familiar, her writing style made them so obscure and "remote" to me.

having read three of her books, i concluded that Atwood it's not for me.

thank you jneni

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

i will send it to katacs on next Tuesday.

after travelling to katacs and coming back to Greece (due to the Hungarian post office), the book is ready to travel to okarih.
i'll send it to her this Friday (24/7)

The book arrived today! Thank you, elpis!

I'm going on holiday tomorrow (for a week) and would love to take this with me to read on the beach but I'm worried about damaging it with sun cream etc. so I am going to leave it at home to pick up when I get back. It'll be something nice to look forward to after my holiday.... I will read it as quickly as possible on my return.

I felt that this book was a little slow at times, but I'm glad I stuck with it until the end. I recognise the characters, Ainsley, Clare and Peter in some of the friends I have and I can relate to Marian. I really couldn't figure out Duncan's character though...

There are still so many expectations placed on women (and probably men) by families and other people, I find myself fighting with a lot of that myself. It feels to me that fundamentally not much has changed compared to when the book was written although women have a little more choice these days.

jneni, thank you for sharing this book with us!

I've PMed the next person for their address.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to arturogrande today.

This probably arrived ages ago but I've been away on holiday for two weeks, so it's probably been sitting on my doormat for a while!
I've got a couple of ring books ahead of it, but I love Margaret Atwood, so I'm going to do my best to get to it ASAP.