#Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood

[i-never-knew-keats]

“How real are they?” Tig has asked him. “As real as you.’ In some sense that’s true, thinks Nell. It’s us—Tig and me—who are mist creatures. For him our existence is tenuous.

Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood, 182

[llovelymoonn]

margaret atwood old babes in the wood

kofi

[gennsoup]

Better to preserve the illusion of safety. Better to improvise. Better to march along through the golden autumn woods, not very well prepared, poking icy ponds with your hiking pole, snacking on chocolate, sitting on frozen logs, peeling hard-boiled eggs with cold fingers as the early snow sifts down and the day darkens. No one knows where you are.

Margaret Atwood, Old Babes in the Wood

[justforbooks]

On the face of it, Margaret Atwood’s Old Babes in the Wood should be a distinctly gloomy read. In several stories, Atwood—now 83—ponders the indignities of ageing, with the characters realising their growing frailty, the pointlessness of vanity about how they look and the increasing tendency of their friends to die. Above all, there’s a sense of finding themselves in an unfamiliar and weirdly priggish new world, where almost everything they thought they knew seems to no longer apply.  

At the same time, however, Atwood is always aware of the comedy involved in becoming elderly. At times, indeed, the characters appear to relish their transformation into “old biddies”: freed from the whole business of sex (“You don’t have to hold your stomach in anymore”) and allowed to behave as eccentrically as they like. They’re also amused, as well somewhat dismayed, by the over-earnestness of 21st-century young women, before amusedly remembering their own youthful over-earnestness.  

The collection is bookended by seven clearly autobiographical tales written after the death from dementia in 2019 of Atwood’s partner of nearly 50 years, Graeme Gibson. Again, though, these are by no means simply grim. While Atwood spares us none of the pain and bewilderment of widowhood, she writes infectiously of the fun the couple had back when they were oblivious of what lay in store. (“Obliviousness had served them well,” she ruefully notes.)  

Along the way, we also get a few wild flights of fantasy where realism is left far behind. But something we never get—unusually for a short story collection—is anything resembling a dud. Instead, there’s just page after page proving that, however much the book might acknowledge physical decline, Atwood’s lavish literary talents remain wholly undiminished.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[glofigs]

New dan Audiobook!

[bretodeau99]

Margaret Atwood by Tim Walker (2019)

[lesbianbassline]

old babes in the wood, margaret atwood

[maddie-grove]

The Top Twenty Books I Read in 2023

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949): I thought somebody would make me read this book in school, but no one ever did. Now that I've read it, let me just say...mark me down as horny and scared! No, I will not explain what I mean by that.

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser (2017): In this examination of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and work, Fraser skillfully weaves a portrait of two complicated women (Wilder and her daughter/editor Rose Wilder Lane) with an overview of large swathes of American history. The examination of how Wilder and Lane adapted Wilder's life experiences into autobiographical fiction and why they made those choices is particularly interesting.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022): This is a retelling of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, transplanted to Appalachia in the 1990s-2000s. Kingsolver retains the warmth and the pathos of the original, and the narrative voice is great.

Song of the Magdalene by Donna Jo Napoli (1996): Miriam, a Jewish girl in first-century Magdala, finds her life altered by unexplained seizures, which she must keep secret, and a first love that ends in tragedy. Napoli often brings it when it comes to thoughtful portrayals of disability and unexpectedly weird sensuality, and this novel is one of her best.

My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews (1982): Audrina Adare, a young girl with severe memory problems, lives in an isolated Virginia mansion with her domineering father and various deranged female relatives...and it gets worse. This is V.C. Andrews at her most deliciously perverse and lurid, and I was definitely rooting for Audrina to close the portal.

I Never Asked You to Understand Me by Barthe DeClements (1986): Faced with her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis and the unhelpfulness of most adults in her life, fifteen-year-old Didi ends up at an alternative school for truancy and finds a friend in Stacy, a would-be runaway whose home life is even more dire. This 1980s YA problem novel always gets me, thanks to the author's gentle, empathetic treatment of her messy teenage characters.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (2006): Jasons, a thirteen-year-old boy in early-1980s Worchestershire, copes with brutal grade-school politics, a tense home life, various small losses of innocence, and the odd supernatural event over the span of a year. My favorite stretch of the novel was where half a dozen scary/weird/sexually confusing things happen in the course of Jason taking one meandering walk through the countryside.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1963): I'd been intending to read a Kurt Vonnegut novel since he died in 2007, so don't say I never follow through on anything. This book is extraordinarily fun and absurd, which just enhances the horror of the eventual climax.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905): Cash-strapped socialite Lily Bart struggles in turn-of-the-century New York society, mainly because she can neither fully commit to gold-digging nor figure out a viable alternative. Her crumbling state, both social and psychological, is horrifying yet fascinating to witness.

The Fell by Sarah Moss (2021): In November 2020, English waitress and single mother Kate breaks quarantine to take a walk through the countryside, with disastrous results. This short novel is lyrical, compassionate, and impressively stressful.

Old Babes in the Woods by Margaret Atwood (2023): This short story collection is split between vignettes featuring elderly couple Nell and Tig, and several standalones that vary wildly in tone and form. All are well-written, but I generally enjoyed the standalones best, especially the poignant "My Evil Mother," the chilling "Freeforall," and the thought-provoking "Metempsychosis."

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott (2023): Pregnant Jacy goes with her new husband to visit his widowed father in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but a pleasant vacation soon turns into a paranoid nightmare. Abbott's lush descriptions--kind of sexy and kind of gross, as always--enhance a truly disturbing thriller.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925): This is another book I assumed someone would make me read in school, but I think all my teachers and professors were like "yeah, yeah, The Great Gatsby, we all know what that is." What you don't get from the Baz Luhrmann movie and pop-cultural osmosis, though, is the exquisite secondhand embarrassment of watching Gatsby pursue a married woman who is actually more into her husband, or just how fucking bizarre that husband is.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023): Single mother Louise is pulled from San Francisco to her hometown of Charleston by the sudden death of her parents and has to coordinate funeral arrangements with her ne'er-do-well brother Mark...and it gets worse. This isn't the best or the scariest Grady Hendrix novel, but the sibling relationship is compelling and it features the incomparable Pupkin. I love that fucked-up lil hand-puppet.

Seventeen and In-Between by Barthe Declements (1984): High-school senior Elsie Edwards is beautiful, brilliant, and talented, but she's still plagued by the lingering trauma of childhood bullying, her terrible parents, and her complicated feelings for her long-term boyfriend (slightly older and jonesing to Go All the Way) and her male best friend (also trying to figure things out, albeit through working in the lumber industry in Forks, Washington). The Elsie Edwards trilogy is great overall, and Elsie's struggle to figure out how to move beyond her unhappy past is especially moving.

Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck (1972): Carol, the sixteen-year-old middle daughter of a poor divorced waitress, gets a front seat to her older sister's disastrous relationship with a scumbag, experiences her own first romance, and sorts through her feelings about her strained family and stultifying small prairie town. This is a sweet, understated early YA novel that offers a look into the last few years before Roe v. Wade.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (2022): In this memoir, McCurdy recounts her relationship with her controlling, abusive late mother and her dispiriting time as a child star on Nickelodeon. I really enjoyed her writing style--clear, conversational, and bracingly pissed off--and she offers some good insight into the acting industry.

Just Like You by Nick Hornby (2020): Joseph, a twentysomething black working-class Londoner balancing his musical aspirations with babysitting gigs and a job at a butcher's shop, stars a romance with Lucy, a fortysomething upper-middle-class white single mom and schoolteacher. This is a pleasant, easygoing love story with some insightful commentary on how ordinary people form political opinions.

The Fourth Grade Wizards by Barthe DeClements (1988): Fourth grader Marianne is distracted in class and adrift at home after her mother's sudden death, but she has a good friend in Jack, who struggles in class because he's hyperactive. You might ask why this list is so dominated by one 1980s middle-grade/YA author, and the answer is that I love her. Also, I did not read all that many new-to-me books last year.

How Do You Lose Those Ninth Grade Blues? by Barthe DeClements (1983): Elsie Edwards, no longer the emotionally battered class pariah she was in Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade but not yet the maturing young woman she'll become in Seventeen and In-Between, starts high school with everything going for her...except her horribly low self-esteem and her still-terrible home life. This is definitely the slightest installment of the trilogy, but it still makes an impact.

[pohlepen]

meet the writer  ♡

alias: jackal

birthday: may 3rd

zodiac: tarus sun, gemini moon, virgo rising

height: 5'1" or 154.94cm according to google.

hobbies: reading, writing, volunteering with a local animal rescue group, being boring as shit fr. sometimes i game and i'm awful at it. i'm organizing a clothes donation thingy for the homeless and underserved population in my city with a friend and at work, which is probably the most exciting thing i've done in a while. sometimes i go on hot girl walks in the rain.

favorite color: red, maybe crimson? maybe something darker.

favorite book: i genuinely can't say, i think it changes depending on my mood. but a few top tier choices are- the southern reach trilogy by jeff vandermeer, the leftovers by tom perrotta, sister of my heart by chitra banerjee divakaruni, and LITERALLY EVERYTHING by khaled hosseini.

last song: cry little sister vs hello zepp by celldweller (it's spooky season ok)

last movie/show: the fall of the house of usher and now i have to create a multi :) last movie was the strangers with @renkniighted on our movie night.

recent reads: dune: messiah by frank herbert, old babes in the wood by margaret atwood, acceptance by jeff vandermeer, the trigun manga by yasuhiro nightow.

inspiration: tbh, frankie started out as a kingsmen oc and then she morphed into a shingeki no kyoijin oc and then i was gonna make her in the far cry 5 world and finally i just decided to make her a fandomless oc. after that, i kind of honed in and wanted to focus on making her ugly. not physically, i mean, but mentally, spiritually. emotionally? ugly. i wanted to add a repulsiveness to her. she's hypersexual (which i am not saying is inherently something to look down on, just that like all mental illness', parts of it can have huge negative effects on that person and the lives of those around them), and i wanted to show the ugly parts of that especially. the cheating, the self destructive sexual tendencies, the casualness in which she hurts people and her adherent selfishness. she has a plethora of undesirable traits, yet i also wanted to make her a nurse because she has so much desire in her heart to take care of people to make up for never having that in her most formidable years. i wanted to make her really human and flawed and not a good person, but not entirely bad either.

story behind url: in croation, "pohlepan" is the word for greedy. frankie is selfish. i changed the a to an e because the other was taken!

tagged: by no one! stolen from @savagecowboy

tagging: @whitelace, @nightmarecountry, @whcwashe , @e1igius, @faethn, @cryptidsdad, @antisupe, @sherez, @renkniighted, @monstriiss, @mythvoiced 👁️❤️

[thevulcanbobdylan]

My 2023 reading list

I'm not sure why I'm sharing this. 40 books is more than double my average number for a year, but I don't really believe in book count as a useful stat. I rolled all the fanfic up into one item, but I counted each reread of my daughter's favorite as one 😁

Anathem is starred because it was my favorite, although it's honestly too hard to choose between that and the Silmarillion.

Anyway. I don't know. I just like keeping track.

Space Raptor Butt Invasion/Turned Gay by the Living Alpha Diner - Chuck Tingle

Richard II - William Shakespeare

Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann

No Filter - Paulina Porizkova

The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz

You Look Like A Thing and I Love You - Janelle Shane

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

Henry IV part 1 - William Shakespeare

Spare - Prince Harry

Learning the Tarot - Joan Bunning

Clean Architecture - Robert C. Martin

Poetry of Petrarch

Gender Queer - Maia Kobabe

Will in the World - Stephen Greenblatt

Rocannon's World - Ursula K. LeGuin

Planet of Exile - Ursula K. LeGuin

City of Illusions - Ursula K LeGuin

The Three Body Problem - Liu Cixin (reread)

Old Babes in the Wood - Margaret Atwood (read most)

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K LeGuin

Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot #6) - Martha Wells

Circe - Madeline Miller

A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle

The Sign of the Four - Arthur Conan Doyle

Anathem - Neal Stephenson *

This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Exhalation - Ted Chiang

Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle

Hamlet - William Shakespeare (reread)

Women Who Run With the Wolves - Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Best Wishes - Sarah Mlynowski (aloud to P****)

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

More stories and poetry of Poe

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis (aloud to P****)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis (yes, again lol, aloud)

Winter's Heart - Robert Jordan (WoT 9)

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier (reread)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis (yes, again lol, aloud)

Hella fanfic

[i-never-knew-keats]

“Darlene told me that the hormones women have in them when they’ve got PMS, men have in them all the time,” says Myrna. “That would account for world leaders,” says Leonie.

Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood, 170

[llovelymoonn]

margaret atwood old babes in the wood \\ @unefleurofferte

kofi

[gennsoup]

Soldiers in peacetime are superfluous: celebrated once a year for something they once were, avoided in the here and now for what they have become.

Margaret Atwood, Old Babes in the Wood

[brian-in-finance]

1️⃣ Tag (9) people you want to get to know better.

Thank You! to the lovely bloggers who tagged me: @its-moopoint @marian4456 @thetruthwilloutsworld

its-moopoint marian4456 6 September thetruthwilloutsworld 7 September

Currently reading: Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood

Last song: Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

Currently watching: Virgin River, Season 5 on Netflix

Current fic: N/A

Writing? Legibly, in cursive

Next on my watchlist: The Crown, Season 6 on Netflix

Current obsession: Cooler autumn temperatures

Tagging: Anyone who reads this post and wants to share. (Please tag me!)

2️⃣ A Meme!

Thank You! to @loveisloveislove76 who tagged me eight months ago 🙈: loveisloveislove76 15 January 2023

1. Three ships: Only one ship afloat now: Tait 😉

2. First-ever ship: Please, no…

3 Last song: Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

4. Last movie: Women Talking

5. Currently reading: Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood

6. Currently watching: Virgin River, Season 5 on Netflix

7. Currently consuming: Werther’s Original butter candy

8. Currently craving: Riesen dark chocolate - chewy toffee

Tagging: Anyone who reads this post and wants to share. (Please tag me!)

[jeanmoreaux]

*✧ — april 2023 wrap up

i finally read deathless!!! who is surprised it ended up being a new favourite? not me, but probably none of you either (big thanks to everyone who told me to read it because they thought it sounds like something i’d enjoy. you were right.) i had a great reading moths in general and the slump i was fearing didn’t manifest in the end, which i’m so happy about. nevertheless, this might be my last massive wrap up for the first half of the year. i assume may and june will be much shorter simply because of uni and an urge to get back into watching tv shows. i guess will see how things develop from here on out :)

2023 goal: 74/100 books

as alway, feel free to drop book recs, questions, or opinions in my inbox; i am always happy to talk to you about books!

* –> newly added to my favorites shelf

follow my goodreads | follow my storygraph | previous wrap ups

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo | 3.75★ | review

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin | 2.5★ | review

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy | 3★

On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts by Thomas De Quincey | 4★

The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen | 3★

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey | 3.25★

Die Physiker by Friedrich Dürrenmatt | 4★

Demon in the Wood by by Leigh Bardugo, Dani Pendergast (illustrator) | 4★

Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors | 4.25★

Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados | 4★

* Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente | 5★ | review

War of the Foxes by Richard Siken | 5★ | review

Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood | 3★ | review

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano | 3.5★ 

* Joan by Katherine J. Chen | 5★ | review

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson | 4.5★ | review

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

rereads

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden | 4.25★

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo | 4.5★ | review

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | 5★

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo | 5★

[little-alien-duck]

books of 2023

this is a list of all the books I read in 2023! my goal this year was 36 (an average of 3 per month) but I finished grad school this year so ended up reading a lot more than I thought I'd be able to. the goal for next year is just as many as I can!

1. The Codebreaker by Walter Isaacson

2. S by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst

3. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

4. Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk

5. The World We Make by NK Jemisin 

6. Doctor Who: Genocide by Paul Leonard 

7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 

8. My Remarkable Journey by Katherine Johnson 

9. The Case of the Dragon-Bone Engine by Galadriel Coffeen

10. Words Without Borders edited by Samantha Schnee, Alane Salierno Mason, and Dedi Felman 

11. Doctor Who: A Day in the Life edited by Ian Farrington 

12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (reread) 

13. Lost Mountain by Erik Reece 

14. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin 

15. Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie 

16. Dyke (geology) by Sabrina Imbler

17. Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler 

18. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 

19. The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (reread) 

20. Walden and On Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau 

21. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 

22. Star Trek Voyager: Pathways by Jeri Taylor

23. Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness by Patrick House 

24. The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

25. Doctor Who: War of the Daleks by John Peel 

26. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie 

27. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (reread) 

28. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 

29. Doctor Who: Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles 

30. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott 

31. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell 

32. Little Weirds by Jenny Slate 

33. Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott 

34. The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole 

35. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik 

36. Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood 

37. Doctor Who: Kursaal by Peter Anghelides 

38. The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 

39. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 

40. Doctor Who: Option Lock by Justin Richards

41. Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead 

42. Major Labels by Kelefa Sanneh 

43. Doctor Who: Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell 

44. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 

45. Lost Time by Józef Czapski

46. The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

47. Peril at End House by Agatha Christie