For years, Margaret Atwood had “no interest” in writing a memoir, said Alexandra Alter in The New York Times . She was worried it would be boring. But the celebrated Canadian author eventually caved, penning the much anticipated “Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts”.

What changed? “They wore me down”, she told the publication. After a pause, she gave another answer: “Two words: People died. There’s things you can say that you wouldn’t say when they were alive.” Her new book isn’t a “blistering, score-settling tell-all, though there’s a dose of that”. Mostly, it’s about the “experiences” that have shaped her work.

‘She is a hoot’

“Alcoholic excess” and “debauched parties” would have livened things up, said Blake Morrison in The Guardian . “But she hasn’t lived that way”. What she has wr

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