Review: ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ writer spills the tea on her books’ origins

Margaret Atwood’s new “Book of Lives” is subtitled “a memoir of sorts” — and in fact, it’s a venerable sort, a cradle-to-rocking-chair telling of a celebrated life.

Today, most books of this type are produced by movie stars or musicians, while literary memoirs tend to focus on one particularly dramatic or entertaining passage: Mary Karr’s childhood (“The Liars’ Club”), Geraldine Brooks’ widowhood (“ Memorial Days”), Molly Jong-Fast’s management of her aging mother (“How to Lose Your Mother”).