What’s inside Book Of Lives: A Memoir Of Sorts?

Book Of Lives is by M Atwood. Its subtitle is A Memoir Of Sorts. Margaret Atwood writes about the lives of herself, her parents, grandparents, friends and acquaintances. Since her mom was named Margaret, she has used the nickname Peggy, to stand for a shorter abbreviation of Margaret, to avoid confusion.

The author named her memoir Book Of Lives to denote how she has written on the lives of her family members, and others. Her opening chapter pays tribute to her grandparents and parents. This is followed up by chapters on the birth of her elder brother Harold, and then herself. Harold is around three years older than her.

Atwood’s childhood:

Peggy narrated on her growing up years and her beginnings nurturing her love for reading, drawing and basic entertainment for young kids. These skills were useful for her first paid business as a kid; organizing and hosting children’s parties. Her business partner was Sandra Sanders, her classmate who bullied her in the past, when she was in fourth grade.

Peggy admitted she did reproach Sandra, after her own fashion, by cooking up frightening stories, to scare her.

Peggy Atwood’s teen years:

When Peggy was 11 years old, her younger sister Ruth was born during the season of Halloween. This became a hallmark for Ruth, who always had birthday celebrations with a Halloween theme. Peggy baked the cakes, made decorations, and organized party games.

As she dealt with writing stories, puppet plays, songs, poetry, she became certain she would grow up to become a writer. Her parents and relatives had the conventional idea that it was tough to make a living as a writer or journalist. Her parents hosted a dinner with a second cousin, who was a newspaper journalist, in their bid to dissuade Peggy from pursuing her dream.

Atwood’s boyfriends:

Peggy wrote about her various boyfriends, when she was a young teen, right up to her adult years. If you want to know the juicy details, you’ll have to read the book.

Peggy Atwood’s college years and jobs:

When it was time to go to college, Peggy received reduced tuition fees as her dad was a professor from the University of Toronto. She took part time jobs to earn money for her expenses.

Around 1957, Peggy worked as a waitress in Camp Hurontarco, which was on an island in Georgian Bay, of Lake Huron.

From 1958 to 1960, when she was 18 to 20 years old, Atwood worked as a counsellor in Camp White Pine. She organized nature activities for young children, dealing with frogs, toad, newts, snakes, snails, and wild mushrooms.

After college, she went to grad. school. and graduated from Harvard/ Radcliffe with her Masters.

M Atwood’s post-graduate jobs:

In September 1961, Peggy entered Harvard to study Victorian Literature for her Ph.D. During this time, Atwood worked as a waitress in a coffee shop in a small hotel, on Avenue Road. Due to circumstances out of her grasp, she had to hunt for another job. She found one with Canadian Facts, a market research company, where she became an interviewer.

How Atwood became known as Peggy Nature:

She worked as a camp waitress, summer camp counsellor, and etc. Her nickname was Peggy Nature, as all the counsellors had names suffixed with the activity they were in charge of. As her name suggest, she took charge of the nature program, dealing with biology, entomology, flora and fauna.

3 Reasons To Read This Book

Number 1) To discover what is in the making of an author.

Number 2) To discover Atwood’s writing process.

Number 3) To reflect on her lessons. Do they resonate with me? Can I too become a writer?

I understand and empathize with Atwood’s early struggles studying and surviving independently. She navigated the system of hard writing work, publication, scholarships, living expenses and working to earn money.

Book Of Lives: A Memoir Of Sorts by Margaret Atwood

3 Reasons To Read This Book

Number 1) To discover what is in the making of an author.

Number 2) To discover Atwood’s writing process.

Number 3) To reflect on her lessons. Do they resonate with me? Can I too become a writer?

I understand and empathize with Atwood’s early struggles studying and surviving independently. She navigated the system of hard writing work, publication, scholarships, living expenses and working to earn money.

Rating for Atwood’s Book Of Lives: 4/5
Do I recommend reading it? Totally.

Who is this book for?

This book is for audience like aspiring writers, nature lovers, struggling college students, guidance counselors who need “templates” to inspire struggling young people, and the average person.

Readers who will love this book: Aspiring writers.

People who will hate this book: Non-readers, non-writers, city-life lovers.

When I read about Atwood’s dad, Carl, I was beyond impressed. I was touched by his dedication to his family. He built their family homes from scratch, with only an axe. The family moved often as Carl’s job took them to places in nature. Sometimes, he decided to move to avoid deforestation, industrialization and pollution.

He posed for photos with dignity and his thoughts at that moment were captured on film.

When he was very old and dying, he hung on and waited for Margaret to travel to his bedside, before departing.

My One Word Review of Book Of Lives: A Memoir Of Sorts –

Wonderful.

To elaborate my choice of word, I’m writing it as a sentence –

Atwood’s memoir is not only about herself, but also of her parents and a testament to their love and dedication raising their family.

This book’s selling points:

Atwood has shared her experiences, hoping others can also learn from her experiences. For older adults, it is too late, but maybe they can use the lessons to guide the younger generation.

My initial thoughts about the book when I first started reading it:

I loved it.

Mid-book thoughts:

Arwood didn’t hide her secrets to success. She really made this book worth every penny.

Thoughts after finishing the book:

I wish I had read such a book for knowledge and direction when I was a young student.

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This is the main book review webpage. Detailed review links will be posted below.

1. https://booksreviewsandmore.com/book-of-lives-margaret-atwood-living-things-infographics/
2. https://booksreviewsandmore.com/book-of-lives-infographics-of-atwoods-childhood-toys/
3. https://booksreviewsandmore.com/infographics-of-common-activities-for-harold-peggy-atwood/
4. https://booksreviewsandmore.com/faq-on-margaret-atwoods-book-of-lives/
5. https://booksreviewsandmore.com/infographics-of-m-atwoods-hair-styles-in-book-of-lives/
6. https://booksreviewsandmore.com/infographics-of-nature-peggy-book-of-lives-atwood/
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Book Of Lives: A Memoir Of Sorts by Margaret Atwood.

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