My Life In Books
ELLE Australia|July 2017

Margaret Atwood, the author of this month’s most buzzed about TV adaptation, The Handmaid’s Tale, shares the reads that have had the biggest impact on her life.

Margaret Atwood
My Life In Books

GIRLS GROWING UP

Anne Of Green Gables by LM Montgomery; Lives Of Girls And Women by Alice Munro

These books offer two views of girlhood, one with a positive outcome, the other more negative, but both with strong female friendships in common. I read the first Anne book when I was eight. I wasn’t much interested in the later books; I wanted to read about her life as an orphan made good and about her relationship with these severe grandparent figures. I already admired Munro for her first book, Dance Of The Happy Shades, when Lives Of Girls And Women came out in 1971. Anne never thinks about sex whereas Munro’s protagonist, Del Jordan, thinks about it a lot!

ANIMAL STORIES

The Tale Of Mr Tod by Beatrix Potter; Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton

This story is from the July 2017 edition of ELLE Australia.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the July 2017 edition of ELLE Australia.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM ELLE AUSTRALIAView All
Books: Shelf-Care
ELLE Australia

Books: Shelf-Care

Find a little respite in this season’s most exciting new reads

time-read
5 mins  |
June/July 2020
ELLE Australia

Men's Rites

Deciding to go through a gender transition isn’t easy for anyone. But the hardest person for journalist Daniel Mallory ortberg to convince was himself

time-read
10+ mins  |
June/July 2020
Kick Start
ELLE Australia

Kick Start

In these uncertain times, louis vuitton’s artistic director nicolas ghesquière is looking to the past to help make sense of the future

time-read
3 mins  |
June/July 2020
ELLE Australia

Music: Everything Is Illuminated

Phoebe Bridgers is a musician who revels in the darkness, albeit having earned her place in the spotlight

time-read
6 mins  |
June/July 2020
SUPER NATURE ESCAPISM WILDERNESS BREATHING INFRESH AIR BATHING IN SUNSHINE
ELLE Australia

SUPER NATURE ESCAPISM WILDERNESS BREATHING INFRESH AIR BATHING IN SUNSHINE

IN THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY AND NEW HORIZONS, MODEL GEORGIA FOWLER HEADS FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS

time-read
3 mins  |
June/July 2020
ELLE Australia

THE big CLEANSE

WE’VE PURGED OUR KITCHEN CABINETS OF SUGAR AND CULLED THE CLOTHES THAT DON’T SPARK JOY, BUT WE MAY HAVE ARRIVED AT THE MOST BENEFICIAL (AND EASIEST) CLEANSE OF ALL

time-read
6 mins  |
June/July 2020
ELLE Australia

TALKING to strangers

SINCE THE EARLY 1900S, AN AGONY AUNT HAS BEEN A WILLING EAR. BUT AT A TIME OF DMS AND ASKME-ANYTHINGS, SEEKING ADVICE FROM SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW HAS BECOME RISKY BUSINESS

time-read
8 mins  |
June/July 2020
singled OUT
ELLE Australia

singled OUT

WE’VE ENTERED AN ERA OF MYRIAD RELATIONSHIP STATUSES – COUPLED, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, OPEN, POLYGAMOUS, THREE-DIGITALDATES-IN-BUT UNSURE-WHERE-THIS-IS-GOING. But is flying solo the last taboo?

time-read
5 mins  |
June/July 2020
GYPSY CREEK
ELLE Australia

GYPSY CREEK

INTERIOR DESIGNER LOUELLA BOÌTELGILL TAKES US INSIDE HER QUIRKY BYRON BAY HINTERLAND CREATION, WHICH OVERFLOWS WITH A BEACHY, HAPPY VIBE

time-read
2 mins  |
June/July 2020
DRIVE: DESIGN in motion
ELLE Australia

DRIVE: DESIGN in motion

HOW THE HOTTEST INTERIOR TRENDS COULD DEFINE WHAT YOUR NEXT CAR LOOKS LIKE

time-read
2 mins  |
June/July 2020