30 day book challenge – #1 Favourite book

I’ve been inspired to take on the 30 day book challenge after reading Hannah Ackroyd’s blog and her fantastic book reviews. The value of a good review is definitely in being succinct and honest, and I really like Hannah’s review writing style – it makes you want to read more books!

For me it really is going to be a challenge to find enough time every day to think about my choices, so I’m going to take a more relaxed approach and guarantee that I will have completed it well within 30 weeks, at least. I also thought this will be a wonderful opportunity to think about the book covers and how cover design helps us choose the books we read. I love books and although I do own a kindle and love my kindle, I do miss the feel of books, being able to pick them up, look at them, turn them over and flick through the pages. So at the end of each post I’ll take some time to look at the covers and pick out my favourite element.

#1

Choosing an all time favourite book is odd because it isn’t hard, but then it isn’t that easy either. So many books spring to mind which is the easy bit, but choosing just one can be so difficult. For me, ‘The Edible Woman’ by Margaret Atwood is a clear favourite. The story follows Marian, a young woman with her life seemingly in order and going firmly in the right direction. She went to college, has a good job and is engaged to be married to Peter, a very safe, dependable sort of man. However, the sensible path that Marion has so far been following gets more and more twisted and erratic as Marion’s subconscious blasts through, making her question the choices she has made and opening her eyes to the opportunities that exist outside of a safe, sensible existence.

Although written in the late 1960s, this story is still relevant and still feels fresh. There is a lot of energy and humour in the book, and Marion is a very likeable character. She knows that she’s having a crisis but she lets it play out, not worrying too much about the consequences, as if she knows that what’s happening is going to turn out to be the best thing for her in the end.

A cover image that brilliantly encapsulates the themes of the story – the perfect appearance of marriage, domesticity and cake.