Some talk in the newspaper today about Atwood being in possible contention for the Nobel Prize for literature. I would love to see her get it as I think it's high time a Canadian got the Nobel Prize for literature and she is such an obvious choice given her body of work and her contribution to putting Canadian Literature on the world map. Not that I feel she's written the very best Canadian novels...my picks for those are The English Patient and The Stone Diaries. My favourite Atwood novel is Alias Grace although I also liked The Blind Assassin a lot and felt it deserved the Booker. I think why Alias Grace was so successful for me was that I never heard Margaret Atwood when reading it...just Grace. And although I love listening to Margaret Atwood as Margaret Atwood, I hate it when her voice intrudes in her novels...usually in some attempt at wit that I would find very funny if I was talking to her at a dinner party but completely grates when it comes through a character. I'm surprised her editor doesn't nuke those parts!