Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This is thread for the February 2026 buddy read of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

I am ready to start reading on the 3rd, if not before. I have borrowed from my library's e-services both the ebook and audiobook. Looking forward!

I really wish I could join this one, but I'm already overcommitted for February. Hope you and whoever others are joining have a great buddy read! This is a book that I've been meaning to read for a long time, and I'm looking forward to see how everyone feels about it!

I am waiting on a library hold for an audio that should be ready in less than two weeks.

Okay then Sam. I am quite comfortable waiting until this weekend to start. . . .Greg maybe we will catch up again as there are various Margaret Atwood books to read early this year.

Chapter 3: Section "Downpour"

Strange to think of the endless labour, the digging, the hammering, the carving, the lifting, the drilling, day by day, year by year, century by century; and now the endless crumbling that must be going on everywhere. Sandcastles in the wind.

Snowman remembers and mis-remembers quotes that have new shades of meaning in this dystopian world. Here: He misremembers possibly "Sandcastles in the sky."

The narrator holds back from telling us of the origin of the scientific ideas and then never in great detail--which we may not need in a novel.

(view spoiler)[This hemorrhagic fever reminds me of the hemorrhagic virus Ebola that preceded the AIDS epidemic which taught medical people (more?) about dealing with infectious diseases. I remember watching the early documentaries about AIDS sometimes starting with a bit of coverage of Ebola in Sudan or Zaire.

Margaret Atwood was writing this book as we were learning about how to medically with the AIDS virus. There was starting to be hope. I am thinking Atwood was writing within a social timeframe, concerned about our collective future.. What do you think Sam and others? (hide spoiler)]

I am a little past the halfway point. I am reading this more for entertainment than analysis which leaves me without much to say about the novel. It is typical dystopian with decent imaginative world building. I will see what more I can add as I continue.

I the writing is well done in SF world building and in literary construct. I look forward to reading the second volume. I already know I will want to reread this first book and immediately start the next. Looking forward.

I have finished the this volume. Atwood gets quite dark in parts which might offend some readers. Overall I loved it. Atwood is an author that can move freely between sophisticated literary reads and fantastic speculative fiction. I grabbed the next volume from my library and will start in a few days. This was a good selection for a buddy read.

Agreed Sam! I want to read the series before I consider much. . . .It will be at east a week before I can catch up with you Sam.