Moral Disorder, by Margaret Atwood (2006)

Atwood has long been one of my favourite novelists, and I adored the first two books of her trilogy in progress (Oryx & Crake, The Year of the Flood). To tide me over while waiting for the forthcoming third volume (Maddaddam, to be published in August) I picked up this thin collection of short stories which follow a couple through the long arc of their shared lives. It lacks the weight, in both senses, of her more substantial novels like Alias Grace, but Atwood’s unmistakeable style is here in full force. I’ve noticed her cutting observations have aged well with her, encompassing the passages of life that she’s experienced, giving a useful perspective on growing older that I’m already old enough to appreciate. If you’ve never read Atwood before, this might not be the best book to gain an appreciation of her writing, but if you already know and love her work you’ll be as happy as I to find that this is more of the same.