From the Bookshelf of The Great Hugo Read…

[close] Secondary Read. When searching for this book, it's the only of the Hugo Read novels I had to wander beyond the science fiction section in my used book stores. It did win the inaugural Arthur C. Clarke Award and was nominated for a Nebula, where it was beaten by Ender's Game. Atwood herself has specified that she views this work as speculative fiction, not science fiction, stating in The Guardian in 2005:

"I like to make a distinction between science fiction proper and speculative fiction. For me, the science fiction label belongs on books with things in them that we can't yet do, such as going through a wormhole in space to another universe; and speculative fiction means a work that employs the means already to hand, such as DNA identification and credit cards, and that takes place on Planet Earth. But the terms are fluid."

I was told when picking this book it might be a controversial choice. I hope it is. I picked it to pair with A Canticle for Leibowitz as both novels are set in distopic futures, and both deal with themes of religion.