This month on the reading group, we’re going to choose a book by Margaret Atwood. As her legions of fans will tell you, there’s never a bad time to read Atwood – and right now seems a particularly good one. Not only do the novels we always assumed to be speculative or even science fiction now seem statements of fact, but the recent adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale has been one of the television events of the decade – and she’s soon to publish a sequel.

Atwood has won a host of awards, from the Booker prize to the inaugural Arthur C Clarke award, and has honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge – among more than a dozen others. Since her first poetry collection, Double Persephone, was published in 1960, she’s also written more than a dozen collections of poetry, a dozen-plus novels, half a dozen collections of short fiction, works of non-fiction, and children’s books. She’s also found time to invent the Long Pen, and write this curious song.

Growing up in the north woods of Canada helped shape her singular perspective. She told the Paris Review: “You had to know certain things about survival. Wilderness survival courses weren’t very formalized when I was growing up, but I was taught certain things about what to do if I got lost in the woods. Things were immediate in that way and therefore quite simple. It was part of my life from the beginning.”

In the same interview, which she gave in 1990, she also sounded a warning: “We have fallen very much into the habit of judging books by their covers. ‘Authenticity’ has become a concern. I tend to side with creative freedom. Everyone should write as she or he feels impelled. Then let’s judge the results, not the picture of the author on the back flap.”

It’s that kind of statement that has given her a reputation for diagnosing our problems before most people realise there is a problem – not to mention an ability to explain them with frightening clarity.

In short, Atwood is a force to be reckoned with. At least, that’s the impression I’ve always had. The truth is that, much as I admire her pronouncements, I have never actually read one of her books. I’m eager to set that right – and I hope you’ll join me. The only question is, where to start? It might be a good idea to go straight for The Handmaid’s Tale in preparation for the release of The Testaments later this year. But then, with so many other books to choose from, it seems a shame not to at least have the discussion.

Just look at these beauties:

The Edible Woman (1969)

Surfacing (1972)

Lady Oracle (1976)

Life Before Man (1979)

Bodily harm (1981)

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)

Cat’s Eye (1988)

The Robber Bride (1993)

Alias Grace (1996)

The Blind Assassin (2000)

Oryx and Crake (2003)

The Penelopiad (2005)

The Year of the Flood (2009)

MaddAddam (2013)

The Heart Goes Last (2015)

Hag-Seed (2016)

And that’s just the novels. You can get a full bibliography here. I suggest we choose one of those books in a vote. Simply nominate the one you most want to read below the line before 9am BST on Saturday 6 April (and if you can give us a reason, so much the better). I’ll count up the totals and announce the winner.