Margaret Atwood is an indefatigable time traveler. The prolific Canadian author, perhaps best known for “The Handmaid’s Tale” and its phenomenally successful Hulu series adaptation, has written 17 novels, 11 nonfiction titles, 9 short fiction collections, 17 volumes of poetry, several graphic novels and children’s books; she won Booker prizes for “Blind Assassin” and “The Testaments.” In short, she has had many lives — public and private — and displays them all, her own and others, in the hefty 624-page tour de force “Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts,” recounting the challenging symbiotic relationship between life and art.

In her light-spirited introduction, Atwood notes how a “sinister alter ego” nudged her to “spill some beans … dish some tea” and to “thank my benefactors, reward my fri

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