Happy birthday, Ursula LeGuin!

[feuervogel]

I just wrote a long post for my other blog, if you care to read it.

UK LeGuin is one of the reasons I love science fiction.

Comments

[theserubyshoes]

UK LeGuin has been highly recommended to me by several people whose opinions I really respect, but I've still never read any of her work! ^^; If you say her prose is tightly written (I forget the word you used in the post--I read it earlier today--spare? spartan? =D) then I definitely need to give it a try.

What should I start with? I'll pop something onto the Kindle.

[feuervogel]

If you like fantasy, A Wizard of Earthsea and its sequels are where I'd start. Her most recent fantasy series, the Annals of the Western Shore, is also good, though I've only read the first one so far.

If science fiction is more your speed... that's hard to say, actually. Any of the Hainish cycle is good. The three books collected as "Worlds of Exile and Illusion" are probably a decent starting point, since they're the first ones she wrote there. The Left Hand of Darkness is an interesting study in gender roles, and probably one of the denser ones.

The short story collections The Birthday of the World and Four Ways to Forgiveness are full of good stories, and I think there's some fantasy and some SF in them both.

The problem with recommending an author with over 40 years of publications is that there's so much to choose from! (And too much of it is out of print. :P )

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent!

If I had to choose a favorite writer, it would probably be her. 'Always Coming Home' is probably the most influential book in my life.

[feuervogel]

That's one I haven't read, though it's been recommended many times.