Let’s say that I may only read one or two, as I’m not a prolific reader. What do you think I should get?
The classic is a wizard of earthsea/left hand of darkness and they are always worth repeating. If you do just two, those are them. It’s almost criminal how these are kinda slipping beneath view these days.
I got a steady diet of her short stories and children’s books growing up. I remember sur specifically, but generally they were less fantasy oriented from what I can remember. (Edit:huzzah autocorrect)
The Left Hand of Darkness is great. I really need to get around to Wizard of Earthsea.
I think you’re in for a treat, but I am horribly biased by nostalgia and it’s impossible for me to be objective about that one. There is something deeply soothing to how what stands out changes even if the words don’t.
I remembered " to light a candle is to cast a shadow ".
But: “I had forgotten how much how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me”. Jumped out.
“the dispossessed” is an absolute classic and I enjoyed it a lot.
I recently read and really enjoyed The Left Hand of Darkness. It’s crazy that she wrote such a book back then. Now I’m longing for more books like this.
Today, I’m on (a rare) vacation (yay!). I’m reading through her Earthsea books. When they ended sooner than I expected, I realized they were intended as young adult books. It’s not as in depth as other fantasy, but I’ve enjoyed them nonetheless.
LeGuin is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read a lot, but not all of LeGuin’s novels. She has 2 main multibook series that I’ve read, the Earthsea books and the Hainish cycle.
Earthsea is sort of YA fantasy, but grows up throughout the series. The first 3 are a self contained trilogy, and my favorite is Tombs of Atuan which is book 2, I think would be okay as a standalone title. My other favorite is Tales from Earthsea which is book 5, and is a collection of short stories set in the setting. You’d be missing a little context only reading Tales, but this could also be a standalone.
The Hainish cycle is scifi, and are only loosely connected by the setting and don’t have a too firmly established chronology, or any shared main characters. My favorite from the Hainish Cycle is The Left Hand of Darkness and my 2nd favorite is The Dispossessed.
Maybe not the first book to read, but one of the ones that made me think the most was The Dispossessed
Le Guin is one of my favorite authors, so I’m excited to see other people reading her for the first time!
My all-time favorite.
My favourite is The Left Hand of Darkness, starts out slow and kinda turns into a different book in the second half, but highly recommended.
If you were only going to read one or two, then sure, go for The Left Hand of Darkness (for sci-fi) or A Wizard of Earthsea (for fantasy), though there are some loose sequels to each of those you might end up wanting to pursue. But personally I’ve always been most fond of Always Coming Home.
While I haven’t read her, the Earth Sea trilogy is supposed to be top notch. It’s on my list after I finish Malazan
I shared The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (a short story) a bit ago: https://literature.cafe/post/7360325
I’ve also been recommended The Left Hand of Darkness, though I haven’t read it yet
Everyone here has already suggested Earthsea, but if you’re also after a great sci-fi from her, I’d suggest The Dispossessed.
The Lathe of Heaven. It’s a fun little jaunt through deterministic reality bending.
Her big there are The Left Hand of Darkenss (about gender), The Disposed ( capitalism vs anarchism), The Lathe of Heaven (Dreams alter reality).
They are all good but I wouldn’t describe them as easy or fun reads. I didn’t enjoy any of them but after reading them I a lot of depth of thought on the topic.
Personally I liked the Lathe of Heaven best.
Thanks for that input! I got the impression her stuff leans more to the heavy side. I’ve got a nice queue to go through now! 😁
I’m reading the Book of Earthsea! Her sci-fi books are known for being pro-anarchist, but I’ve yet to read them.
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