book data
284 ratings,
4.21
average rating, 52 reviews
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published
March 1st 2003
(first published 2004)
by Harper Perennial
binding
Paperback, 384 pages
isbn
0060509066
(isbn13: 9780060509064)
description
The recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award, the Kafka Award, five Hugo Awards and five Nebula Awards, the renowned
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avg 4.21
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in November, 2008
Ursula Leguin is a genius at speculative fiction. What she does is create worlds like little tiny machines, with something at the heart of them that drives them differently from ours. Then she starts them and sees where they go, and writes beautiful, beautiful stories about them.
This collection of stories explores a variety of worlds. It takes us back to the world of "The Left Hand of Darkness," where the inhabitants are genderless most of the time, only becoming male or...more
This collection of stories explores a variety of worlds. It takes us back to the world of "The Left Hand of Darkness," where the inhabitants are genderless most of the time, only becoming male or...more
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Read in January, 2003
Wow. I was an anthropology and sociology major at the University of Michigan, and I picked up this book for free at a used book sale. Impressed would be an understatement. Guin's stories are as thorough as the ethnographies that I have to read for my Anthro classes; class, gender, inequality, signification, and more are covered in a writing that envelopes and enchants the reader. My favorite story is "Paradise Lost", a story about the culture and mythology that are created in a space v...more
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Read in April, 2009
This is my absolute favorite of Le Guin's short story collections. Every single story in it is among my favorites. Unlike some of her early and sometimes difficult and bitter dystopian short stories, these stories generally deal with worlds where things are going right, or at least the way they've always been, and sit in the middle of them comfortably looking around instead of hurrying to arrive at any plot points. Of course every story has a point to make - the first part of "The Matter of...more
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Read in March, 2009
Fabulous! I love the stories Le Guin comes up with! This is not your stereotypical SciFi novel. Le Guin creates new societies, which happen to be on other planets, and write rather simple stories about them so that we, the readers, can gain insight. It is a study in anthropology and sociology. I felt my brain thinking and philosophizing as I read. Felt good.
This collection of short stories, and the novella at the end, is the perfect way to get into this type of science fiction if...more
This collection of short stories, and the novella at the end, is the perfect way to get into this type of science fiction if...more
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The first story in this book uses the term, "fuckery," in it. As in, "She went to the Fuckery," or, "The Fuckery was located centrally in the town for better access," or something. I'm sorry. I LOVE Ursula K. LeGuin and really like this collection of stories, but I just couldn't get over that word.
That being said, this collection covers various different planets and directly or indirectly their own unique ideas on human pairing. Aesexual, open relationsh...more
That being said, this collection covers various different planets and directly or indirectly their own unique ideas on human pairing. Aesexual, open relationsh...more
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Read in July, 2008
Sometimes I wonder what lies within the mind of Ursula Le Guin, that she could explore sexuality and social mores with such graceful leaps and bounds... her ability to traverse chasms of uncomfortable topics with unwavering strength of character never ceases to blow me away. A lesser writer, I would set down the book and veer away from any future works, but Le Guin manages to lead me calmly through the storm, with my faith in her wry feminism acting as an odd sort of comfort I've never experienc...more
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Read in August, 2007
On one level, LeGuin is the bard of polymorphic perversity (quite literally so in the case of the periodic hermaphroditism on Gethen, first introduced in The Left Hand of Darkness). In this collection of nine stories, she explores the romantic and reproductive strategies of a wide range of human (or at least human-like) societies: complex foursomes on the planet O, equilibrium-oriented reproduction on a generation-spanning starship, gender imbalance on Seggri, radical introversion on Eleven-Soro...more
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Read in July, 2007
This book contains eight short stories, all of which I enjoyed immensely. I had never read Le Guin before, so I wanted to get a feel for her writing through something like short stories. And I've come to the conclusion that I really like her writing! Not only does she create interesting and intriguing worlds, she brings up social issues that would have never crossed my mind but are almost difficult to think about. It really made me think.
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The Birthday of the World is a good book, as were Le Guin's last several. In the present volume, Le Guin explores themes clustered around questions of right action and right being, and explores narrators' and protagonists' relationships to culture, the idea of home, and conscious or unconscious cultural imperatives. And there is a focus on varieties of sex, by which I mean gender, sexuality, sexual acts, and sex as violence. We meet more Hainish, Werelians and Yeoweans (and are reacquainted with...more
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Read in December, 2008
Short stories, mostly set in worlds that Le Guin has written about before. Absorbing stories and characters, and fascinating anthropological speculations - though they're maybe a bit relentless in their anthropological focus when taken in one sitting.
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12/23/08
Zoe Zuniga
is currently reading it
Read in December, 2008
I have read these short stories at least 3 times and read most of the works by this author. I love sci-fi that is also spiritual, sociological and escape all at once. Le Guin Heals with her writing rather than just entertaining us.
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone interested in gender
After my disappointment in LeGuin's novel "The Left Hand of Darkness", these short stories are great! The first story actually takes place on the same world as "The Left Hand of Darkness", but gets into the juicy details of gender, sex, and kemmer in the society. Most of the other short stories also have unusual gender stuff going on, which makes for some really interesting reading and pondering. The last story is less about gender, but delves into religion in fascinating way...more
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Read in January, 2003
Short stories set in a variety of different worlds, exploring various possible sexual relationships. Le Guin's science fiction has always read more like anthropology. She is a master (mistress?) of the short story.
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Read in March, 2009
The first few stories were kind of interesting. The second to last and next to last stories sucked. The last story was, by far, the best. Get it from the library, read just the last story, then return it.
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Some wonderful stories, including one about a religion that develops on a multi-geneational spaceship and another about a society that really values solitude.
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Read in September, 2008
i love these stories. i have only listened to two so far, but each one makes me pause and wonder what makes us love and who and why.
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Read in November, 2007
I am biased towards le Guin. And i so LIKE these stories. Each a separate thought stream. But each of them with something running through which is both strong and subtle. Every story has an idea/concept/way of seeing that I wanted to stay with, engage with. And yet at the end of each story I wanted to know what she would do with the next one.
le Guin's work is always to me both joy and challenge. She compels me to think, to work through an argument, to be both more conscious of myself...more
le Guin's work is always to me both joy and challenge. She compels me to think, to work through an argument, to be both more conscious of myself...more
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Read in June, 2008
The stories in this collection are really varied. They're all basically thought experiments about worlds different from our own in some fundamental way - what if a society valued solitude more than social interaction? what if gender roles were reversed? what if marriages happened between 4 people instead of 2? - but beyond that they're stylistically very different. Some are dry, anthropological reports that were too superficial to actually grip me, while others are these beautiful crystalline ta...more
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Just one more example of the incomparable talent of Le Guin. This collection of stories showcases the work of a master craftswoman. She doesn’t miss a step in any of the stories. They are poignant, intimate, often heart-wrenching. She creates situations and societies that are completely fantastic and yet are completely recognizable.
I want to be impartial, to critique, but I simply see no flaw. Her stories leave me breathless. Sometimes deeply saddened, or thoughtful, sometimes soar...more
I want to be impartial, to critique, but I simply see no flaw. Her stories leave me breathless. Sometimes deeply saddened, or thoughtful, sometimes soar...more
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05/12/09
Lori
is currently reading it
Okay so it's sci-fi but literary sci-fi and I really like Ursula LeGuin.
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"In general she had found that the main drawback in being a man was that conversations were less interesting. "
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