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59th out of 211 books
—
19 voters
Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight
In this intriguing tale (not for children), storyteller extraordinaire Ursula K. Le Guin explores the magic of animals. Her animal characters -- from the irreverent trickster Coyote to the wise matriarch Grandmother Spider -- seem like people to us, just as they do to the little girl who finds herself living among them. We learn, with the girl, that these "Old People" once...more
Hardcover, 80 pages
Published
September 1st 1994
by Pomegranate Communications
(first published 1987)
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"And Other Animal Presences" is a key phrase in the title: I love the way Le Guin starts from the simple but often overlooked perspective of nonhumans. She writes about animals, but also plants, and even rocks. (Having read this shortly after Skinny Legs and All, the idea of seeing the world from the perspective of non-sentient objects was particularly interesting to me.) Seeing things from a nonhuman perspective leads to all sorts of changes in how you see communication, emotion, body... In sev...more
The first grown-up novel I ever read on my own was A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin -- in the car on the way home from church one Sunday I heard my Dad talking about a novel he was teaching and it piqued my interest, and soon enough he was reading it to me for my bedtime story and soon after that I read it again on my own -- and I've loved her work ever since. This is a collection of older short stories and poems by Le Guin. I particularly enjoyed many of the stories which are, by and larg...more
I've taught "The Wife's Story" for years, and it is just a delight to re-read the thing. The story catches lazy readers off-guard, and each reading just adds to the sheen of Le Guinn's characterization.
I guess it is not surprising since this book is compiled from various sources around themes that it would be somewhat uneven. However, considering some of its terrible moments & Le Guin's sarcastic comments concerning the western canon in the introduction, I just find it rather sad considering her moments of genius here & in her other works. Le Guin would do well to learn from literature's greats... Her genius shines through at times & it makes the times when she is being sentimental...more
I purchased this book a long time ago because it is illustrated by one of my favourite artists (Susan Seddon Boulet). I am glad that I read this book for myself before reading it to my children, like thought I would! The Coyote is a bit rough in the tongue for my little ones. That said, Ursula K. Le Guin is a master at imagery. From the first sentence I was drawn into this beautiful and haunting tale. It's a grown-up's fable and I loved just about every line of it. I think what I love most is th...more
Ursula Le Guin is such a consummate word smith that her books are never boring.
But I just couldn't get into this one. It's written from that modern-Indian-with-Coyote-in-sneakers POV, which isn't exactly my cup of tea.
From the back cover:
"By climbing up into his own head and shutting out every voice but his own, 'civilized man' has gone deaf. He can't hear the wolf calling him brother -- not master, but brother. He can't hear the earth calling him child -- not father, but son."
And:
"Ursula K. Le...more
But I just couldn't get into this one. It's written from that modern-Indian-with-Coyote-in-sneakers POV, which isn't exactly my cup of tea.
From the back cover:
"By climbing up into his own head and shutting out every voice but his own, 'civilized man' has gone deaf. He can't hear the wolf calling him brother -- not master, but brother. He can't hear the earth calling him child -- not father, but son."
And:
"Ursula K. Le...more
These stories and poems are wonderful. One of the stories, "The Author of the Acacia Seeds and Other Extracts From the Journal of Therolinguistics," I've read before.
Not sure where. But I loved it just as much the second time around. And it's because of this story that I can't understand why Ken Liu's "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" has been so lauded; no offence to him in the slightest, I am a Liu fan, but Ursula already wrote that story, better, in 1974.
Not sure where. But I loved it just as much the second time around. And it's because of this story that I can't understand why Ken Liu's "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" has been so lauded; no offence to him in the slightest, I am a Liu fan, but Ursula already wrote that story, better, in 1974.
A very interesting and mostly well-written collection by Ursula Le Guin. I think I'm at the point now where I believe Le Guin is singularly gifted to look at things from the "other" perspective. It's incredible how insightful she is and how believable her insights are, even towards things which for all we know have no perspectives at all. This collection of short stories and poems is mostly intended to display a novel point of view for animals, plant-life, and even geology, as well as, I believe...more
My favorite author (bar none), Ursula K. Le Guin, is hard to categorize. Her stories here, some fantasy, some science fiction--she prefers the label "speculative fiction"--all share an animal perspective--or a shift in perspective from the dominant human one. Some are short stories; one is probably a novella--she disrespects others' labels in beautiful ways.
I have the older version, without the Susan Seddon Boulet artwork, but with a dozen other short stories and bits of poetry in one volume. I've only read the title story and a few of the poems; five stars for Ursula LeGuin's trademark voice, for the fabulous intro/commentary, and for making me tear up at the end.
Jul 15, 2009
DDog
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
at-home,
anthologies-collections,
book-thing-baltimore,
used,
fantasy,
sci-fi,
animals,
poetry
I really enjoyed this book. I can only give it four stars instead of five because I didn't think Ursula K. Le Guin's poetry was as strong as her prose; there were many times when the segments introducing the poems spoke to me more than the poems themselves. Some of my favorite pieces were "She Unnames Them," "The Direction of the Road," "Vaster than Empires and More Slow," and "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight."
Wow. LeGuin finally crosses over into the land of Neil Gaiman. Could have been one of his illustrated fiction. Very mytho-poetic, a little grimy around the edges. Short. Once again fabulous world creation.
The stories are great, but the poetry is less so. Maybe they're just not my thing. Read this anyway, because Le Guin writes some pretty great stories. I think I've read a few before, but I'm not sure where.
Interesting dichotomy between 'Mazes' and the Slartibartfast scene in HHG. I'm not sure if it's from this text or 'Buffalo Gals & Other Stories,' but GR doesn't have that one, so I'm going with this one!
Gorgeous. 'Vaster than Empires, and More Slow' is my favorite story in this collection. Haven't read any of her other work but I have The Dispossessed waiting for me on my bookshelf.
"The Wife's Story" is mentioned in Marian Scholtmeijer's essay "Animals in Women's Fiction" (as featured in Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations).
While I found many of the stories interesting in their core ideas, I was generally a bit bored. And, sadly, I really didn't find myself enjoying any of her poetry.
This is not my favorite of her books by far, but I really enjoyed her short story of werewolves from the wolf's point of view.
A beautifully illustrated and ecologically profound novella for adults pondering humankind's connection with our fellow animals.
The title story is the one I liked best. Don't know how well this book has aged, but for me at that time it was prime.
God, I want to hang out with her at a campfire someday in some other universe...
The title story is easily one of my favorites of Le Guin's work, and the volume ends just as powerfully, with "She Unnames Them." Many of the tales are also showcased in The Compass Rose, such as "The Wife's Story," "Schrödinger's Cat," "The Author of the Acacia Seeds," "The White Donkey," and "Mazes," but they fit here, add power and subtlety.
I guess I learnt that I don't like being compared to animals. Or vegetables.
Crazy stories, laced with rich woman-ness. Coyote is my heroine.
Short stories with nonhuman main characters. Very nice
very good writer, but so often very bleak.
Very good collection
Of course, Ms. Le Guin delivers another great book. This one is full of short stories and poems with mostly an animal theme.
8/23/07
Finished yesterday. ^^
I rather enjoyed it, an interesting conglomeration of stories and poetry.
The poetry was probably my favorite, though.
8/22/07
Started last night.
The introduction was amusing, and the first story interesting.
Le Guin has been one of my favorite authors for a very long time, so I'm excited to read it.
Finished yesterday. ^^
I rather enjoyed it, an interesting conglomeration of stories and poetry.
The poetry was probably my favorite, though.
8/22/07
Started last night.
The introduction was amusing, and the first story interesting.
Le Guin has been one of my favorite authors for a very long time, so I'm excited to read it.
this is the book i pick up when i don't want to read a whole novel. the short stories and poetry are delightful.
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As of 2011, Ursula K. Le Guin has published twenty-one novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. Forthcoming...more
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