A Short Review of No Time to Spare, by Ursula K. Le Guin

No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is my first book for 2018, just finished last night. I was, and still am, reading another book at the same time, but for the first book of the year, this one seemed the most appropriate. It's not just because I am a big Le Guin and have been since high school, it's also because her work has always been a touchstone in my life, from The Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness and Language of the Night and ... (insert a string of titles here ) all read and reread I don't know how many times. I wrote my dissertation on her rhetorical use of myth.

I recognized, and still recognize, myself in her stories and essays and I did, again here, in this beautiful collection of short essays and musings, in which she is examining "the last great frontier of life, old age, and exploring new literary territory: the blog, a forum where her voice--sharp, witty, as compassionate as it is critical--shines" (front cover). The subject matter ranges questions from readers, her cat, Pard, turning 80+, faith and belief, among others. She writes, as always, with grace and style. Her prose is beautiful. As Michael Chabon says, "As a deviser of worlds, as a literary stylist, as a social critic and as a storyteller, Le Guin has no peer" (back cover).

My love affair continues.

Highly recommended.





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