CJ’s Comments (group member since Oct 08, 2024)

CJ’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

Ok, I finished my reread today and was surprised at how much came back to me once I got past the first 2 chapters. I like a lot, it's not my favorite Le Guin, but I think it's an important work by her.

There's some things I don't think aged that well, like the way she handled the erasing of race but I think the Taoist imagery and themes are pretty interesting and would be a good reason to reread this again. Also, there was more humor in it that I recalled, or maybe I was too young and dumb to pick up on her humor when I first read it. My favorite line:

They could live with Mount Hood fuming softly on the horizon, but an eruption just up the street was too much. (from ch. 9)

Yes, if your edition is the one with Kelly Link's intro--she describes it like that.

As far as bookish stuff goes, I'm part of a few groups here on GR and a couple of book-related Discord servers. IRL, I'm pretty socially isolated, between being autistic, middle-age, chronically ill and currently being treated for cancer. I use the local library but I don't participate in any groups there.

One thing I am missing right now is a multilingual reading community. I used to be a part of one, where we would read the same book in translation according to our target language, but that community dwindled away after a few years. Since I came back to GR after my cancer diagnosis I've been reading almost exclusively in English and I need to try to change that in 2025.

Am planning on rereading this for this group, already have both an ebook and audiobook. Been too long since I first read it to spill any spoilers, lol.