Le Guin: Left Hand of Darkness: INTRODUCTION: Left Hand of Darkness

[Traveller]

Here is the index page: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

[Ian]

My review is here:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Mary]

New to this group. Interesting thread. I especially appreciate the link to her 1983 commencement speech. That was amazing. Le Guin is one of my favorites. Has anyone mentioned or linked to Le Guin's review of Mieville's Embassytown in the Guardian? If so, I apologize, I missed it. Here it is:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/...

[Traveller]

Mary wrote: "New to this group. Interesting thread. I especially appreciate the link to her 1983 commencement speech. That was amazing. Le Guin is one of my favorites. Has anyone mentioned or linked to Le Guin'..."

Thanks for the link, Mary, and welcome! Well, it appears that half of our group enjoyed Left Hand Of Darkness and the other half wasn't as impressed, so, at least we have some diversity of opinion here, which isn't such a bad thing.

Yes, Embassytown is indeed a pretty cool novel, and maybe Le Guin can learn from Mieville regarding how to portray gender in such a natural manner. I think one would need to look hard to find a female portrayed more subtly and naturally than Avice, especially the lack of sexism she is portrayed with. She is so natural that you sometimes forget about her gender and just experience her as a human, which I think is cool!

[Joseph]

"Only the trash forms of science fiction are undemanding and predictable; the good stuff, like all good fiction, is not for lazy minds. Where the complexity of realistic novels is moral and psychological, in science fiction it's moral and intellectual; individual character is seldom the key." ~ Ursula K. Le Guin (so spot on!)

[Inna]

Great. Thanks for the quote, Joseph.

[Cecily]

Thanks for the Guardian link, Mary. It's an excellent article (though Le Guin wasn't reading carefully enough if she couldn't figure out miab, as it's explicitly defined in the book).

[Joseph]

Sometimes bigger name authors do that, I've noticed. They read it kind of perfunctorily [though sometimes closer] and write a hasty review because of deadlines. It seemed like she genuinely liked it though. When she has more time, she should give it another read through!

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

Mary wrote: "New to this group. "

Hi, Mary - are you stalking me? [actually, Mary raised LHOD in another group, and I said I'd just finished reading it here... so here she is.]

Cecily wrote: "Thanks for the Guardian link, Mary. It's an excellent article (though Le Guin wasn't reading carefully enough if she couldn't figure out miab, as it's explicitly defined in the book)."

A couple of people here had some difficulty with that - the first time I read it, it took me a while. The odd thing was that iirc it was defined on the next page after it was first used!

[Traveller]

Derek wrote: "Mary wrote: "New to this group. "

Hi, Mary - are you stalking me? [actually, Mary raised LHOD in another group, and I said I'd just finished reading it here... so here she is.]
"

Looks like we owe you for bringing in some bright new members, Derek! ^_^

Joseph wrote: "Sometimes bigger name authors do that, I've noticed. They read it kind of perfunctorily [though sometimes closer] and write a hasty review because of deadlines. It seemed like she genuinely liked i..."

I'm reminded of Virginia Woolfe's treatment of James Joyce's Ulysses, hehe.

[Mary]

Derek wrote: "Hi, Mary - are you stalking me?"

Ha. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Similarly, you Canadians have a good idea every once in awhile :P

Cecily wrote: ...though Le Guin wasn't reading carefully enough if she couldn't figure out miab, as it's explicitly defined in the book).

I have to confess that since it's been awhile since I read the book, I had to go back and look to see what miab meant ("Miab, miab, message in a bottle!" Mum Berwick would sing as she gathered our letters up.) You are right, it is pretty well explained by Mieville in the book, that one more so than most of his other "box-words". It was precisely these "box-words" that made, for me, the beginning of the novel hard to get through and get into. But at some point he either stopped using them so much or else I got a lot better at peeling the layers to figure out their meanings.

Now I have to decide which to read next. I have copies of Kraken and The City and the City. Terrible dilemma to have, I know.

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

Mary wrote: "Ha. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Similarly, you Canadians have a good idea every once in awhile :P"

Ouch! I may have deserved that...

There's no dilemma in my mind - if you have to choose, it's The City & the City.

[Joseph]

Most people seem to agree that Kraken is their least fav. C.M. book. I haven't read it yet.

[Allen]

Mary wrote: "Now I have to decide which to read next. I have copies of Kraken and The City and the City. Terrible dilemma to have, I know. "

I'll second The City and the City. My favorite, especially for that self-discovery aspect (box-words and all). Seems CM likes to take you on a journey of discovery, rather than over explain. Back to that "intellectual" nature of good science fiction Le Guin's talking about. Awesome quote find, Joseph!

Also, I will say for sheer weirdness value alone, I enjoyed Kraken, too.

[Inna]

Totally agree with Allen.