Ursula Le Guin year-long reading challenge

[Joelle.P.S]

I found "May's Lion" magical and meta! :-)
Unfortunately it's the only 1 I've really liked of the 12 I've read so far (the 1st 2 3rds of the book). :-(
I think I'll set this book aside for now.

[Anna]

Hi those of you who read Lavinia! Do you think I'd get much (or anything) out of it if I'm not very familiar with the Aeneid? I'm really tempted to get the audiobook, which is narrated by Imogen Church, one of my new favorite narrators. I almost bought it earlier, but ended up choosing something I thought was safer, but turns out I'm going to be returning it. I really want to exchange it for Lavinia, but I'm worried it'll be lost on me.

[Kaa]

I am unfamiliar with the Aeneid andI thought Lavinia was lovely. With a good narrator I bet it would be an excellent audiobook, because Le Guin's prose is as listenable as ever.

[Anna]

Oh, well in that case it's settled and I'm getting it! Thanks! ^_^

[DivaDiane]

I agree that it’s not really necessary to know the Aeneid. The story is completely independent until he shows up about 1/3 into the book. You can read a brief summary of the Aeneid on Wikipedia, which is also plenty to see the parallels.

[Anna]

I don't have anything exciting to say about Lavinia, but I just wanted to report back that I'm loving the audiobook! And the book in general, it doesn't feel like typical UKLG at all times, but then some very UKLG gem pops up and I remember that's who I'm listening to :)

[DivaDiane]

Have you read Always Coming Home, Anna? It reminds me a little of that.

[Anna]

No, I’ve been scared of the ”different” ones, but I’m going to get there eventually! I have some short fic on my UKLG list next, and then I’ll start looking at what’s left! (And the poetry last I think.)

Almost done with Lavinia, was expecting it to take 2-3 days 😊

[DivaDiane]

Lavinia is lovely. And her poetry is too. I read Wild Angels (her first poetry collection) last year and I don’t profess to have understood the half of it, but she turns a gorgeous phrase. He collection Late in the Day is really stunning, and not hard to grasp.

[Anna]

My only reason for not jumping on her poetry is that I'm afraid I won't be able to appreciate it properly. I have heard good things, and fully expect it to be amazing, just hoping I won't ruin the experience for myself :) Besides the few poems in Uncanny Magazine, the last time I read poetry was in high school (Federico García Lorca).

[DivaDiane]

So, Le Guin’s poetry is more often than not “realistic” rather than genre or speculative poetry. Not sure if that makes it more or less scary. As you may remember, I live speculative poetry. But I’ll read poetry written by UKL regardless!

[Anna]

Yes, I'm aware of that! I just read so little poetry in general, that I feel like I'm not capable of interpreting it properly.

[DivaDiane]

Let me implore your not to worry about whether you’re interpreting it “properly”! There’s not right way. If you get anything out of it at all, even if it’s an appreciation for the interesting word choices, that’s enough! Good luck!

[Anna]

I'm probably not going to get to them very soon anyway, I don't own any of them, and I still have other UKLG works to enjoy in the meantime ^_^

[Lost Planet Airman]

Anna wrote: "I don't have anything exciting to say about Lavinia, but I just wanted to report back that I'm loving the audiobook! And the book in general, it doesn't feel like typical UKLG at all times, but the..."

I think, part way through, I looked up the Wikipedia articles on The Aeneid and on Virgil, just to gather the threads to Ms. Le Guin's sources. It enriched the experience, but not a necessity!

[Anna]

I, too, looked at the wiki entry after I finished the book :)

[Bonnie]

Some Ursula K LeGuin mentions, and her dad, in this Slate article :

Enough With Literature as Self-Improvement!
In his dispiriting literary survey Wonderworks, Angus Fletcher reduces centuries of passionate art into the stuff of self-help videos.

https://slate.com/culture/2021/03/won...

[Anna]

I read the final story in The Birthday of the World and Other Stories, "Paradises Lost", today, and it was so good! I very rarely rate collections five stars, but there was only one story here I didn't completely love, so it was an easy five. I read parts on ebook and listened to some parts. I really liked the audiobook narrator, Christina Moore, her style suited these stories very well.

[Bonnie]

New edition of The Lathe Of Heaven


prompted this article by Kelly Link >

Kelly Link in Praise of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Genuine Magic
“It is striking how resonant Le Guin’s work remains even as the future she describes recedes into our past.”
https://lithub.com/kelly-link-in-prai...