Ursula K. Le Guin

[holyzombiejesus]

Seen a few praise her on here. Not being facetious but is it all dragons and elves and stuff? What would be the best book to start with?

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Not really, usually more SF, or speculative fiction if you're a snob I suppose. Can happily recommend the short story collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters and the novel The Lathe of Heaven. A lot of people swear by Left Hand of Darkness but I found that one quite hard to get into, meself.

[Dayraven]

Not being facetious but is it all dragons and elves and stuff?

The Earthsea books are the closest she got to a cookie-cutter fantasy setting, and they're still fairly distinct.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

The Earthsea books are the closest she got to a cookie-cutter fantasy setting, and they're still fairly distinct.

Obligatory mention here for the fourth and fifth books in the Earthsea trilogy (yeah, I didn't know about them for years, either) which are genuinely extraordinary, and put a whole new perspective on what is still seen as a very white, very male genre.

[Kankurette]

I've seen the Ghibli movie but apparently it's nothing like the books and cut a lot of stuff out. It's sort of a mash-up of Tehanu and The Farthest Shore. My mate who went with me is a Le Guin fan and they hated it.

[Endicott]

The Disposessed is her go at presenting an anarchist society and contrasting it with blatant capitalism. It's a very good read.

[wrec]

The Lathe of Heaven is my favourite, sometimes described as the best Philip K Dick novel he never wrote. It's a very PKD concept but Le Guin is much better as a writer.

The Dispossessed is up there too. The political aspect is discussed most but I found the relationship at the heart of it particularly convincing and moving.

The Left Hand of Darkness is also a cracker, as is very obvious Nam allegory The Word for World is Forest.

I read The Winds Twelve Quarters & The Compass Rose recently, fantastic at its best but I find the more fantasy leaning stories less up my street.

Never sure whether I should give Earthsea a go or if it's more of a YA thing.

[Famous Mortimer]

Left Hand Of Darkness is fantastic, agreed.

There's a great PBS version of "The Lathe Of Heaven" from 1980 available on Youtube, if you're in the mood:

[Pranet]

Most of the books generally considered to be her best ones mentioned here already- Lathe of Heaven (I was going to compare it to PKD as well), the Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness.

Maybe a notch below is The Word for World is Forest.

On Earthsea- it is what would now be considered YA (the first three books anyway, the later books are pretty grim) but I never felt patronised or got that feeling I sometimes get when reading a kid's book that it isn't quite enough. Also, they are all really short so you can read the first one and if it isn't for you you haven't wasted much time.

A personal favourite is the short story collection The Birthday of the World- has two stories that I think about all the time.

One word of warning- her books are cursed with the worst covers- I would have started reader her sooner if it wasn't for the terrible covers. I remember being a book shop looking at one of her books and putting back on the shelf because I couldn't bring myself to buy a book with such a terrible cover.

[Famous Mortimer]

One word of warning- her books are cursed with the worst covers- I would have started reader her sooner if it wasn't for the terrible covers. I remember being a book shop looking at one of her books and putting back on the shelf because I couldn't bring myself to buy a book with such a terrible cover.

Agreed. Which is why I bought this collection, as it looks lovely.

[Vodkafone]

My two pence worth from a few years ago.

[willbo]

get a compilation of the Earthsea books