Ursula K. Le Guin
One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels
"One of the greats. . . . Not just a science fiction writer; a literary icon." —Stephen King
"Engrossing . . . Ursula Le Guin is more than just a writer of adult fantasy and science fiction . . . she is a philosopher; an explorer in the landscapes of the mind." — Cincinnati Enquirer
Ursula
...7) Lavinia
8) Gifts
In this beautifully crafted novel, the first of the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world's darkness, gifts of light.
Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability—with a glance, a gesture, a word—to summon animals,
...9) The Telling
Winner of the Locus Award • Winner of the Endeavor Award
"[Le Guin] can lift fiction to the level of poetry and compress it to the density of allegory—in The Telling, she does both, gorgeously." —Jonathan Lethem
Sutty, an Observer from Earth for the interstellar Ekumen, has been assigned to a new world—a world in the grips of a stern monolithic state, the Corporation.
...10) Voices
In this second novel in the Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, Ursula K. Le Guin brings readers a haunting and gripping coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of violence, intolerance, and magic.
Ansul was once a peaceful town filled with libraries, schools, and temples. But that was long ago, and the conquerors of this coastal city consider reading and writing to be acts punishable by death. And they believe the Oracle
...12) The Wild Girls
Newly revised and presented here in book form for the first time, this Nebula Award-winning story tells of two captive "dirt children" in a society of sword and silk, whose determination to find a glimpse of justice leads to a violent and loving end. Also included is the nonfiction essay Staying Awake While We Read, which demolishes the pretensions of corporate publishing and the basic assumptions of capitalism, and Outspoken Author Interview,
...13) King Dog
A movie for the mind's eye. This is a screenplay.
A little background: The character of King Ashthera, with his dog, and his gambling streak, is derived from King Yudhisthira in the Mahabharata, the wonderful and interminable epic of India. When, towards the end of the story, Yudhisthira gets to Heaven, he is outraged to find some of his enemies are there, and some of his friends are not; and he decides not to enter Heaven at all unless they
...14) The New Atlantis
A vision of hope sinking and hope rising, in an America paralyzed by corporate control of government while sea levels rise catastrophically due to human-caused climate change.
15) Tehanu
He is a full-grown man, alone in a dense forest, with no trail to show where he has come from and no memory to tell who or what he is. His eyes are not the eyes of a human. The forest people take him in and raise him, teaching him to speak, training him in the knowledge and lore of the forest, but they cannot solve the riddle of his past. At last, he sets out on a perilous quest to find his true self—and discovers a universe of danger.
City
...18) Planet of Exile
The Earth colony of Landinhas been stranded on the planet Werel for ten orbits, each of which is sixty Earth years long. As Werel once again enters its fifteen-year-long winter, the lonely and dwindling human settlement is joined by the nomadic hilfs, an indigenous humanoid people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. The hilfs fear the Earthmen, whom they call farborns, regarding them as witches and avoiding interaction with them. Although
...19) Changing planes
"All Le Guin's stories are...metaphors for the one human story; all her fantasy planets are this one. Le Guin is a quintessentially American writer, of the sort for whom the quest for the Peaceable Kingdom is ongoing."
In this collection of short stories, Sita Dulip from Cincinnati finds a method of transcending the miserable experience of flying. A mere kind of twist and a slipping bend, easier to do than to describe, takes her not to Denver
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