2010 Reading #106: The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin
Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
Books 81-90.
Books 91-100.
101. Old Fort Snelling: 1819-1858 by Marcus L. Hansen.
102. Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Volume 1 by Roger Landgridge, Chris Samnee, and Matthew Wilson.
103. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith.
104. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu.
105. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
106. The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. Much of this collection consists of revisitations of settings Le Guin has used before--Gethen ("Coming of Age in Karhide"), O ("Unchosen Love" and "Mountain Ways"), Werel and Yeowe ("Old Music and the Slave Women"). I enjoyed those stories, but I enjoyed more the ones that introduced new settings and ways of being human, even unpleasant ones. I've read "The Matter of Seggri" at least twice before, but it's a story that feels new every time I read it. It's something of a dark story, but a hopeful one, which I think is something you could say of much of Le Guin's work; it has no illusions about the dark side of human nature, but it sees that there are a lot of people trying to do better, and tells us to focus on that. "Solitude" is a story that made me deeply uncomfortable, and I'm not sure if I enjoyed it exactly, but I suspect I'll be remembering it and thinking about it for a long while. And the longest story here, "Paradises Lost," is a seriously engaging generation-ship story; I have some reservations about the religious dynamic that Le Guin uses, but as an anthropological examination of the middle generations who never saw the home planet and never expect to see the destination, it's like nothing I've yet read. So, more Le Guin, more great work; pretty unsurprising, really.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
Books 81-90.
Books 91-100.
101. Old Fort Snelling: 1819-1858 by Marcus L. Hansen.
102. Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Volume 1 by Roger Landgridge, Chris Samnee, and Matthew Wilson.
103. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith.
104. Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu.
105. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
106. The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. Much of this collection consists of revisitations of settings Le Guin has used before--Gethen ("Coming of Age in Karhide"), O ("Unchosen Love" and "Mountain Ways"), Werel and Yeowe ("Old Music and the Slave Women"). I enjoyed those stories, but I enjoyed more the ones that introduced new settings and ways of being human, even unpleasant ones. I've read "The Matter of Seggri" at least twice before, but it's a story that feels new every time I read it. It's something of a dark story, but a hopeful one, which I think is something you could say of much of Le Guin's work; it has no illusions about the dark side of human nature, but it sees that there are a lot of people trying to do better, and tells us to focus on that. "Solitude" is a story that made me deeply uncomfortable, and I'm not sure if I enjoyed it exactly, but I suspect I'll be remembering it and thinking about it for a long while. And the longest story here, "Paradises Lost," is a seriously engaging generation-ship story; I have some reservations about the religious dynamic that Le Guin uses, but as an anthropological examination of the middle generations who never saw the home planet and never expect to see the destination, it's like nothing I've yet read. So, more Le Guin, more great work; pretty unsurprising, really.