Ursula Le Guin dies at 88

Deuce Traveler · Jan 26, 2018

My favorite author of all time just passed away earlier this week:

https://www.bustle.com/p/these-twit...eath-will-absolutely-break-your-heart-7997035

My favorite work of hers is the "Lathe of Heaven", though I also enjoyed and quite recommend "The Left Hand of Darkness". Her short stories, such as "The Word for World is Forest" and "The Eye of the Heron" are also quite excellent. She may be most famous for her Earthsea series.

She is one of the few authors who have one the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Locus Award, and has in fact them multiple times.

Vaya con Dios, to an amazing writer.

Jhaelen · Jan 26, 2018

Oh, my, sad news, indeed. She's one of my favorite authors, as well. She's also one of my favorite examples for my pet theory that sci-fi writers are usually the best fantasy writers, as well.
Apart from the titles you already mentioned, I particularly liked 'The Dispossessed' because of its interesting narrative structure.

I was also quite impressed by her young adult fiction trilogy 'Annals of the Western Shore': 'Gifts', 'Voices', and 'Powers'. I felt these novels had a depth that is often missing even in fiction intended for grown-ups.

The 'Earthsea' series are some of the few books I've read in my youth that I considered even better when re-reading them decades later. And the list of novels that I deem worthwhile to re-read, at all, is really short.

Dioltach · Jan 26, 2018

Jhaelen said:
The 'Earthsea' series are some of the few books I've read in my youth that I considered even better when re-reading them decades later.

Totally agree. I must have read them at least a dozen times as a kid, then reread them last year. They blew me away.

Ralif Redhammer · Jan 26, 2018

Sad news, indeed. There’s something so wise about A Wizard of Earthsea, so thought-provoking about The Dispossessed. We came to Gandalf as a great and wise wizard. But we make the journey alongside Sparrowhawk.

Blue · Jan 26, 2018

"A Wizard of Earthsea" was the very first fantasy book I ever read, loaned to me at camp when I was in the 4th grade. That fed my interest when the following year at camp, during the after lunch "free choice" period a pair of kids would pick the "board games" option but really play this game with these books and weird dice...

Which lead to me getting the red box Basic set, having a drought of two years before I actually met anyone else who played, and then slowly building up steam from there.