Ursula Le Guin Books • Hacker News Board

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#41

Post by vmilner » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:27 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #28

As a huge fan of the Wizard of Earthsea , I could never bring myself to read the other big wizard school books: Harry Potter . Harry Potter just seemed so trite, superficial, and generic by comparison.. but since I never actually read them I can't say if my impression of them from the outside was accurate. Would any other Wizard of Earthsea fans who've actually read Harry Potter be so kind as to compare and contrast…

I'm a huge Earthsea fan and I enjoyed HP too - I just think they're different styles of books, in particular HP has a lot of comedy, and it's more directly aimed at children than Earthsea is. Similarly, 'The Worst Witch' is great for slightly younger children.

To be honest, you could knock off the first volume of HP in a day or so, so the easiest thing is just to try it.

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#42

Post by grey-area » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:28 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #28

As a huge fan of the Wizard of Earthsea , I could never bring myself to read the other big wizard school books: Harry Potter . Harry Potter just seemed so trite, superficial, and generic by comparison.. but since I never actually read them I can't say if my impression of them from the outside was accurate. Would any other Wizard of Earthsea fans who've actually read Harry Potter be so kind as to compare and contrast…

Earthsea is written for adults too, Harry Potter is written for children. Most of the significant differences stem from that.

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#43

Post by void-star » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:28 PM UTC

I recently discovered her translation of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. It’s become one of my favorite books to open and read a random page from and meditate on. In it I think she also really shows the roots of her philosophy that she expressed throughout all of her writing. The original writing is ofcourse Lao Tzu but the voice in the translation is very much Ursula’s. I’d highly recommend it for fans of any of her writing, regardless of genre.

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#44

Post by vmilner » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

ycombinete wrote: post #14

37ef_ced3 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real star of the Earthsea trilogy is the second book, The Tombs of Atuan: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tombs_of_Atuan The others put me to sleep, honestly

Interesting. I’ve read the first two books, and had the opposite experience.

I found Atuan a bit dull at 20 (years old), but really moving at 40.

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#45

Post by pmoriarty » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

Jtsummers wrote: post #24

Related, her mother's two books on Ishi are well worth a read. Ishi in Two Worlds (non-fiction, biographical) and Ishi: Last of His Tribe (fiction) by Theodora Kroeber. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi

The Ishi story is fascinating, and I second your recommendation, and also want to mention the famous documentary: Ishi, the last Yahi[1]

It amazed me when I found out that Ursula Le Guin was the Krober's daughter.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXxHI3Hi90

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#46

Post by nbernard » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #28

As a huge fan of the Wizard of Earthsea , I could never bring myself to read the other big wizard school books: Harry Potter . Harry Potter just seemed so trite, superficial, and generic by comparison.. but since I never actually read them I can't say if my impression of them from the outside was accurate. Would any other Wizard of Earthsea fans who've actually read Harry Potter be so kind as to compare and contrast…

It's difficult to answer as the Harry Potter books' complexity deepen during the series, as the characters (and the child reading the books?) grow. The first one is definitely a children book. The last ones less so (and can be quite dark).

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#47

Post by vmilner » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

onei wrote: post #23

_haoa wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. The Earthsea Cycle is one of the greatest and most influential fantasy sagas of all time, right up there next to LotR. It pioneered the wizarding school trope, later popularized by Harry Potter, as well as a magic system incorporating “true names” of things, a concept used in many other fantasies such as Eragon. A Wizard of Earthsea is my all time favorite book.

I read a Wizard of Earthsea as a kid, and looking back 2 things stood out to me. First is the diversity of the characters. It's not all white people, although I recall some TV/film adaptions were not particularly faithful to that much to Le Guin's disappointment. The other is a phrase that I still use to this day: "tired is stupid". Particularly when I've been debugging something for many hours, late into the evening…

The notable white people are the Kargish bad guys.

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#48

Post by 8fGTBjZxBcHq » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

minnca wrote: post #29

kijin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> since it has spaceships it must be the latter. I look forward to the day when spaceships become as mundane as trains and helicopters, so that their presence alone will not make a novel "science fiction". Le Guin never identified her books as science fiction. Sadly the world can't seem to look at a book without shoving it into the bounds of a familiar genre. This doesn't help readers, either, as GP was apparently gi…

I'm a big Le Guin fan and I consider her books to be sort of like "anthropological science fiction," as in they're focused on the societies and people of science fictional societies and less so on the science behind those societies.

Yeah that's a big part of her thing right. She was raised by anthropologists I think? It's very present in a lot of her books and Always Coming Home is like 1/3 straight fictional ethnography.

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#49

Post by aquir » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

KingOfCoders wrote: post #3

If I would allowed to only own one book, it would be "The Dispossessed". This books explains so many different sides of humanity. On a more personal note: After reading it a dozen times there are still parts I need to cry. Just thinking about the strong emotions in parts of the book waters my eyes right now.

The best book ever! I don't know how many times I read it. My other favourite is The Left Hand of Darkness.

Re: Ursula Le Guin Books

#50

Post by pmoriarty » Sat, May 08, 2021, 4:37 PM UTC

hardlianotion wrote: post #39

SeanLuke wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like all of Earthsea. But what really surprised me about the Earthsea "trilogy" was how interesting the later three books were, and how much they subtly reflected, I suppose, changes in her philosophy about feminism and culture. [For those of you who don't know, Le Guin wrote the original trilogy early in her career, then wrote the last three books much, much later, with a big gap between].

I found the later books rather boring - she grew away from me. The book where we departed company, I think, was Always Coming Home.

I never even got to the later Earthsea books.

I absolutely loved and treasured The Wizard of Earthsea, which I've read and reread many times over my life (something I almost never do with any books).

The other two books in the trilogy: The Tombs of Atuan and The Furthest Shore were pretty disappointing to me, so I stopped reading Le Guin after that.