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Ursula K. Le Guin

    October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018

    Ursula K. Le Guin was renowned for her incisive explorations of gender, political systems, and otherness. Her works frequently drew on a profound understanding of anthropology, evident in her creation of intricate fictional societies. Through her narrators, often envoys, she examined the encounters and interactions between disparate cultures and worlds. Le Guin utilized her distinctive first-person narration to deeply immerse the reader in the essence of human experience and difference.

    Ursula K. Le Guin
    Ursula K. Le Guin: Annals of the Western Shore (LOA #335)
    The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction
    Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 2 (Loa #297): The Word for World Is Forest / Five Ways to Forgiveness / The Telling / Stories
    The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition
    Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (Loa #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Le
    The Hainish Novels and Stories
    • The Hainish Novels and Stories

      • 2 volumes
      • 1931 pages
      • 68 hours of reading

      For the first time, all of Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish novels and stories are brought together in a single edition, complete and with new introductions by the author. Beginning in the 1960s and 70s, Le Guin imagined a galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain--an array of worlds whose divergent societies was the result of both evolution and genetic engineering.--From the publisher.

      The Hainish Novels and Stories
      4.8
    • "For the first time, all of Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish novels and stories are brought together in a single edition, complete and with new introductions by the author. Beginning in the 1960s and 70s, these remarkable works redrew the map of modern science fiction. In such visionary masterworks as the Nebula and Hugo Award winners The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, Le Guin imagined a galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain--an array of worlds whose divergent societies was the result of both evolution and genetic engineering."-- Publisher's website

      Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 1 (Loa #296): Rocannon's World / Planet of Exile / City of Illusions / The Le
      4.6
    • Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the timeless and beloved A Wizard of Earthsea. Includes six novels, short stories and non-fiction, and with over fifty illustrations by Charles Vess

      The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition
      4.6
    • Exploring themes of colonization and cultural suppression, this collection features Ursula K. Le Guin's final two Hainish novels, alongside seven short stories and the complete "Five Ways to Forgiveness." "The Word for World Is Forest" addresses the exploitation of a planet's resources by Earth, while "The Telling" reveals a society that has erased its cultural identity. Included are new introductions by Le Guin and a vibrant chart detailing the known worlds of Hainish descent, showcasing her profound impact on science fiction.

      Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories Vol. 2 (Loa #297): The Word for World Is Forest / Five Ways to Forgiveness / The Telling / Stories
      4.6
    • The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction

      • 48 pages
      • 2 hours of reading

      In The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, visionary author Ursula K. Le Guin retells the story of human origin by redefining technology as a cultural carrier bag rather than a weapon of domination. Hacking the linear, progressive mode of the Techno-Heroic, the Carrier Bag Theory of human evolution proposes: 'before the tool that forces energy outward, we made the tool that brings energy home.' Prior to the preeminence of sticks, swords and the Hero's long, hard, killing tools, our ancestors' greatest invention was the container: the basket of wild oats, the medicine bundle, the net made of your own hair, the home, the shrine, the place that contains whatever is sacred. The recipient, the holder, the story. The bag of stars. This influential essay opens a portal to terra ignota: unknown lands where the possibilities of human experience and knowledge can be discovered anew. With a new introduction by Donna Haraway, the eminent cyberfeminist, author of the revolutionary A Cyborg Manifesto and most recently, Staying with the Trouble and Manifestly Haraway. With images by Lee Bul, a leading South Korean feminist artist who had a retrospective at London's Hayward Gallery in 2018.

      The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction
      4.6
    • "This fifth volume in the definitive Library of America edition of Ursula K. Le Guin's work presents a trilogy of coming-of-age stories set in the Western Shore, a world where young people find themselves struggling not just against racism, prejudice, and slavery, but with mysterious and magical gifts. Includes Gifts, Voices, and Powers"-- Provided by publisher

      Ursula K. Le Guin: Annals of the Western Shore (LOA #335)
      4.5
    • The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous communication. It is the life work of Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres. But Shevek's work is being stifled by jealous colleagues, so he travels to Anarres's sister-planet Urras, hoping to find more liberty and tolerance there. But he soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.

      The Dispossessed
      4.5
    • The Choices We Made

      25 Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion

      • 244 pages
      • 9 hours of reading

      Now in paperback: a set of very personal perspectives on America's most divisive social issue, from 25 well-known writers, performers, and others, including Rita Moreno, Margot Kidder, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Linda Ellerbee. Together they reveal the intensely personal nature of the decision and the harm that results from restricting that choice.

      The Choices We Made
      5.0
    • Earthsea

      • 691 pages
      • 25 hours of reading

      As a young dragonlord, Ged, whose use-name is Sparrowhawk, is sent to the island of Roke to learn the true way of magic. A natural magician, Ged becomes an Archmage and helps the High Priestess Tenar escape from the labyrinth of darkness. But as the years pass, true magic and ancient ways are forced to submit to the powers of evil and death.

      Earthsea
      4.5
    • Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching

      • 136 pages
      • 5 hours of reading

      A rich, poetic, and socially relevant version of the great spiritual-philosophical classic of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching—from a legendary literary icon Most people know Ursula K. Le Guin for her extraordinary science fiction and fantasy. Fewer know just how pervasive Taoist themes are to so much of her work. And in Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, we are treated to Le Guin’s unique take on Taoist philosophy’s founding classic. Le Guin presents Lao Tzu’s time-honored and astonishingly powerful philosophy like never before. Drawing on a lifetime of contemplation and including extensive personal commentary throughout, she offers an unparalleled window into the text’s awe-inspiring, immediately relatable teachings and their inestimable value for our troubled world. Jargon-free but still faithful to the poetic beauty of the original work, Le Guin’s unique translation is sure to be welcomed by longtime readers of the Tao Te Ching as well as those discovering the text for the first time.

      Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
      4.4