Welcome to Litsy!

Starting the year with one I‘ve been meaning to read for a while

I will never EVER get over Harth's death

📚Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (and tagged)

✒️ Ursula K. LeGuin

🎞 Lawrence of Arabia

🎤 John Lennon, Lizzo

🎼 “Little Green,” by Joni Mitchell, “Love of My Life,” by Queen, “Life During Wartime,” by Talking Heads, “Lost in the Supermarket,” by The Clash

#manicmonday #letterL @CBee

“Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.

Predictions are uttered by prophets (free of charge), by clairvoyants (who usually charge a fee, and are therefore more honoured in their day than prophets), and by futurologists (salaried). Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist‘s business is lying.”

I adored reading this book. It's the kind of story that I know will be sticking around in my mind for a while yet.

I discovered Le Guin after hearing that she was an inspiration of Becky Chambers, and I can 100% see that in the details of the differences between the worlds' species, e.g. kemmer.

This is such an interesting look at gender & culture. It is amazing that it was written in 1969 considering how relevant the themes still are. I did have to Google some words so be aware that is a thing in the writing. Overall I'm glad I read this & will read more by her. I saw an article where she did say she would have used neutral gender pronouns instead of he/him as the default if she had written it more recently. I highly recommend.

"A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity appreciated, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On Winter they will not exist. One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience." Note: this sounds great to me. Definitely not appalling!

This was beautiful, one of the best sci-fi novels I've read in recent years. The world building is almost like a fantasy novel. There is a mythology and a rich history, all explained poetically by Le Guin. The writing of the relationship between the lead characters of Genly Ai and Estraven is extraordinary. This is the fourth book in the Hainish Cycle and, though you don't need to read them in order, I do plan to go back and read more Le Guin.

Happy #NationalBeerDay‼️

I love #BooksandBrewsClub sponsored by my Library and held at local Brewery. Glad will be discussing this Classic Sci Fi book because it's a lot to take in. Hearing other members thoughts to helps me to process. 📖📚🍻

It's been a p exhausting week (a mix of great and not so fun) but I am HERE with my #BFC22 March review!

In March I read 3 books and started a 4th/5th, took the month off for the most part with yoga/Blogilates to allow my body to recover properly from Covid but got going again in the last week or so there & I've really enjoyed the Mindful March calendar😊

For April, my goal is to keep listening to my body and going with what it needs!😊

#ursulaklegiun #weremember @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Enjoying a cozy day of reading with my new buddy 😊🐈‍⬛

#myfavouritebreedisrescued

I'm taking a little break from Black & British to read this little gem - I'm not sure what to expect from this one but it looks great!

(Really enjoying Black & British so far - it's just very long & dense so decided to break reading it up a bit with other books)😁

❄ Tagged
❄ Not really, unless I can stay inside and read.
❄ The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge

#sundayfunday @ozma.of.oz

I just bought a sheet of the commemorative Le Guin stamp. The scene of a an arduous journey through #snow & ice is from the tagged book, which I read this year. I really liked it & plan on reading more Le Guin soon. #wishesandblessings @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

The plot felt a little plodding to me at first (being very new to sci-fi, I guess I was expecting star-ship races and lasers going “pew-pew”). But then it snowballed into something different, a rich story that seemed to incorporate a lot of Le Guin‘s anthropological background: how a man encounters an alien world where gender does not exist. The book (always gently) prods you to shuck off any notion that “mankind” appears as one fixed thing.

Fantastic new prize! Ursula LeGuin prize upcoming!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/21/realists-of-a-larger-reality-wante...

🎧 📖 OMG how did this book get better than a 4 star rating? Are we talking about the same book? 🤨

OK it was well written. Very well written! The narration wasn‘t hideous.

At times it was ... Boring. Weird. Dated. I might listen to this one again ... Just to torture myself ... J/K ... maybe I needed to be in a mood? This 1 just didn‘t do it for me today. Snoozeville. Sorry. Classic snoozeville. I‘m seriously slating it for a re-read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another one from my book order. I've not read any of her stuff yet but I've heard good things. #tbrpile

Finished my #doublespin! Tried to post this earlier, but Litsy wasn‘t working with me. While I did really like this book, there were some parts I didn‘t like, so it only gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookspinbingo

Weekend plans: edit some YouTube videos, go for a run, go for a long bike ride, snuggle the puppy, finish this book!

Current read... 50 pages in and I'm a little confused but trusting Le Guin to take me on this journey.

This is my second Le Guin novel. An ambassador from Ekumen is sent to Karhide in order to recruit them into joining as allies in a sort of intergalactic UN His mission is threatened when the politician who gave him audience with the king is declared a traitor. Although I didn't like this one quite as much as Lathe of Heaven, I still enjoyed it & found certain passages deeply moving & others mesmerizing. Will definitely be reading more Le Guin.

My list for March‘s #bookspinbingo - a good mix of genres to look forward to as well as the next chunk of Bleak House for #whatthedickens @TheAromaofBooks

I adore the vivid imaginings of Ursula Le Guin, and this is just another beautiful example.

The alien-ness and the humanity of the different peoples, the weirdness of the world, the depth of the characters and the weaving plot all blew my mind as I was transported to the world of Winter.

I'm so glad I finally took the time to read it.

Must read classic

#classic #audiobook #sciencefiction

What imagination +a remarkable bk.written in 1969 it references issues still relevant today.At the centre is an androgynous people visited by an envoy from another planet, politics leads to the kings minister escape to a neighbouring state as the envoy follows, is then sent in prison trains to a camp, & escapes across ice with estrahaven. Sexuality, climate & more

#booked2021 @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Cinfhen SFwrittenbyawoman

The Left Hand of Darkness may be a bit cold at first, both in temperature—it takes place on a planet called Winter—and in tone—it starts with diplomatic missteps and political intrigue, but somewhere in the middle of the northern Gobrin ice sheet, I found myself feeling an immense warmth toward humanity. Gender, sex, I and Thou relationships, Taoism...there are as many reasons this book is a beloved classic as there are Gethenian words for snow.❄️

Thank you UPS! #litsylove

I had high hopes for this book but it left me with mixed feelings. Fairly interesting story though slow going at times. Mainly I was put off by the fixation on the gender binary-- ironic for a book exploring a mostly genderless alien species. Very heteronormative, a bit sexist, and states a sexual drive is necessary to be human. Whew. Would've been much more interesting if the mc had those beliefs challenged or changed by the end, but alas.

A winter-themed light blue book that is overdue for a reread. #12ColoursofDecember #wintergames2020 #merryreaders, @Clwojick

+20 +1 points

Ohhhh, book hangover! Another re-read (from a few years ago). I remembered the world and characters but little of the plot. Of course it's about gender (how could it not be?) but it's also about helpless miscommunication despite good intentions. At heart it's a story of trust and betrayal. UKLeG gives much to think about but she touches the heart too: how on earth did I forget that ending when it's taken me two days, this time, to post a review?

"The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next."

2020: year of a whole new level of possibility! ?

This is a struggle between a pick and so-so. It's short, only 215 pages, but so densely packed and paced, with long stretches of no dialogue just descriptions of snow and ice. It also didn't help that there was alternating POV both in first person that confused me who was speaking at times.
3 🌨🌨🌨
4th book for #votedearly (25:41:11) @howjessreads
1st book for #crushtherush (11:23:06) @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

I'll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

A rare book haul 📚 I made a trip into the city so,of course, had to pop in to Kinokuniya! These are both books which have been on my TBR for a long time

#SciFiSeptember @Klou
#TheIsland

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description or reason for wanting to read the book. Some are old, some will be new. Don't judge me- I have a lot of books.
Day 4

#tbrpile

📕 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
✒️ Ursula K Le Guin
🎥 Lord of the Rings
📺 Leverage
🎤 LOLO
🎶 Let Em Talk by Kesha

#manicmonday #letterL @JoScho

Starting off the morning right. #MugsOfLitsy

Sleepy time!

This was in the introduction by Ursula K. Le Guin, well said!!

This was on my shelf for a while.

#bookmail

I haven't read much of Ursula K. Le Guin except one or two short stories for high school and college classwork. Certainly nothing recently. Is Le Guin a favorite author for anyone? If so, what do you like about her writing?

It took me all the way until the afterward to realize why this book made me uncomfortable and it was because I inherently disliked something about the primary narrator. The rest of the book I loved because it was so interesting to follow this culture where there is no inherent sex outside of a brief period of time and even that is only defined in the moment not permanently.
#BuriedAliveChallenge

Starting this today. Sierra is ready for reading buddy duty.
#CatsOfLitsy

#NewYearNewYou Day 23: Reviewed by Iphigene, this book is #WrittenIn1960s: “I was profoundly, utterly, incredibly dumbfounded by my first science fiction novel. It was not what I expected it to be. Scifi has always been one of my least favorite genres for the simple reason that I could not care for alien characters, civilizations or even a futuristic world. But LeGuin changed that for me.” Her full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-hpV

This book is a marvel of world building, I can see why it's so influential. The main character is deeply flawed. Misogynistic in a way that I have a hard time bearing even though I know that trait is being used to highlight the lessons he still has to learn about gender. This is a fascinating story but there's an emotional distance in it that I had a hard time traversing. I'm glad I read it but probably wouldn't choose to read again.

The book club picked this book and I would have e bailed on it if not for that. I know she was writing about a society that was genderless, however she primarily used the pronoun “he” or “him”. So all I saw were male characters.