I have to admit, choosing just one of Ursula Le Guin’s books to suggest for the Book Club (Earthsea! The Dispossessed! some of her newer work!), but I kept coming back to The Left Hand of Darkness. Because it’s awesome.
(And I also love her because she translated one of my favorite speculative fiction books in Spanish, Angélica Gorodischer’s Kalpa imperial, to English.)
I’ve been reading this on and off for about three years. Maybe it’s time to finish, huh?
I love the Left Hand of Darkness.
shall we help 'talos finish it? would making it the GWC book club selection help push you over the finish line??
Finally, a good use of peer pressure.
It’s probably my favorite of her books, not that I’ve read too many of them.
The Book Club selection for November and December is Ursula K. LeGuin’s Hugo and Nebula Award Winning The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)!
It is a terrible thing, this kindness that human beings do not lose. Terrible, because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have. We who are so rich, so full of strength. We end up with that small change. We have nothing else to give.
SPOILERS AHEAD
And this is like Christmas come early for me - The Left Hand of Darkness is the official GWC November/December Book Club Selection! Join the discussion here 
For those who prefer books that are part of a series (ahem, ThotFullGuy): The Left Hand of Darkness is part of what is refered to as the Hainish Cycle in LeGuin’s fiction, which includes a number of novels and short stories. The best known, besides Left Hand, is another book I love called The Dispossesed (whose setting made an appearance in one of my FSF entries this summer :p)
Really looking forward to this book. …and as a bonus: I hit the local used book stores at lunch try and find a copy (no luck, hit the local big box for a new copy) but did find a used copy of Donnerjack by Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold that was lurking in the “L’s”. I think it’s been out of print for a while, so it was a great treat to find it!
Left Hand of Darkness is a great book–especially for Nov/ Dec because of its setting. As I recall, it takes place on a frozen planet that is called (appropriately) Winter. It’s a good book to snuggle under a blanket and drink cocoa with.
Agreed. I have read it on and off for many years, now. I’ve never actually finished it. :eek: Anyway, for whatever reason, the scenes leading up to and during their travels over the Gobrin Ice remind me of the David Lean film, Doctor Zhivago; Communism, Cold, and Russia! Could also be that the first time I got to that part of the book, I had seen Doctor Zhivago for the first time.
UGH! How my mind works!
I haven’t had a chance to start my re-read yet (oh, end of semester piles of essays to grade…), but I just wanted to throw out how much I love that Gethen in many ways is very familiar while at the same time being very alien and different. Great world-building (though I’ve found this to be the case in most everything I’ve read by LeGuin).