books 2005: Gifts, by Ursula K. LeGuin

[supercheesegirl]

So I've decided that a new thing I'll do for the new year (like I need more excuses to post, puh-lease) will be to do a post for every book I read. I got the idea from quebelly, sort of, because she's on a few communities where the goal is to read 50 or 100 books in a year. And I realized that I have no idea how many books I read in a year besides just "a lot". So hopefully I'm going to start posting a little thing about each book I read in 2005, and add the posts to my memories, and then at the end of this year I can go back and see how I did. Because it's entirely possible I'm reading 50-100 books in a year (Jorn thinks I could do 50 in three months, but I doubt I'm that quick), but I just have no clue. (Also, making these posts gives me an excellent excuse to use my wonderful Fred icon that quebelly made.)

So, yesterday I finished reading Gifts, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I freakin' love just about everything this woman has ever written, seriously, and this book was no exception. This one's set in a rather sparsely populated mountainy community, where the people have different sorts of "gifts" that ordinary people don't have: talking to animals, healing, putting hexes on things, making things catch fire by looking at them, that sort of thing. The main character in the book chooses not to use his gift; he wears a blindfold because he has the power to kill things with his eyes. And his choice has all sorts of ramifications for his family and his life. I just really love LeGuin's writing style--her books don't necessarily have huge dramatic plots or complex quests (at least, not her more recent stuff; Earthsea started out in that more formulaic fantasy style). She just tells the story of her characters, who happen to be fascinating, and that's enough to build a whole novel on. If you've never read LeGuin I wouldn't recommend this one to start with (pick up The Left Hand of Darkness for scifi or Wizard of Earthsea for fantasy), but I thought this book was quite good, a good starting point for the new year. And I did get all teared up at the end.

In related news, Emily, I haven't forgotten that I'm sending you Tombs of Atuan. I've just been holidaying and Buffying lately, but I will send it. Hey, what's your last name, anyway? You're just Jess & Emily in my addressbook. :)

Comments

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

ey, thanks.

I'm totally going to do that, with the books i read this year, and see what happens.

So far, I've got two.

(hooray for YA books- they've got print the size of a buick)

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I like YA books in general. I feel like writers can loosen up and just tell a good story when they write for the YA market, instead of having to try to work in sex and violence to keep "adult" readers interested. A lot of the YA fiction I read is way better than a lot of the adult fiction.

Can I recommend you a book? If you haven't already discovered it, that is: Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. I got it for nchanter for her birthday and I think you'd love it too. Not at all YA, very yummy, one of the best things I read last year. :)

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

ok, TOm handed that one to me a few days ago.

must read it.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Has Tom read it? It's excellent. Bondage and whips and hot girl sex, plus some saving the world action! :)

[igorxa.livejournal.com]

ahhh, leguin is AWESOME. i remember having to read the ones who left omelas for lit class. i'll have to check out gifts.

also, i was highly amused at her scathing commentary on what they did to her earthsea books with the miniseries.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I was excited about the miniseries and I taped it, but then I read what she had to say about it. Now I don't want to watch it anymore. Idiots.

I haven't read the ones who left omelas. I'll add that to my list--I'm trying to work through everything of hers. A daunting task, but I think I'm up to the challenge.

[igorxa.livejournal.com]

it's a short story, so don't feel too burdened with it. also, i'm wrong, it's the ones who walk away from omelas, and you can read it here.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you. I do love LeGuin.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is in a collection called The Wind's Twelve Quarters and it's a fabulous story, exquisitely written and very thought-provoking. I use it when I teach utilitarianism; I have the students read it and explain how it relates to the Great Whacking Hole in the happiness calculus. They usually like it.

OTOH, I had my Utopias/Dystopias class read her novel The Dispossessed, which my brother had recommended to me, and they didn't like it, chiefly, I think, because it was hard. :-( It's told in alternating chapters, each set (i.e., the odds and evens) having its own consistent timeline. It's fascinating to see how they eventually intersect. The sort of thing fen would read for pleasure.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

I was excited about the miniseries and I taped it, but then I read what she had to say about it. Now I don't want to watch it anymore. Idiots.

My feelings *exactly*! Now it's just sitting there eating up four hours on the TiVo. I'm going to dub it off onto a DVD - from what I've read, it doesn't deserve the storage space for a videocassette.

Though I suppose I should give it a fair chance. It might be good in and of itself, if I just pretend it has nothing to do with the source material.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

It might be good in and of itself, if I just pretend it has nothing to do with the source material.

I don't know about that. I personally don't think I could get over the book-raping part. I caught about five minutes of it while i was setting up the tape, and that five minutes of watching sparked ten minutes of ranting to Jorn in the kitchen. For his sake at least maybe I shouldn't watch the rest. :)

[myras-girls.livejournal.com]

Ooo! I'll have to add this to my reading list.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Yay books!

[queende.livejournal.com]

weird, one of my coworkers was JUST telling me about this book this morning:)

[grass-stained.livejournal.com]

This is such a good idea. Maybe it will inspire me to actually read books and post about them. :)