Ursula K. Le Guin’s blog archive is back online
August 3, 2021 1:45 PM Subscribe
“In 2010, at the age of 81, Ursula started a blog. 2017's No Time to Spare collected a selection of her posts into a book, and for a time, those posts were unavailable online. They've now been restored.” Here’s Le Guin’s introductory post. [via]
Reading her first post I was immediately curious about Saramago's blog; it looks like it's still online at https://caderno.josesaramago.org. But attempting to read Portuguese via my basic Spanish and Italian doesn't work too well. Fortunately, there's an online preview of the book born of the blog.
But it's her second post that especially delights me, about an alumni questionnaire from Harvard and the idea of spare time.
This is a wonderful thing, and I'm SO glad to know it's back online. (Sad to know it was unavailable, but very glad it's back now.)
I miss Le Guin, but I am deeply comforted by all the wonderful words she shared with us, and now newly delighted at this marvellous archive.
Thank you so much for posting this, Katullus!
posted by kristi at 4:38 PM on August 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
But it's her second post that especially delights me, about an alumni questionnaire from Harvard and the idea of spare time.
This is a wonderful thing, and I'm SO glad to know it's back online. (Sad to know it was unavailable, but very glad it's back now.)
I miss Le Guin, but I am deeply comforted by all the wonderful words she shared with us, and now newly delighted at this marvellous archive.
Thank you so much for posting this, Katullus!
posted by kristi at 4:38 PM on August 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
This is doubly great, since I love Le Guin- I dimly recall her having a blog, but I don't recall ever reading it- and I get to read Saramago's blog as well! Awesome post. Thanks for this!
posted by heteronym at 5:10 PM on August 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by heteronym at 5:10 PM on August 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
"If piano is the opposite of forte, graceful chitchat with strangers is definitely my piano."
posted by aniola at 6:14 PM on August 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by aniola at 6:14 PM on August 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
Recently I sent her Bryn Mawr Commencement Address to a delightful and sharp college student niece. Generational and other differences being what they are, I wonder if it will speak to her the way it has spoken to me over two decades, but then again the quality of Le Guin's insights about humanity and the beauty of her aspirations overflowed any single-sex focus inherent in the occasion to ring with meaning for me as a young man. The world is richer for having voices like Ursula's.
posted by weston at 7:22 PM on August 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by weston at 7:22 PM on August 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
I read the book a couple of years back. She writes very charmingly about her levitating cat.
posted by Orlop at 5:51 AM on August 4, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Orlop at 5:51 AM on August 4, 2021 [1 favorite]
This is so timely for me! I have been rationing out unread Le Guin books. (Hate the idea of not having any new writing of hers to look forward to.) I just just finished the wonderful YA novella Very Far Away From Anywhere Else, and the craving to read more of her work is strong! Thanks for sharing this, Kattullus.
posted by prewar lemonade at 7:09 AM on August 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by prewar lemonade at 7:09 AM on August 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
I read A Wizard of Earthsea a loooong time ago and never went back to any of her other books because I was angry at the main character (I liked the otak, I was mad that he let it die). Then one day it occurred to me that the book must have been damn good for me to have been that upset over the failings of a fictional person.
Read Left Hand of Darkness a month or two back, and I was pretty engrossed. Found The Books of Earthsea compendium, it's an immense tome (really, so satisfying how HEAVY it was, so many words to savor) and am working my way through it. My second read of AWoE, I think I felt differently; I dreaded reading the chapter where the otak dies but it didn't make me angry, it made me sad. And thoughtful.
Perhaps when I am done with Earthsea I need to read the rest of the Hainish cycle. I am a longtime fan of sci-fi and fantasy, but damn, I wish I had not taken so long to come back to Le Guin.
posted by caution live frogs at 1:01 PM on August 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
Read Left Hand of Darkness a month or two back, and I was pretty engrossed. Found The Books of Earthsea compendium, it's an immense tome (really, so satisfying how HEAVY it was, so many words to savor) and am working my way through it. My second read of AWoE, I think I felt differently; I dreaded reading the chapter where the otak dies but it didn't make me angry, it made me sad. And thoughtful.
Perhaps when I am done with Earthsea I need to read the rest of the Hainish cycle. I am a longtime fan of sci-fi and fantasy, but damn, I wish I had not taken so long to come back to Le Guin.
posted by caution live frogs at 1:01 PM on August 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
Coming out of retirement to say this is great!
posted by chunking express at 8:40 PM on August 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by chunking express at 8:40 PM on August 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
Also, aside from all her work... Ursula K. Le Guin is just such an elegant name. I love it.
posted by azpenguin at 9:57 AM on August 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by azpenguin at 9:57 AM on August 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
The U.S. Postal Service last week issued a Le Guin stamp.
posted by neuron at 12:56 PM on August 8, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by neuron at 12:56 PM on August 8, 2021 [2 favorites]
I saw that at the post office! But it's a 3-ounce stamp.
posted by aniola at 6:21 PM on August 8, 2021
posted by aniola at 6:21 PM on August 8, 2021
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