| RIP Ursula Le Guin |
[Jan. 25th, 2018|07:47 pm]
John Hall
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I was saddened to see in today's newspaper that Ursula Le Guin died on the 22nd. She was a great writer, indeed you could make a good case for her having been the best living writer of SF and fantasy fiction and perhaps even the best ever. As well as being a fine story-teller, she also wrote beautiful prose. Her books were often relatively short, but she could say more in 200 pages than most writers could manage in 400.
My favourite story of hers is one of her lesser-known fantasy novels: Threshold aka The Beginning Place. I think it was aimed at the young adult market, but with her as with many other writers that could be said of some of her best work. I found it about thirty years ago in the remainders bin outside a local bookshop, and naturally bought it (it may even have been a freebie - I no longer remember). It had a torn dust jacket, which may have been the reason. Recommended. |
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