Hey, all. Opinion question. For those of you who read Ursula K. LeGuin, which of her short stories -- short stories only -- would you say is her best, or her most still-relevant-today? I am trying to create a Greatest Hits list for someone who is totally clueless about SF, and her name's on the list.

Off the top of my head I have "The Masters" from 1963, and "Things" from 1970, but I am trying to think of one that specifically touches on feminism. Ideas?

That's some bad-ass writing right there, like watching a magician pull a 15-ft crocodile out of a top hat.

Love this analogy.

I can say I made it through V and Gravity's Rainbow, but I can't say I actually read them, if you know what I mean. I've been meaning to give them another go. Vineland, though, I've read twice - I liked it the second time even better. Lot 49 I've probably read a dozen times, and I love that too (it's definitely more in the Vineland school of Pynchon, though).

I've got a copy of Mason & Dixon, and haven't had quite the energy to start in on that.

I can say I made it through V and Gravity's Rainbow, but I can't say I actually read them, if you know what I mean. I've been meaning to give them another go.

Do it. I've been saying for ten years that I hated V., couldn't get anything out of it, etc., but I re-read it last month and loved the hell out of it. It's an extended prologue for GR, sure, but the esoteric structure made a lot of sense this time, and the different set-pieces, which I found annoyingly disconnected on the first read, I found illuminating, funny, and flat-out brilliant.

Vineland, though, I've read twice - I liked it the second time even better. Lot 49 I've probably read a dozen times, and I love that too (it's definitely more in the Vineland school of Pynchon, though).

I'm re-reading Lot 49 now for the 15th time or so. All part of my warm-up to retake GR.

I've got a copy of Mason & Dixon, and haven't had quite the energy to start in on that.

Yeah, I read it a few years back, but not much stuck in my head. I figure that I'll tackle it again after GR, if there's anything left in me to do so.

The LeGuin short story that hit me hardest is, I think, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas".

Betsy, you've read Orsinian Tales, right? Do you think one of those would be appropriate, or would the whole "this is a country that doesn't really exist" problem get in the way?

Although, the Orsinian stuff is not really explicitly SF, and SF is what I am trying to demonstrate. So, maybe never mind.

Omelas is very strong.

Also the stuff from The Wind's Twelve Quarters, although I can't think of any particular story. Perhaps the one about the box? I'll have to reread, but I don't recall it being explicitly feminist.

Her more recent stories are more clearly feminist than the older stuff, but I'm not nearly as well-read in her recent short stories. The only collections I have are Orsinian Tales, Twelve Quarters, and Compass Rose.

A book about the Thomas Jefferson High School (a science and tech magnet in Northern Virginia) class of 1993, "Where are they now" kind of thing. I thought it would be interesting in a "hey, they graduated two years before me, will they make my life feel lame?". I was skimming the intro and realized I actually knew one of the people profiled. It was vaguely interesting, bits of it (wow, I'm so not a rhodes scholar like some of these people, but neither am I a dumpster-diving rail-riding anarchist...). But I think it only would've been truly interesting if it were written about my high school class, and people *I* wonder what happened to.

I looked through this book a bit in the bookstore a couple weeks ago; had I gone to TJ, that would have been my class. And I knew one of the people profiled at college. But, I found it depressing, though fascinating, and decided I didn't want to spend that much time reliving the past 10 years.

I read Sunshine, by Robin McKinley, last weekend. On the whole I liked it. But the baking stuff, while not quite up to Brust levels of food porn, is deeply frustrating if you're reading it after 2 years of low-carbing. I sat there thinking, "Scarfing three huge cinnamon rolls and a cherry tart? Yeah, I could do that right about now."

Meara, did the font changes in this book make you crazy. or was it me?

To a certain extent, yeah. It threw me more the couple times she opened a new chapter from the POV of a new character--one we hadn't even heard of.

There's a LOT of cases where transpeople have been beaten, raped, killed. Hell, we had a rash of them last summer here in DC. It's really fucking depressing. The reality is bad enough--fiction needn't make it worse!

For those of you who read Ursula K. LeGuin, which of her short stories -- short stories only -- would you say is her best, or her most still-relevant-today?

Nutty, I would suggest "Solitude", "Old Music and the Slave Women", or "Paradises Lost", all in The Birthday of the World, one of her recent collections.