2011 Reading #15: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Books 1-10.
11. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron.
12. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith writing as Claire Morgan.
13. Surviving the Siege of Beirut: A Personal Account by Lina Mikdadi.
14. Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason.
15. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Re-read). Possibly you have heard of this one. I have to confess something--I read the Earthsea books (the original trilogy, anyway, which was all that was out at the time) back in junior high and didn't really imprint on them. I knew there was something there, but I was a bit befuddled; at that time what I wanted from fantasy was pretty much swords and--actually, that probably covers it. (Well, and axes, which were somehow even cooler than swords, which was why dwarves were the greatest thing ever. Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu! But I digress.) So I think when I came across this book I was befuddled; I mean (and remember, this is my 13-year-old self talking here) OK, he indirectly slays a few of the young dragons, but he defeats the big one by talking to it? And the big villain is his own death or something? I just didn't get it, then. Reading it now, I want to put half the book into a file of memorable quotes and demand that it be required reading for ethics courses. Now I get it, or at least much of it. If I read it in another 25 years I'm sure I'll get even more.
11. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron.
12. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith writing as Claire Morgan.
13. Surviving the Siege of Beirut: A Personal Account by Lina Mikdadi.
14. Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason.
15. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (Re-read). Possibly you have heard of this one. I have to confess something--I read the Earthsea books (the original trilogy, anyway, which was all that was out at the time) back in junior high and didn't really imprint on them. I knew there was something there, but I was a bit befuddled; at that time what I wanted from fantasy was pretty much swords and--actually, that probably covers it. (Well, and axes, which were somehow even cooler than swords, which was why dwarves were the greatest thing ever. Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu! But I digress.) So I think when I came across this book I was befuddled; I mean (and remember, this is my 13-year-old self talking here) OK, he indirectly slays a few of the young dragons, but he defeats the big one by talking to it? And the big villain is his own death or something? I just didn't get it, then. Reading it now, I want to put half the book into a file of memorable quotes and demand that it be required reading for ethics courses. Now I get it, or at least much of it. If I read it in another 25 years I'm sure I'll get even more.