Prepare yourself for something truly dreadful: I had never read anything by Ursula K. Le Guin before No Time to Spare. I know! Somehow her Earthsea books were nowhere to be seen during my childhood and even later I never got around to it, despite actually loving Studio Ghibli's Tales of Earthsea. I didn't even know she had also written speculative fiction and short stories until this particular book. Once I saw No Time to Spare I figured it would be the perfect way to dip by toe into the deep lake that is Ursula K. Le Guin's writing and see how it felt. Surprisingly comfortable and uproariously hilarious, was my conclusion. Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Court and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Coming in as a novice meant I had no real idea what to expect from No Time to Spare or Ursula K. Le Guin. Not only did I not really know what it is she had written, I had no idea how she wrote her blog. All I knew was that No Time to Spare was Non-Fiction, but I had no real indication whether this was going to be funny, poignant, one long rant, sad, or straight up boring. Turns out it was all of that except the latter! The purpose of this blog right here is pretty straight-forward. I review books, and if I'm not doing that I'm probably talking about something else book-related. But for Le Guin her blog was almost like a journal where she carefully crafted entries about anything that was on her mind. This means the topics of the blog posts collected in No Time to Spare cover almost everything, whether it's ageing, cats, eggs, feminism, belief vs. facts, cats, Fantasy, the Great American Novel, war, swearing, and again, cats. By the end of No Time to Spare you have truly gained an insight into Ursula K. Le Guin, how she thinks, how she can joke and be serious at the same time. You've been taken on a tour of her mind and it is fascinating.

Like I said above, No Time to Spare covers a massive amount of different topics and it would be impossible for me to discuss all of them and do them all justice. So I thought I'd pick two or three of her blog posts to discuss instead. In 'Having My Cake', Le Guin considers her craft, namely that of writing, as well as her youthful confusion about not being able to 'have your cake, and eat it too'. Her confusion came from the word 'have' which is often used as a synonym for 'eat' when it comes to food. What made this post so interesting was how she analysed her own confusion, how her passion for words and their infinite potential and complexity shone through her writing, as well as her joy at having found a way around her confusion. That post made me want to write. In 'A Band of Brothers, a Stream of Sisters' Le Guin analyses the difference between the grouping of men and women, using this as a way to discuss each group's place and power in the world. One sentence stood out to me in particular:
'Living in "a man's world", plenty of women distrust and fear themselves as much or more than men do.'
In a simple sentence and in straightforward prose Le Guin can make a devastating point. Because it's true, we women grow up distrusting ourselves, second-guessing other women until we truly meet them and join them. This post made me want to call my female friends. In 'Belief in Belief' Le Guin discusses the difference between believe and fact, and how, even when she wrote that post, the two were becoming intermingled. Her positioning of 'belief' and 'knowledge' as two different things, neither mutually exclusive but also not the same, was so elucidating and straightforward that I would make this post recommended reading for pretty much everyone. That post made me want to go out and have a discussion. And then, at the end of No Time to Spare, is 'Notes from a Week at a Ranch in the Oregon High Desert', which is a stunning post about nature filled with utterly beautiful and evocative writing. I have never wanted to go outside more than after this post.

Le Guin's writing needs no praise or analysis from me. What I was trying to show above was how each of the posts I read did something to me. They made me want to do something, whether it was go outside and watch the birds, play with my cat, read a book, or get angry and then figure out why. Although it doesn't trigger the emotions a fiction book may do, it is also far from leaving you unmoved. With her humorous and no-nonsense style, Le Guin gets to the heart of the matters that concern her and reveals beauty there, or a lack of. And this is where the collections tagline comes in as well: 'Thinking About What Matters'. The different blog posts show Le Guin struggling with themes over years, coming back to various topics over time and having another go at them. Seeing a brilliant mind work, in that way, is a treat in and of itself. Le Guin allows us a fascinating glimpse into her mind with her blog posts, both those collected in No Time to Spare and those on her blog. It's like having a conversation with your grandmother, who after a long life has wisdom and jokes to impart, memories and advice, all with a wink and a nudge but also a caring concern for the world you live in. No Time to Spare was a joy to read.

I adored the variety of topics explored by Ursula K. Le Guin in No Time to Spare and many of her observations caused me to rethink some of my own opinions. It's a delight to read and never once gets boring or predictable. I'd recommend it to fans of Ursula K. Le Guin and those interested in short non-fiction.

This is a collection of short essays that LeGuin originally put up on her blog. Basically they are short form essays, and the book is divided roughly into subjects that include aging, sexism, politics, morals, nature, religion, swearing, writing, and, in between, are the Annals of Pard. Pard being the author’s latest cat, who is still a youngster- a year old when procured. But these are not your ordinary old woman with a cat entries; she examines the moral issues of cats catching mice.

LeGuin is in her eighties now, and has seen a lot of changes in the world. Always the feminist and anti-authoritarian, she has said a lot about those subjects in her novels and continues to have lots to say about them. Her essays are written in simple but elegant prose and are a delight to read. Five stars.

This book is geared the reader who already loves Ursula Le Guin. I can't imagine that others will be too interested. But, if you do love Le Guin then this book is a treat. Her musings on writings, the internet and her cat are a charming insight into her personal world and thoughts.

Ursula K. Le Guin has been one of my favourite authors since I first read "The Earthsea Cycle" when I was a teenager. After finishing Earthsea I proceeded to tackle the rest of her works and found myself shifting my point of view on main things. I like the way she tackles humanity without apologies and shows us things as they are and as they could be.
"No Time to Spare" is a collection of essay's that the author made on her online blog. As Le Guin states in the introduction she realised by reading Saramago's blog that she could have a space where she could express her views on ageing, belief and literature without necessarily having to interact with her readers. (However I find that Le Guin always interacts with me in a way or another as I keeping learning to see things through different eyes!)
I like the way Le Guin writes and tackles these issues with sincerity and honesty. I enjoyed her essays on ageing the most as I think it's something that's not often spoken about or when it is, it's always with a silver lighting which is the opposite of what Le Guin does. This is not to say that Le Guin doesn't take a positive approach but that she as a very "things are what they are" approach to it. On one of her essays she talks about people being the "age they fell" and not "the age they are" and she made me laugh when she stated “If I’m ninety and believe I’m forty-five, I’m headed for a very bad time trying to get out of the bathtub." I suppose I enjoy these essays as they give me a better understanding of my grandmothers and their ageing process, and how, no matter how young they feel, their bodies won't conform to it.
I enjoyed immensely these essays and would recommend them to anyone, even if you have never read Le Guin before as I think they are a beautiful insight into the author's mind.

LeGuin is a writer with amazing force and detail and that definitely shines through in this book that compiles her online essays. Between Earthsea and Lavinia she has been one of my favorite storytellers but I haven't known much about her life or the woman beyond the fictional page. I loved hearing her thoughts about her cat, Pard, and her views on everything from aging to the writing business to her thoughts on feminism and politics. It's beautifully written and yes, the pacing is a bit slow in some places, but I found it fitting for a woman in the twilight of an incredible writer's life. I find her to be such an inspiration.

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Netgalley!

I must admit to not having read much Ursula K Le Guin before - this may seem positively blasphemous to some so I will give you a moment to process.

Good? Okay.

This is a wonderful collection of thoughtful, sometimes funny, sometimes intense writings that Le Guin has published on her blog. I really enjoyed her writing style, and he tendency to avoid shying away from the truth or her thoughts on difficult matters. The posts about her cat Pard really made me smile, and overall I found the collection a pleasant diversion. Not mind-blowing, but a good read.

A collection of some of Ursula K. Le Guin's blog posts, this is an interesting volume of work which ranges far and wide over the author's interests. I particularly enjoyed the posts about her cat, Pard and her thoughts about the ageing process. She also dips into politics, literature, the world of publishing and feminism, amongst other things. As in any collection of writing there are things that interested me and things I found less engaging, but even reading about things that were not particularly my cup of tea was rewarding because of her sharp incisive mind. It's always enjoyable to read good writing by people who have passionate interests, even if I don't always share those interests.

I loved and completely identified with the title essay, No Time to Spare. I am utterly frustrated by questionnaires populated with leading questions, clearly meant to produce a desired outcome and not to reflect my honest response. The rest of the essays weren’t nearly as captivating to me, but I think they’ll resonate with her fans. I have only read the Wizard of Earthsea books as a children’s librarian and don’t have the familiarity with her work at large.

No Time to Spare collects a selection of posts from Ursula K. Le Guin's blog. I randomly keep up with her blog, so some of the essays I was already familiar with, particularly the ones centering on her beloved cat Pard, who obviously takes up a big place in Le Guin's family, as he should. But not all the essays, or even most, are about her well-loved feline. Some of these essays examine genre, nature, politics, and more.

While I enjoyed these essays, I've read more powerful posts on her blog, and I wondered why those had not been included in this collection. For instance, I really enjoyed reading about her thoughts when a nature preserve was taken over in Oregon. These were mostly older blog posts vs. her more recent ones, and I didn't find them quite as interesting as some of the others from her blog, or her other essay collections.

However, if you're a Le Guin fan, than you'll find things to enjoy in this collection.

Thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Posted on Goodreads 12/12]
[Posted on Book Riot 12/01]
[Posted on Amazon 12/12]
[Will post on personal blog in early January]

Le Guin's newest collection brings together her blog posts on topics such as aging, answering readers' questions over the years, the literary world, life with her cat Pard, and much more. This is essential reading for Le Guin's die hard fans, who want to know her opinion on every topic and what she muses over on an average day.

This collection is different from others I've read by Le Guin, since the focus is less on writing, reading, and genre, or even books (like Words Are My Matter or Cheek by Jowl). These are blog posts - and presented in book format, they are shorter and scattered over a wider range of topics than formal, commissioned essays and speeches would be.

The difficulty with this collection (especially for someone just entering Le Guin's world) is its nature as a collection of blog posts. The medium clearly matters: blogs present posts in a chronological flow, date and time stamped, where the original context is time, not topic. In print form, the dates have been preserved on each piece, but they are jumbled up chronologically and split out into categories by topic or theme. I wasn't sure what point the dates had then, as really they just showed how mixed up the pieces had become.

A few pieces, especially on aging, the hilarious take on the overuse of curse words, and the annals of Pard (her cat), jumped out at me. Overall, it felt a little jumbled, and I think the original blog post "stream of time" organization would have given the pieces a better purpose, much more like a diary.

Nevertheless, No Time to Spare is a lovely read of everyday tidbits from Le Guin's mind, probably best for the avid Le Guin fan and completionist. I will never tire from reading anything that Le Guin has to say. Even on her worst day, she is more than eloquent.

Hearing the name Ursula Le Guin may conjure other worlds of fantasy or, if you are like me, her wonderful writing book Steering the Craft. Her new book, No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters doesn’t fit either category. In her introduction, she mentions her aversion to the word “blog,” then turns around and writes pieces that fit the form perfectly.

In true Le Guin form, she covers a multitude of topics, inviting the reader to agree, disagree, or simply to consider the point she is making, frequently in a humorous fashion. I knew I was in for some fun in the first one when she pokes fun of those trying to think themselves younger than they are, “If I’m ninety and believe I’m forty-five, I’m headed for a very bad time getting out of the bathtub.”

In one fascinating comparison the idea of belief gets mingled with artichokes and in an entirely different kind of piece, she paints a touching portrait of her longtime friend and aide named Dolores. If you need to know how to eat a soft-boiled egg properly, you can find out here. There are more cats than I need, but I have several cat-loving friends who could really get into several blogs starring her pets. I won’t even spoil the story of the rattlesnake, thinking you need to experience it all on your own.

Note the date of each entry as you read since the time sometimes is important to the essay (or “blog” if you want to call it that behind her back). I would recommend keeping the book handy in a place where you stir the soup or wait for the doctor to appear, reading and considering one topic at a time just for the pleasure of it. She is by turns argumentative, funny, thoughtful, and compassionate but never dull.

Blog entries and various essays wrote by one of my favorite classic/sci-fi/fantasy story writer, who is so witty and intelligent, that made interesting enough even lise anecdotes of her cat. As it is probably clear from this sentence I am not a cat person. Anyway many topics are collected in this short book which is a pleasure to read.

Vari scritti raccolti da saggi, introduzioni a raccolte e dal blog di ursula K. Le Guin, raccolti in questo breve libro, estremamente divertente, al punto da rendere accettabili anche ai miei occhi, che i gatti non li amo, vari aneddoti della vita del felino domestico da quella che dovrebbe essere considerata una delle scrittrici piú versatili ed interessanti del panorama mondiale.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

'No Time To Spare' is a compilation of blog posts written from Le Guin's blog between 2010 and 2016. I am not much of a non-fiction writer myself, but Le Guin is a particular favourite of mine, and I haven't read any non-fiction before so was eager to snap this up. I received a free copy from NetGalley; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Perhaps if I had known that these were originally published on Le Guin's blog, I would have been less enthusiastic about reading this; however, not knowing I immediately wanted to read her words, and I'm glad I did. Reading these in a book format (albeit a ebook format - I would much rather have a physical copy) is very different to a blog. Le Guin herself touches on this in one her short writings ('A Note at the Beginning') where she was inspired by Jose Saramango's blogs (which, of course, I will now have to find some time to read.) I like her idea of a blog, borrowed from Saramango, where she doesn't have to constantly have a conversation below the post with readers. She can write something and that been the entirety of it. As someone who writes myself, I can understand the frightening nature of blogs - and I've grown up with them! (Maybe it's not a good thing that I can relate more to an octogenarian than someone like me in their twenties...)

Many of the extracts focus on ageing: what it feels like to be old, and the titular writing: 'In Your Spare Time.' With wit, but with astonishing grace and humbleness, Le Guin explains that for her in her ninetieth years, there is no such thing as 'spare time.' And there never has been. She says she 'never had a job to retire from.' Writing is a calling, a thing of love, to be nurtured. What is this spare time? All her time is spent in doing something - whether it be writing a blog post, playing with her cat Pard, replying to her fan-mail (there's an enjoyable piece of writing on that; my advice is - don't really bother unless you're a small child and you aren't using a spell checker. That's the kind of fan-mail she enjoys the most), or staring into space. All her time is full. This way of looking at life is very kind; that is one thing that springs from these pages - Le Guin is kind. Not just in a grandmotherly, let's-look-out-for-the-children or even a Democrat we-need-to-do-something-to-sort-out-this-planet-and-this-gargantuam-mess-we've-got-into way. No, a simple pure kindness. It's something that can only be felt; in these very personal writings, Le Guin bears a little of her soul for us to see, and I am eternally enchanted.

Her writing about ageing is very moving. That's a very simple word - moving - but I cannot find a more suitable one, and perhaps should stop trying. In a writing of 2013 called 'The Diminished Thing' she addresses the American bent towards positive thinking. 'What's wrong with positive thinking?' you may ask. Well, Le Guin puts it very succinctly, very aptly. 'Encouragement by denial, however well-meaning, backfires... To tell me my old age doesn't exist is to tell me I don't exist. Erase my age, you erase my life - me.' What a way with words she has. She wishes to be respected as an 'elder' but she also encourages the respect of young people; both of which we appear to losing in modern day society.

Although some of her topics are vast, the way Le Guin writes is deeply personal. I feel like I 'know' her through these writings. This is, of course, nonsense, as Le Guin herself says when talking about receiving fan-mail. But she offers up her writings in a generous, unassuming way for us to take and do with what we will. Of course, I don't know Le Guin. I know some more about her life as it is now, I know quite a lot more about her cat, Pard (there's a lovely section dedicated to him called 'The Annals of Pard' and a very true-feeling writing about choosing a cat), but I do not know her. She is not my friend. Yet, the way she has written it is to make one feel as though you would like to be.

Other topics she covers include: the liberal use of two particular swear words that seem to have become a shortcut, but Le Guin unpicks them, their origins and their use - finding them to have more meaning than I think of when I read them in a novel. I will certainly think twice the next time I across either (which is most likely to be the next modern novel I read.) There's an interesting section 'debunking' narrative gift and its connection, or not, to literary quality, and its connection, or not, to good storytelling. I loved her piece about fantasy writing and the fear of unknown in 'It Doesn't Have to Be the Way It Is.' ('There really is nothing to fear in fantasy unless you are afraid of the freedom of uncertainty.'); her thoughts on utopia and dystopia ('Utopiyin, Utopiyang'); the way the President talks to the American people, about their worth and whether they were worthy of being asked difficult things ('Lying It All Away'), involving the first televised broadcast from the White House; the nature of growing up, muddled up with misquotations ('The Inner Child and the Nude Politician')... I could go on and on. I don't think there was a single writing here that didn't sing to me in some way. I want to go away and reread these short pieces and let them sit in my soul and speak to me.

One interesting thing I noticed was how surprised I was by how American Le Guin is; of course I shouldn't have been, but when we read the fiction of a fantasy/sci-fi writer it can transcend boundaries. So, rather stupidly, I was caught off guard by how American her 'natural' writing style is. She writes of 'The Great American Novel' and an author's quest for it (not something she has time for), and it isn't something I was really aware of; however, during reading this, I heard a programme on Radio 4 ('Open Book') which spoke to an American about that very subject. Eerie stuff. Le Guin's opinion on 'TGAN and TGOW' has changed over the last year (this piece was written in 2011) - from Huckleberry Finn (for all its faults) to The Grapes of Wrath (for all its faults) (Although she still dismisses the general idea: 'Art is not a horse race. Literature is not the Olympics.') And I, an ignorant English girl, have read neither (although works by the same authors). There were many occasions where I stopped and scribbled down a book I would like to read by way of her roundabout recommendation.

Most of all, I wanted to reread Le Guin's own books; the books where it all started, in my mind at least (I'm not sure of the publication dates). The Wizard of Earthsea. Tehanu. All my well-loved characters from childhood that deserve another visit. And they will get one. (Once I've finished the deluge of books I have to read to review...)

Despite knowing that fan-mail from adults that has correct punctuation and none of the charm that children's misspellings and mistakes, I do feel drawn to write to Le Guin now - hand-written, pen on paper writing. She has, for me, opened up her soul, and I crave to receive a tiny acknowledgement back. But - as she rightly says - this is not the job of the author; the author writes and the reader takes whatever meaning they want from it. 'Tell me what it means... That's not my job, honey. That's your job.' But I don't want to write and ask her what anything means. I want to write to her and feel that spark of human connection; the resonance that one feels with someone although I know it can never be reciprocal. (Although in my head, I can imagine discussing Hopkins' 'The Windhover' which she mentions in 'Readers' Questions', the sheer absurdity of proverbs mentioned in 'Having My Cake' (which also provided some information on Charles Darwin I didn't know), talking about Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey...)

Still, 'No Time To Spare' has made me want to connect to Le Guin while - how do I say this delicately - while I still can. She has touched me in a way that non-fiction writers generally do not. I cannot rate this book more highly. For this small insight into such a great mind, we are truly blessed.

Ursula Le Guin is one of my heroes, in as much as I have them. Which is, to say, hardly at all, but her writing has often astounded me, literally impacting how I perceived the world. When I was a teen, 'The Left Hand of Darkness' did more to challenge my conception of gender identity than anything I would read or hear for years. However, her writing has also felt somewhat laborious to me, so when I saw this book of blog-style posts, I leapt at the chance to read it (figuratively, naturally. You think I leap at my age? What am I, a frog?) At any rate, I absolutely loved her in short-form, her words seemingly a little less crafted than her novels, sounding more like her voice, talking about everyday things--"The point of a soft-boiled egg is the difficulty of eating it, the attention it requires, the ceremony"--writerly things and general opinion pieces.

It's really, really good. The book comes with an introduction by Karen Joy Fowler and a note from Le Guin about her purpose and the informality of the writing. Part One: Going Over Eighty is one of my favorite sections. Part Two: The Lit Biz is in theory about literary stuff and contains some insight into the life of the writer --readers' questions and awards'-- as well as discussion on things like ubiquitousness of swearing and narration. Part Three: Trying to Make Sense of it is the most topical section. It was interesting, but not as favorite. Part Four: Rewards shines, with writing beautiful enough, polished enough to remind me why she's a master. Parts One, Two and Three are all followed by The Annals of Pard, brief pieces about her latest cat. I have a ridiculous amount of highlights, my Kindle equivalent of 'mm-hmm' affirmations.

The posts on aging are excellent and I probably could have just highlighted the entire piece of 'The Diminished Thing.' It does not sound as if aging has come easily, and I appreciate that she is both honest and old in claiming it. "Old age isn't a state of mind. It's an existential situation." How beautifully she negates the 'you are only as old as you think you are' mouthings!

I admire how she somewhat irascibly shares what she perceives as her failings. I love that she calls out the new generations of almost-memoirs with a writerly note on genres, and then gracefully turns it into a discussion of Delores, her 'hired help' who was so important to her ('Someone Named Delores'). I was fascinated by the entries on Pard, the latest cat, and his periodic skirmishes with mice. I think she summarized the entire problem with modern politics in three sentences (from 'The Diminished Thing' in Aging, no less):

"This is morally problematic when personal decision is confused with personal opinion. A decision worth the name is based on observation, factual information, intellectual and ethical judgment. Opinion--that darling of the press, the politician, and the poll--may be based on no information at all."

There's an interesting piece on what fantasy is that affirms why I've read so much in the field. My favorite highlight: "It doesn't have to be the way it is. That is what fantasy says... Yet it is a subversive statement." Can we please remind those who are nostalgic for the sprawling epic fantasies of the 80s and 90s or the pulp fantasy of the 50s and 60s that we can do more?

Part Three definitely spoke to me, with parts of it echoing my own hopelessness. From 'Lying it All Away:' "It appears that we've given up on the long-range view. That we've decided not to think about consequences--about cause and effect. Maybe that's why I feel that I live in exile. I used to live in a country that had a future."

It makes me wish for a coffee conversation, time to dive in and chew at these ideas. I wished I knew even more about her life, because I sense a kindred spirit, an introvert who communicates best through words, who appears transparent about ideas but extremely private about details of real life. The closing piece, is so crafted and beautiful it makes me tear. From 'Notes From a Week at a Ranch in the Oregon High Desert':

"Hundreds of blackbirds gathered in the pastures south of the house, vanishing completely in the tall grass, then rising out of it in ripples and billows, or streaming and streaming up into a single tree up under the ridge till its lower branches were blacker with birds than green with leaves, then flowing down away from it into the reeds and out across the air in a single, flickering, particulate wave. What is entity?"


Many, many thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the advance reader copy. Quotes may change in final publication but are included to give a sense of the excellent writing.

NO TIME TO SPARE: THINKING ABOUT WHAT MATTERS (2017)
Ursula K. Le Guin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 240 pages
★★★

Bloggers don't usually get to publish their posts in book form. Then again, not many bloggers are Ursula Le Guin, whose fantasy, science fiction, and children's books have expanded our imaginations and dared us to think of alternative worlds and ways we can make this one better. One suspects she must have had to build on to her Berkeley, California domicile to house all the awards she has garnered in her fifty plus years of publishing. In 2010, Le Guin drew inspiration from Portuguese novelist José Saramago and decided to try her hand at blogging.

Here's where things get a bit tougher to evaluate. On the blog, Le Guin is the main subject, not her characters. In a word, she becomes mortal. At age 88, Le Guin intends that to take her title literally—no time to spare. Blog writing, however, is a decidedly less edited, less censorious, less organized form of writing. One can basically write whatever one wishes. Given a choice between specialized and generalized approaches, Le Guin opts for the latter. No Time to Spare is organized into four themes—ageing, reflections on literature, critiquing society and her place in it, and wistfully musing over the things that have given her pleasure. These themes are, nonetheless, as loose as a kaftan. Le Guin has earned the right to indulge and does so. In practical terms this means her readers are confronted with a literary roundup of thoroughbreds contained in the same corral as plow horses and swaybacks.

At her best, Le Guin charms and beguiles. "The Horsies Upstairs" is a delightful and imaginative piece that invites us to view the world through the eyes of a two-year-old, not the logic of the adults all around her. Le Guin writes, "How does a child arrange a vast world that is always turning out new stuff? She does it the best she can, and doesn't bother with what she can't until she has to." In her observations of a child's question of where the horses sleep, Le Guin challenges us to think about what we mean by the word "real." Equally charming are the various intercalary blogs about her cat Pard. As one of her posts puts it, any feline caretaker needs to be mindful of the difference between "choosing a cat" and being "chosen by a cat." Pard is a rascal and even the most ardent dog person will smile when reading of his various adventures, misadventures, and cat cantankerousness.

How readers will respond to Le Guin's own cantankerousness probably depends upon whether or not you agree or disagree with the opinions she expresses. Do you share her view that Hemingway was a lazy writer? Does first-person writing that blurs the line between fiction and memoir annoy you? (Do you even care about the issue?) Is it a cheap shot to suggest that fantasy writing is as intellectually valid as religious fundamentalism, even if you think she's right (as do I)? Le Guin has long been a critic of unexamined belief, but I can imagine some readers will take deep exception to her takedown of New Age magical thinking, especially the notion of recovering one's Inner Child. She can barely contain her snark when contemplating a Catholic conference on exorcism. Does she go too far when she claims that definitions of demonic possession are so broad that her deep love of Beethoven's 9th Symphony could be so interpreted? To be fair, Le Guin has long championed rationalism. In my view, her post on "Belief in Belief" is utterly brilliant in the simplicity with which she highlights the problems that occur when we use "I think" and "I believe" as synonyms. As she puts it, "I don't believe in" Darwinian evolutionary theory, "I accept it. It isn't a matter of faith, but of evidence."

In my mind, there are some very wise things in her meditations. She doesn't have a high view of life in contemporary America. Economists and capitalists come under scrutiny of their worship of "uncontrolled, unlimited, unceasing growth as the only recipe for economic health," and she decries the foolishness of ignoring limits and balance. She is equally concerned about the non-reflection of her fellow citizens: "I have watched my country accept, mostly complacently, along with a lower living standard for more and more people, a lower moral standard. A moral standard based on advertising." She's not optimistic the nation can endure "living on spin and illusion, hot air and hogwash."

It must be said that some of the pieces are fluff and others one-trick ponies. Even if you agree that today's bombardment of F-bombs is annoying, you might still find her "Will You Please Fucking Stop?" churlish. She similarly overextends herself in a rather silly piece on "vegempathy." In the end, of course, this is how one must evaluate blog collections. I too am a blogger and as much as I'd like to think everything I write is sensible, correct, and important, such an attitude is what I "believe," not what I "think." Do not read this collection looking for insight into Le Guin's books; Le Guin's blog is about her. She is undoubtedly more gifted than most bloggers, but not even she is immune from the blogger's curse: not every piece is a winner. Call this one a classic mixed bag.

Rob Weir

Superata la boa degli ottant'anni, Ursula K. Le Guin - eccezionale scrittrice di fantasy, fantascienza, saggistica e, infine, un glorioso romanzo storico, Lavinia - ha scoperto i blog.

E ha deciso di esplorarne le potenzialità, affidando a questo pubblico diario riflessioni su tutto quello che importa: l'età, la letteratura, l'ambiente, le relazioni fra i sessi, il suo gatto.

Questa è una raccolta dei post più significativi: uno zibaldone di riflessioni lucidissime e ironiche, presentate con lo stile limpido che da sempre caratterizza la scrittrice, e che renderebbero un piacere leggere anche le sue liste della spesa.

Da centellinare e gustare, quando si ha voglia di riflettere, ma con il sorriso sulle labbra.

I expected essays picking up this book, but instead I got a series of random blog posts (or as I liked to call them by the end, "Ursula chats") where she talks about anything from being old, to her new cat, to writing and reading, the great American novel, shopping and so on.

It feels rather random, the selection of those posts and also the things she writes about are so odd, but that is exactly why I found this book so utterly charming. It was like meeting up with Ursula and having chats. Over coffee. Stroking her cat while she tells you what's on her mind and I answered back while reading it. Disagreeing or agreeing but thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

Adored it.

I've been heavily influenced throughout my life by books and reading. I have been shaped and guided by the things which I've read which have resonated with and awakened me. I distinctly remember reading the Earthsea books as well as The Left Hand of Darkness, sometime in the mid 1970s and being completely electrified. This was it. This author 'got it'. She was speaking to me and people like me. The author of course, was Ursula K. Le Guin and I've been a lifelong fan.

This book is a collection, arranged thematically, of her ruminations, many of which appeared on her blog (a word she disdains). If it's not as tidy as her books (and how could it be), it's still beautifully written and well worth reading. Le Guin is such an artist with words and there are many passages about her love affair with the written word. She talks briefly of poetry and the meaning of words and writing and nuance. She spends some time talking about the evolution of language and usage and what that means for readers and writers. There are tiny glimpses here and there of her incredible facility in choosing the words she uses, but not enough that it doesn't just look like magic to me every time.

I enjoyed reading this book immensely and even though I swore to myself that I was going to delicately ration out the entries and read them over a respectful period of time; I wound up devouring the entire book in two sittings.

She's an amazing author, quite possibly my favorite living author. She's lived on this planet for 88 years and has an incredibly profound amount of wisdom to offer, and she does so. She claims that a lot of it has to do with just living, but I'm not so sure. A simple search of current news headlines will show an awful lot of unpleasant puerile immature divisive arrogant privileged supposed adults who display a shocking and dangerous lack of maturity or wisdom.

The book is profound, exquisitely written and topically relevant. I loved it.

Five stars (and a solid four and a half even for non-fans)

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

Le Guin is a beautiful writer, mixing sage wisdom with one-line zingers. The essays included in this book are from a blog she kept, and as with nearly every collection, it's uneven. But Le Guin at her most pedestrian is still very, very good. The best of the essays make up the first half of the book, particularly in the sections "Going Over Eighty," "The Annals of Pard," and "The Lit Biz." Le Guin has a way of helping us to recognize and laugh at the absurdities of modern life; when she receives an alumni questionnaire from Harvard that asks, "Are you living your secret desires?" she responds, "I have none, my desires are flagrant."

But the book shines most when the author invites us to consider questions related to change and time: "The opposite of spare time is, I guess, occupied time. In my case I still don't know what spare time is because all my time is occupied. It has always been and it is now. It is occupied with living." Or this gem: "Old age is for anybody who gets there Warriors get old; sissies get old...Old age is for the healthy, the strong, the tough, the intrepid, the sick, the weak, the cowardly, the incompetent....Old age is less a matter of fitness and courage than of luck equals longevity."

This is the kind of book that makes you want to turn down pages to savor again later or so as to share passages with others -- a wonderful book to press into the hands of good friends, the kind of book that when you loan to others is unlikely to come back.

Review to come. Thank y0u to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.