Strong Female Reads book club discussion

To discuss 'A Wizard of Earthsea' by the late Ursula K. Le Guin.

You can read Margaret Atwood's tribute to her here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

Tried and failed miserably to find a second hand copy in London and Hungerford.

It seems people who read UKLG books don’t give them away.

Have ordered the collection of the 1st four from the dread lord Amazon.

Debsx

Sharon wrote: "Tried and failed miserably to find a second hand copy in London and Hungerford.

It seems people who read UKLG books don’t give them away.

Have ordered the collection of the 1st four from the dr..."

I've ordered a kindle copy! The necessity of being a commuting londoner on the central line :(

You see, I miss that.

All my travel is in the car hence audiobooks.

But this one is going in the bath with me.

😍

Sharon wrote: "You see, I miss that.

All my travel is in the car hence audiobooks.

But this one is going in the bath with me.

😍"

I drive a lot for work and I get through so many books now thanks to audiobooks! (And podcasts too of course.)

Ok so just gave in to Netflix's recommendations and watched the 'Jane Austen Book club' - despite not being a very Jane Austen kinda girl BUT (stay with me) there's a guy in it who keeps trying to get one of the female characters to read books by Ursula K Le Guin - and he sites a whole load of other sic-fi authors that are male names but actually pseudonyms for female writers but I can't remember them all as it happened really quickly so will have to rewatch that bit if google doesn't turn up any info.

Either way it was actually quite a nice lighthearted movie if a bit soppy and lovey dovey.

Kristine wrote: "Ok so just gave in to Netflix's recommendations and watched the 'Jane Austen Book club' - despite not being a very Jane Austen kinda girl BUT (stay with me) there's a guy in it who keeps trying to ..."

Ok so found the other sci-fi authors he name dropped:
-Andre/w Norton who is actually Alice Mary Norton
-James Tiptree, Jr who is actually Alice Sheldon (super interesting woman who struggled with her sexual identity and committed suicide after shooting her husband)
-Pat Murphy who is actually Patrice Anne Murphy

There may be some future reads in there!

Kristine wrote: "Kristine wrote: "Ok so just gave in to Netflix's recommendations and watched the 'Jane Austen Book club' - despite not being a very Jane Austen kinda girl BUT (stay with me) there's a guy in it who..."

I didn't know that, might have to look some of them up.

As for Earthsea, I agree with a lot of what Debs and Kate said on the podcast. It's a fun classic fantasy romp, with a sad dearth of female characters. I enjoyed it, but I really wish I'd read it when I was 11/12 and really getting into CS Lewis and Tolkien. I would have eaten these books up at that age, and the fact that they were by a female author would have made me even happier.
I can't help but think that UKLG's gender is the only reason why these books aren't better known and celebrated up there with Tolkien.

I'm really glad I finally got round to reading one of her books, I've been meaning to pick one up since I heard one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman, talk about how she inspired him. I would be interested to try The Left Hand of Darkness, especially if it's a more feminist book.

Ooh, interesting about those recommendations from Jane Austen Book Club...will investigate.

I've just finished the second Earthsea book - The Tombs of Atuan - and found it much better than the first. I persevered because I was intrigued to see whether the second book was more of the same, but the focus is on a female character, Tenar, who is forced to become High Priestess of a temple on another part of Earthsea. Ged features in it too, but Tenar is definitely the main character and she is a compelling character, very conflicted and much more interesting than Ged.

Aimee wrote: "I've just finished the second Earthsea book - The Tombs of Atuan - and found it much better than the first. I persevered because I was intrigued to see whether the second book was more..."

If you keep going with the series there are more female characters to come, don't think this counts as a spoiler as the fourth book Tehanu is even named after a female character.