R.I.P. Ursula K. Le Guin

Only in silence the word :-(

Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88

I picked up The Farthest Shore at a second hand book fair when I was 11. Expecting standard 60s sword and sorcery, but it turned out to be an astonishing meditation on language, mental illness, addiction, the necessity of death, what it means to be good, what it means to be happy... I didn't get all this out of it at first, maybe, but it got under my skin and stayed with me.

My favourite book of hers is probably Always Coming Home. The story itself takes up less than half the book; the rest, field notes from a future culture. Is it post-apocalyptic or post-singularity? There are even recipes, which I tried. They're pretty good.

Club Tales

Reading The Notion Club Papers 📚 on the train, which leads me to think about the club tales genre. You know, Tales from the White Hart (Clarke), Tales of the Black Widowers (Asimov), and so on... usually short stories, a bunch of blokes get together and talk, which forms a common framing device for the actual tales.

Is it always just men? Are there any examples featuring mixed groups, or all women? Is anyone writing a c21st version?

Trying to work out the rules / conventions of the genre. They're club tales; the framing characters all know each other and meet regularly. Guests are permitted. No one in the club actually tells the story, at least not uninterruptedly; it emerges through conversation. The stories may be something that (allegedly) happened to one of the characters or maybe happened to a friend of a friend. They're tall tales or mysteries or have a twist.

Nothing happens to the members of the club in the context of the framing story. They just talk. But they're strongly drawn characters.

Got this book for Christmas... How it Works: The Husband 📚

Finished reading: The Climb by Chris Froome 📚

Finished reading: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin 📚

Many Dimensions

Currently reading: Many Dimensions by Charles Williams 📚

This is the first Williams I've managed to finish! Well, I find him hard going. Lots of characters to keep track of, lots of talking. Most of the action takes place in dreams and visions, and it can be hard to tell what's meant to be happening sometimes. I get the impression that the plot is secondary to metaphysical or mystical considerations, so if I knew more about Sufism or whatever I'd get more out of the book. Now, you could say exactly the same about e.g. Alan Garner's adult novels, but somehow Garner terrifies and engages you; Williams, not quite. On the plus side, it's very evocative of its era, and it's good to read a book by an Inkling that has an adult female character in a major role, although ultimately passive.

He's worth a look though, if you find any of his books anywhere. At his best he reads a bit like Harriet Vane battling Satanic forces rather than solving crimes. He just doesn't reach his best often enough for me.

Finished reading Put Me Back on My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson by William Fotheringham 📚.

I had no idea that Harry Hall (of Harry Hall Cycles, Manchester) was Tommy Simpson's engineer on the Tour when he died. The more you learn the more you realise you don't know.

Finished reading The Allegory of Love by C. S. Lewis 📚.

I should have read this 25 years ago. The Faerie Queene would have made a lot more sense.