2022 book 82

 Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness

LeGuin is one of those authors I just never read when I was younger, just never came across her work somehow. So I’ve been doling them out during this pandemic as a little treat. And actually I’m glad I never read this when I was younger, because I don’t know if I’d have gotten it or fully appreciated it. It’s the story of an Envoy from an outer space collective who's coming to see if a new planet wants to join up for trading purposes, advancement, etc. The new world has interesting gender stuff going on, which is mainly what I knew about this book going in. But really this is a story about humanity, about love and loss and meaning and storytelling. I’d have torn through this much quicker if I hadn’t come down with shingles (!). A/A-.