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NO TIME TO SPARE

Ursula K. Le Guin

Thinking About What Matters

From acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin, and with an introduction by Karen Joy Fowler, a collection of thoughts—always adroit, often acerbic—on aging, belief, the state of literature, and the state of the nation.

Ursula K. Le Guin has taken readers to imaginary worlds for decades. Now she's in the last great frontier of life, old age, and exploring new literary territory: the blog, a forum where her voice—sharp, witty, as compassionate as it is critical—shines. No Time to Spare collects the best of Ursula's blog, presenting perfectly crystallized dispatches on what matters to her now, her concerns with this world, and her wonder at it.

On the absurdity of denying your age, she says, “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.” On cultural perceptions of fantasy: “The direction of escape is toward freedom. So what is ‘escapism' an accusation of?” On her new cat: “He still won't sit on a lap I don't know if he ever will. He just doesn't accept the lap hypothesis.” On breakfast: “Eating an egg from the shell takes not only practice, but resolution, even courage, possibly willingness to commit crime.” And on all that is unknown, all that we discover as we muddle through life: “How rich we are in knowledge, and in all that lies around us yet to learn. Billionaires, all of us.”

Ursula K. Le Guin was born in Berkeley, California, in 1929. Among her honors are a National Book Award, five Hugo and five Nebula Awards, the Kafka Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Karen Joy Fowler (foreword) is the author of six novels and four short story collections, including We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and Black Glass. She is the winner of the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, and has won numerous Nebula and World Fantasy Awards.

KEINE ZEIT VERLIEREN
ueber Alter, Kunst, Kultur und Katzen
Deutsch von Anne-Marie Wachs
[PB Golkonda 08/18]
Available products
Book

Published 2017-12-01 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Comments

NO TIME TO SPARE presents the best of Le Guin's blog: sharp-eyed, big-hearted, idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable. Both Le Guin's eye for detail and her dry wit are on full display here. . . . Readers will find much to think about in this wise and eloquent collection.

Poland: Proszynski

Spirited, wry reflections on aging, literature, and America's moral life. . . . An entertaining collection. . . . Thoughtful musings from a deft and sharply insightful writer.

TEAS Press

Japan: Kawade Shobo; Korea: Minumsa

Her expression of these thoughts reads more like mini-essays than blog posts and invite close reading, which always reaps rich rewards, the true gift of this lovely book.

...clever observations and sharp, nimble prose... (The Best New Books to Read in December 2017) Read more...

Few writers have been so conscientious of the ways that societies are defined by the nuances and omissions of their language. . . . A delightful book, inquisitive and stroppily opinionated in equal measure.