My book-loving friends:
I have a proposal for a pilgrim book group*, where we (meaning all of you interested pilgrimgirl readers out there) could select a text and have a book chat together. Similar to the Mindonfire book group, our discussion would include meetings online, in person, and via webcam.
I would like to propose that we begin our group with two readings from Ursula LeGuin:
1) her short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”
2) her novel The Dispossessed.
I chose these particular works because both grapple with utopian communities and the limitations of such.
Ok, so I know it wasn’t very democratic of me to choose the first readings myself, but I hope y’all won’t hold that against me. So please chime in if you’re interested in joining in the discussion and then we’ll make some more concrete plans for structuring our analysis of LeGuin’s stories.
*Thanks go to RyanH for being the catalyst for this group
13 comments
Fun idea. :-) I’m in and I vote for “The Ones Who Walked Away….”
I should finish the MindOnFire book club selection in a couple of weeks and will make this my next read. :-)
Goody, I love book groups. I read LeGuin’s Wizard of Earthsea series and loved them.
I only wish I was closer and could come in person!
LeGuin has been very highly recommended to me lately, so I am very much interested in participating.
I’d love to. Though I find it hard to get any reading days, I’ll give it a shot.
LeGuin is one of my author-heroes, so I’m all for it. The Omelas piece is one of my ten favorite short stories, but (like journeygal) I’ll have to finish Ehrman before I can get to The Dispossessed. Too bad we can’t do The Left Hand of Darkness, though.
Please can I? I really want to read these selections, so maybe I can squeeze them in somewhere between my YA lit assignments. :)
I’m thrilled that we’ve got a great group gathering here!
Brooke: I would think that LeGuin would be the perfect read for a YA class–perhaps you can use it to augment your other assignments?
John and I talked last night about making sure that we don’t overload those who are also engaged in the MoF bookgroup. We’ll make sure that the actual meatspace meetings are staggered every other month or so. Ok?? :)
I love Ursula and would also love to participate!
i’ve put The Dispossessed on hold at the library . . .
I’ve already read The Dispossessed, so I would love to participate.
Hey, I want in. Nobody ever wants to talk with me about books. Boo-hoo.
Besides which, I can say objectively and with no equivocation that Ursula K. LeGuin is TEH BESTEST AUTHOR EVARZ, so I’d be happy for any opportunity to discuss her works.
I’d like to read more of LeGuin. I read Omelas for a couple of my undergrad classes and loved it (in a sick stomach kind of way). I’d like to participate as well. Web cam and in person wouldn’t work for me though, as I don’t live in OC and I don’t have a web cam. But I’d still like to participate.