Robert

No rating. Anne Patchett said that she never reads her books, but recently she reread this book and published an annotated version. She said that she found several thinks that she would change, errors, plot etc. She had published three novels before this, none of them had done particularly well; this is the novel that really jump started her writing career and since then she has written a series of marvelous books.

The story is good but not great and sections of this is not great. Some of the characters are really two dimensional and in the end the story of the love interest came more r less as a surprise. I am personally surprised that this book won the Pen/Faulkner award, though there are plenty of hints of her talent in the stories. The Dutch House (which should have won the Pulitzer Prize) and Tom Lake are far superior books,

This book is worth reading a the reader can see the progression of her writing skills. It is definitely a permanent part of my collection and may be a book that I will read again. I am sure that there are little nuggets that I have missed in this tale.

The third book of the Earthsea Trilogy. Another fantasy; however, reads the book more closely it is a story about one mortality and legacy. Sometime legacy lays too heavily an individual. It is also a coming of age story. Though often considered as a young adult tale the adult reader can enjoy and learn from the book.

Ursula K Le Guin has left a large body of work, both fiction and non fiction, behind after her death. This book contains her earliest pieces of writing along with her commentary. It is a fascinating look into her development as a writer and her though process in writing. Many of her later themes had their beginnings in these early writings. A good companion piece to this book is her collection of essays, etc -Dancing at the Edge of the World