Name: The Birthday of the World
ISBN: 9780060085360

The Birthday of the World

Eight brilliant short works, including a never-before-published novella, each of which probes the essence of humanity. Here are stories that explore complex social interactions and troublesome issues of gender and sex; that define and defy notions of personal relationships and of society itself; that examine loyalty, survival, and introversion; that bring to light the vicissitudes of slavery and the meaning of transformation, religion, and history.

What Hacker News says

franekApr 2024

I fully support the recommendation of Le Guin's short stories! Too bad they are easily forgotten over her novels. (I guess a novel, as a product, is easier to review and to advertise?)

My favourite collection is "The Birthday of the World", especially the stories "Solitude" and "Paradises Lost". (Maybe skip "Old Music and the Slave Women". It builds on other books and is incomprehensible without them; or at least it was to me.)

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nestorDDec 2021

I came to say that my favorite book read this year is her "The Birthday of the World and Other Stories".

Very nice to read science fiction that is about people rather than things.

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franekSep 2021

Ursula K. Le Guin, "Solitude", from the collection "The Birthday of the World". Speculative story about a society whose adults spent the majority of their lives alone. Told from a female perspective. One of my favourites, to say the least.

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robbiepMay 2021

My first book by her was The birthday of the world and other stories - Paradises lost really moved me.

How good good literature can be

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thedanielFeb 2019

Such a legend - for an easy intro definitely the short stories in Birthday of the World are worth a read

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nkorenJan 2018

Try "The Birthday of the World". Bite-sized short stories that are utterly indelible. Will make you hungry for her longer works.

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