Ursula K Le Guin's Reading List

"Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park is the least popular of her works. The heroine, Fanny Price, isn’t feisty, fiery, and likable — she’s poor, shy, insecure, introverted, and awfully law-abiding. But I love her for her courage. Despite shame and contempt, she holds to what she thinks is right. Her story, like the others here, has given me deep pleasure and a whole lot to think about."

"Of Jane Eyre , I just want to say that if you think you know the book because you’ve seen a movie based on it, do think again."

"Silas Marner was probably on the 1945 high school curriculum because it was short and not about sex. I hated it — didn’t have a clue what it was about. Eliot (real name Mary Ann Evans) writes with a dry, adult humor and depth of experience of pain I could only appreciate when I finally finished growing up."

"Gaskell’s first novel, the tale of a working-class girl in Manchester during the Industrial Revolution , probably isn’t her best, but I’ve not yet got through it without tears. It’s so alive with indignation, sympathy, and compassion."

"An 1849 story suite about a village on the coast of Maine. Its setting and characters are so vivid that I think of Dunnet Landing as a place I’ve been, where I’m very fond of the people. And the beauty of it is, I can go back there whenever I want."