#WCW Woman Crush Wednesday: Ursula K. Le Guin

Photo Copyright © by Marian Wood Kolisch

When Rachel wrote her review of The Dispossessed this weekend, I was reminded of how much I love Ursula K Le Guin's writing, which made her an obvious pick for this week's #WCW

I'm not a native Dubuquer, and I attended high school in a small Wisconsin town where the public library was small enough that the entire building would've fit in Carnegie-Stout's children's department. As a teenager who loved fantasy novels, I would check out any book with a unicorn sticker on the spine, so it wasn't long before I stumbled across A Wizard of Earthsea. I liked Earthsea okay, but it was her stories of the Hainish Ekumen that I returned to again and again.

The attention and detail she put into the people and societies in her stories captured my imagination. Her writing was a significant influence in my decision to major in anthropology as an undergrad, and I was only a little surprised that the "K" in her name stands for Kroeber. Her parents, Alfred and Theodora Kroeber, were early anthropologists of some note. Alfred Kroeber was, fittingly enough, one of the topics for my senior research paper on the history of anthropological theories.

Le Guin remains the standard by which I judge science fiction to this day, even as my tastes have changed and grown over time. I suspect that I wouldn't have quite the same reaction to reading her books for the first time today as I did when I was a teen, but it's equally true that if I hadn't read her books as a teen, I would not have become the person that I am today.

~Sarah, Adult Services

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Staff Review: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

I do not consider myself a connoisseur of science fiction, but I think it is safe to say The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin is a classic in that genre. Written in 1974, the story follows the life of Shevek, a (literally) universally-renowned physicist who grows up on the anarchist planet of Annares. As the book opens, he is leaving his home for the first time to visit his ancestral planet of Urras, where "utopian" capitalism still reigns.  As someone who does not habitually read science fiction, I took me a few chapters to get my bearings with the unfamiliar planets and the discussions of physics theory, but I was hooked before long. Le Guin sets the scene so thoroughly, believably, and fascinatingly that the strangeness quickly disappeared and I was just reading a good book about lovable characters and important problems.

Shevek's views are scorned by most of Urras' inhabitants, but he is not ready to give up his outlook, despite his personal struggles with his homeland, Annares. On Urras he indeed encounters a type of paradise, but it cannot completely mask the deception, intrigue, and unpleasant truths that make him question everything he knows. Le Guin weaves a tight story, with chapters alternating between Shevek's past and present. Both plot lines are interesting to follow - Does Shevek ever reunite with his partner? Can pure anarchy be successfully attained? Is capitalism really so bad after all? Who and what holds power and can that be changed? - and each plot line becomes more suspenseful as the two converge at the end of the book.

Le Guin raises questions of social structure, gender, poverty, partnership and ultimately humanity that characters - and readers - grapple with because their lives depend on it. Despite the contrasting settings, characters on both planets are quite relatable and leave readers evaluating their own relationships, governments, and even language. It is fascinating to read intimate details of two completely different societies, and to find each of them enchanting and comforting in their own way. If you are a fan of philosophy, space travel, or social justice, this book will draw you in and make you a fan of the others.

~Rachel, Circulation

Tech Thursday: Photography

Take a look at these amazing photographs, Slide Show: Secret Lives of the Serengeti,

PHOTOGRAPH BY SNAPSHOT SERENGETI

then take a look at some of our items to help you with your photography skills. You may not catch a giraffe walking by you in the twilight, but you may catch your child's first steps.

David Hume Kennerly on the iPhone: Secrets and Tips from a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer by David Hume Kennerly

Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers: The Essential Guide to Digital Techniques by Alan L. Detrick

The Mobile Photographer: An Unofficial Guide to Using Android® Phones, Tablets, and Apps in Photography Workflow by Robert Fisher

Photographing Your Family: And All the Kids and Friends and Animals Who Wander Through, Too by Joel Sartore and John Healey

~Aisha

#WCW WomanCrushWednesday: Cheryl Strayed

No author has affected my life in the past few years as much as Cheryl Strayed has.

Photo found at http://www.cherylstrayed.com/

I loved Strayed before I knew her name. TheRumpus.net is an online magazine whose advice column, Dear Sugar, was a favorite of mine because of its honest, humorous, and heartfelt offerings. The column was done anonymously, but a few years ago, it was revealed that Strayed was Sugar. Some of my favorite Sugar-given advice is, “Every last one of us can do better than give up”; “The only way out of a hole is to climb out”; and “Be brave enough to break your own heart”. Tiny Beautiful Things is a collection of her Dear Sugar columns and I highly recommend you read it.

A few years ago, when I finished the first chapter of her memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, I put the book down and with tears in my eyes, said out loud to no one, "If the rest of the book is like that, I cannot handle it." In the book, Strayed's mom dies of cancer and at the time, my mom was four years cancer-free. I didn't want to read about a mom, anyone's mom, dying of cancer. I did get through the book and it remains a favorite of mine. I'm a person who prefers not to feel emotions and that book made me feel so immensely that I should have thrown it across the room and instead, I embraced it. I embraced it so much that when a friend told me his mom didn't like Wild because Cheryl Strayed wasn't prepared for the hike she takes in the book, I actually told him to tell his mom to come say that to my face. No one says anything bad about Cheryl Strayed around me.

When my mom was rediagnosed with cancer in mid-2013, I could not look at my copy of Wild (sometimes just a glance at the book would make me tear up), but I frequently turned to Tiny Beautiful Things and a poster with Dear Sugar quotes I had on the wall above my computer. I can't say I always took to heart sayings like "The thing about rising is we have to continue upward. The thing about going beyond is we have to keep going", "The unifying theme is resilience and faith", and the above-mentioned "Every last one of us can do better than to give up", but I wanted to. As I'm sure many other people who've read Strayed's work can attest, Strayed makes you want to hope, makes you want to try. Some days, I would see "The only way out of a hole is to climb out" and think, "Maybe today, it's okay for me to stay in my hole, but tomorrow, I'll get started on climbing out of it."

My mom died in October 2014 and again, Strayed helped me, this time with her advice of "Let yourself be gutted. Let it open you. Start there." "Gutted" is the perfect word to describe how I felt when my mom died and one of the reasons I'm not curled up in a ball on the floor is Cheryl Strayed and her advice. For that, she's my WomanCrush.

~Aisha

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