Best of September 2010 in Audible.com SFF: Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed
Best of October 2010 in Audible.com SFF: Iain M. Banks's Surface Detail →Best of September 2010 in Audible.com SFF: Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed
Posted on 2010-09-30 at 9:0 by Sam
Link: Best of September 2010 in Audible.com SFF: Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic 1974 novel The Dispossessed is brought wonderfully to audio courtesy a Harper Audio production of an excellent Don Leslie narration. Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, it is also (and much less impressively, I might add!) my pick for the best new science fiction and fantasy audiobook at Audible.com in September 2010.
The publisher’s summary is brief: “Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the utopian mother planet, Anarres, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change.”
Here, there is simply too much to say, and so I will play a bit of the coward and not say much at all, other than: Le Guin’s Anarres is the definitive rendering of anarchism in fiction, and this is an unforgettable novel, and a masterful narration.
HONORABLE MENTION:
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin appears (with good reason) on far-ranging year’s best lists for fantasy in 2010
ALSO IN SEPTEMBER:
- Ekaterina Sedia’s The Secret History of Moscow (a Gaiman-esque and Gaiman-blurbed urban fantasy set in modern-day Moscow) and The Alchemy of Stone
- Zero History by William Gibson, narrated by Robertson Dean, which continues his Bigend storyline where the truly excellent Spook Country left off
- The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950)
- Dreadnought by Cherie Priest which has a hard bar to reach set by Priest’s own Boneshaker
- The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
- Non-genre alert!
- Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks narrated by Rebecca Lowman
- Non-genre alert!
- Dexter Is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay narrated by Jeff Lindsay
- Non-genre alert! Fall of Giants: The Century Trilogy, Book 1 by Ken Follett narrated by John Lee
- Immortal Beloved by narrated by
SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:
- Anthology: Haunted Legends edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas (winner of the Bram Stoker Award)
- Zendegi by Greg Egan (Night Shade Books)
- Cold Magic (The Spiritwalker Trilogy)
Note: this post is back-dated from June 24, 2011, for sort order purposes.