The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le GuinRead about another entry on the list.
Le Guin’s classic novel remains a powerful reading experience. One of the first sci-fi stories to delve into gender politics, the story follows Genly Ai, a man from Terra who travels to the planet Gethen on a diplomatic mission. The word “gethen” means “winter,” and the planet is in the grip of an ice age. It’s a frozen, volcanic, violently cold place.
Le Guin’s evocative writing and the bitter cold of the setting accentuate how alien the Gethens are to Ai, who struggles to understand their ambisexual society.
The Left Hand of Darkness is among Andrew Hunter Murray's five best books to make you feel less alone, Kelly Jensen's five inhospitable planets in film and fiction, Ann Leckie's ten best science fiction books, Esther Inglis-Arkell's ten most unfilmable books, Jeff Somers's top five sci-fi novels that explore gender in unexpected and challenging ways, Joel Cunningham's top twelve books with the most irresistible titles, Damien Walter's top five science fiction novels for people who hate sci-fi and Ian Marchant's top 10 books of the night. Charlie Jane Anders included it on her list of ten science fiction novels that will never be movies.
--Marshal Zeringue
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