Cambridge Book Club, August 2023 - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

We will be meeting as usual on the last Thursday of every month - this month we will be meeting at 7pm at The Alex on Gwydir Street on the 31st August.

A table for the Book Club is booked under the name 'Mary'.

There is limited space and we don't want to overwhelm the venue, so we have limited the number of attendees.

The pub is very accommodating and will try to provide more seats if needed, but if you find you cannot attend for any reason please change your attendance in the group so others can take your place.

Street parking is free after 6.30pm. There is also a multistory nearby, the Grafton East Car Park.

The book for August is 'The Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursula K. Le Guin, kindly suggested by Bogi.

At each meeting, everyone who attends may nominate a book for the following month. The book is decided by a dice roll. Ideally, we will limit the length to approximately 400 pages so that people will be able to finish reading before the next meeting. If for whatever reason you can't finish or don't want to finish, that's totally fine. Just come along anyway and discuss what you liked and disliked!

The Left Hand of Darkness is a science fiction novel, among the first in the genre now known as feminist science fiction. Major themes include the effect of sex and gender on culture and society, Taoism, non-violence, and ecological awareness. Le Guin's background in anthropology influenced all of her writing, and through her depiction of alien and fantasy worlds she explores what it means to be human.

'Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.'

'It is a terrible thing, this kindess that human beings do not lose. Terrible, because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have. We who are so rich, so full of strength, we end up with that small change. We have nothing else to give.'