Just finished listening to The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin and really enjoyed it.

To be honest, I had a little trouble getting into the text, but after the first few chapters, I was hooked. I don’t want to present any spoilers for this book, but there are shifts in time and space (Le Guin is an expert at this type of writing) and that’s what I had difficulty with.

I like the exploration of what we think becoming. If you’re a fan of the Law of Attraction, the idea that what we think and focus on becomes is common. Le Guin takes that idea to an extreme and fantastical place. 

I also love the world she builds (over and over). And, that she places the capital of the planet in Oregon. I don’t have a deep, personal connection to Oregon, but I like the idea that it serves the planet well. And, it’s not London, or New York, or Paris, or Hong Kong that takes up the seat of power. We do that so often when we write, we choose places that are already serving as beacons for our own beacons, when it might be interesting to choose smaller hamlets with defined politics to do the subtle lifting and telling of story.