Lathe of Heaven

I discovered by accident that Ursula K. LeGuin's "Lathe of Heaven" has been adapted twice.

The PBS version from 1980 was what I thought I had put on my Netflix qeue; imagine my surprise when I put it in the player and found Lukas Haas, Jimmy Caan, and Lisa Bonet. Huh.

So now the 1980 version is on the qeue next, and popped up to the top of the list. I have suspicions it is the better show.

LeGuin sits deep in my heart, most thanks to her novel, "The Left Hand of Darkness", which, in addition to being a fantastic story, happens to be an extremely well-written one too. LeGuin has a deftness I can't claim for myself (Left Hand is a couple-day read, fast-moving and intensely engaging ... my own first novel clocks in at 530 pages, with an extensive author's note to boot), but what she does in the space she uses is potent, thorough, exciting, fascinating. I'm not sure there is a better world-builder out there. Certainly there are few storytellers of her rank.

My ancient, much-thumbed "Darkness" is no longer in my hands; it made a deeply-felt gift in recent years. It's time I refreshed my library for this particular author. She is amazing. And "Birthday of the World" has been on my Wish List for too long without my purchasing it.