No Time To Spare

From acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin, and with an introduction by Karen Joy Fowler, a collection of thoughts— always adroit, often acerbic — on aging, belief, the state of literature, and the state of the nation.

"Spirited, wry reflections on aging, literature, and America’s moral life ... Thoughtful musings from a deft and sharply insightful writer."  -  Kirkus Reviews

Ursula K. Le Guin has taken readers to imaginary worlds for decades. Now she’s in the last great frontier of life, old age, and exploring new literary territory: the blog, a forum where her voice — sharp, witty, as compassionate as it is critical — shines. No Time To Spare collects the best of Ursula’s blog, presenting perfectly crystallized dispatches on what matters to her now, her concerns with this world, and her wonder at it.   

"Possessing some of the same flinty spirits as Diana Athill's late-in-life writings, the 88-year-old Le Guin adopts a take-no-prisoners approach in brief essays traversing topics as diverse as literary criticism, contemporary politics and the antics of her cat... Reading No Time to Spare feels like opening the window in a room full of stale air to usher in a fresh spring breeze."  -   Harvey Freedenberg, Bookreporter.com

On the absurdity of denying your age, she says, If I’m ninety and believe I’m forty-five, I’m headed for a very bad time trying to get out of the bathtub. On cultural perceptions of fantasy: The direction of escape is toward freedom. So what is ‘escapism’ an accusation of? On her new cat: He still won’t sit on a lap…I don’t know if he ever will. He just doesn’t accept the lap hypothesis. On breakfast: Eating an egg from the shell takes not only practice but resolution, even courage, and possibly willingness to commit a crime. And on all that is unknown, all that we discover as we muddle through life: How rich we are in knowledge, and in