Paradises Lost is the capstone of the book, and easily the best story here. It tells the tale of what is supposed to be the penultimate generation aboard a generation ship. Generation ships are a relative familiar theme in science fiction, but Le Guin brings her own focus to the genre and explores familiar themes in unfamiliar ways. Most importantly for me, I was able to relate to the characters in this story in a way I could not in most of the others. While the environment in which our "middle generation" of explorers find themselves seems radically different from our own, I found that the rules and constraints laid upon them were not so different from our own. I cared about what happened to our protagonists, and identified with them.

Overall, I thought this volume was a mixed bag. The writing was excellent throughout, and some of the stories were thoughtful and challenging, while others were simply entertaining. Short stories tend to be hit-or-miss, and even some of the stories found here didn't seem to grab or hold my attention. One of the shorts made itself seem extremely out of place by dropping in a ghost story, and a couple of them spent just a little too much time talking about the details of a culture's sexual proclivities to address characterization or even good plotting to my satisfaction.

Still, I don't believe this book was a waste of my time. For every story that I couldn't quite enjoy, there was a Solitude or an Old Music to make up for it. The story that required the greatest devotion of time, Paradises Lost, more than repaid the investment with rich rewards.

The Birthday of the World - Ursula K. Le Guin
Genre: Science Fiction, Feminist, Literature
Readability: First rate writing. I often forgot I was even reading!
Philosophy: Rationalist; Explores how environment might dictate behavior and culture.
Suitability: Nothing is off limits. Children and the easily offended be warned.
Overall: 3/5

Order it at Amazon, read samples on the author's site, or check out the publisher, Harper Collins.