While I deeply admire Le Guin's longer works, my favorites are still her short stories and essays. I can spend as much time thinking about one of her short stories as I can her longer works.

This particular collection has many sterling works, including the well-known "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", but there are a number of works dealing with the concept of art, self, the motivation of a person possessed with singular knowledge, and science. I could hardly pick a favorite.

One of my favorite lines is from "Direction of the Road":
Mortality is my privilege. And it has been taken from me.