Just finished Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. Great book, really enjoyed it. But it was also an immense task getting through it.
I almost never read fantasy or sci-fi because I struggle so much with the onslaught of new proper nouns to keep track of. Planets, nations, cities, cultural concepts, geographical features, people, religions, scientific phenomena, etc. On any given page of Left Hand of Darkness you will run into a dozen proper nouns, all in a language you have never seen before.
How do you regular readers of sci-fi and fantasy do it? How do you remember the name of a place first mentioned 100 pages ago? How can you tell which things are important and vital and which are just there to add flavor? Is this a skill you developed over time reading the genre? Was it just never a problem for you?
There’s so much that’s cool about Left Hand of Darkness and I’d love to read more LeGuin but every time I consider it I just think about what an immense effort it would be. Having to relearn the whole of a planet from scratch makes even basic things like remembering character names (and God help me if they have multiple names!) a constant struggle.
by JimmyShannon