Despite her love for cats and my usual fondness for nonfiction by older women reflecting on age and memory, I found little of interest to me here.

Wise, incisive, thoughtful. Classic Ursula K. Le Guin. This collection of essays is one of her best!

As a long time fan of Ursula K. Le Guin, I devoured this wonderful book. It felt so rewarding to hear her speak with such wit and wisdom. Highly recommended.

Well-written, (of course!) but didn’t hold my attention the way her fiction did/does (I’m a long-time fan). Although I was often captured by a particular discussion or, more often, a particular turn of phrase or well-described image, I found myself skipping over or past many of these stream-of-consciousness blog/essays.

It would be impossible to state how poignant and timely this book was to me personally. I loved the honest and raw scenarios presented. With mindfulness being such a buzzword these days, I would recommend everyone read with a bit of mindfulness in mind. It certainly changed my perspective on time and aging.

We lost a national treasure when Le Guin passed away. These are wonderful essays and I especially enjoyed the stories about her new cat, Pard. Great collection to pick up and put down as time allows.

I miss Ursula for exactly who she was, and this collection of her thoughts solidified it. What a gift to the world, especially the SFF world.

This review took me forever to write, because a few chapters into my reading, Ursula K. Le Guin passed away. I tried my absolute best to power through, but her musings on old age, youth and the impending end were simply too much for me after hearing the news. A collection of her blog posts, these writings feel incredibly personal. Like she was sitting down and just sharing her thoughts with a few friends, or a favorite journal. Once I was able to pick the book back up, I was able to appreciate the raw honest with which Ms. Le Guin approached everything, from kids in the yard to what it's like to grow old. An absolute must for fans of her fiction work and poetry alike.

This is a collection of Le Guin's blog posts. In the first entry, she discusses why she has started a blog, her trepidation about attempting one and states that she is willing to give up the experiment if it doesn't work out. The experiment turns out to be a success, and I'm glad I got to read this collection, as I didn't follow her blog when she was alive.

Non-fiction writing can be a mixed bag, and Le Guin's musings range from the definition and legitimacy of genre writing to the importance of art in life. She wisely intersperses her deeper pieces with bits on her adopted cat, Pard, whose personality she describes so lovingly and unflinchingly. There is something about a person who is able to see clearly but refrains from negative judgement (except for a few times in which it is richly deserved), and I hunger for that sometimes, as it certainly was not the way of the family in which I was raised. Much of her writings also discuss her conclusions about moral and ethical problems that we face today, and I greatly respected how she showed her reasoning and brought me along to her conclusion. So much opinion today seems to be knee-jerk reaction that depends on your political party without analysis, and it was refreshing to see someone painstakingly working through their individual response without worrying about what her neighbors or readers would think of her. We could use more like Ursula K. Le Guin, and the world is diminished without her.

I didn't give the book five stars because blog posts are necessarily of a certain time and place, and some topics will fade from relevance a bit. Many more, I fear will become even more important in the future.

I started reading this and she was alive. she died and I stopped reading it because I was sad. now I've finished and it was great but she won't write any more things. then again she still has dozens if not a hundred things that I've never read so I guess there's all those but LOOK IT'S STILL SAD.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher which means all the text highlighting I did doesn't automatically transfer here for me to share and anyway I'm not allowed to share quotes from an unpublished manuscript. suffice it to say that I highlighted a lot. things I liked and laughed with, things that made me think, things that made me sad. all the feels, you know.

the book is a collection of short blog posts she wrote covering a lot of topics. cats, music, writing, family, politics, religion, evolution, conservation.

highly recommended, le guin is a wonderful writer and a treasured mind.

"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.

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.

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, possibly willingness to commit crime.” And on all that is unknown, all that we discover as we muddle through life: “How rich we are in knowledge, and in all that lies around us yet to learn. Billionaires, all of us.”"

I have read so much Le Guin this year that I just HAVE to get my hands on more!

Wise words on a variety of subjects, many of them mundane, by the late Ursula Le Guin, who was certainly one of the greatest writers, not just of speculative fiction but of any sort of fiction, from the past half century.

I received a advance reading copy of this book which does not influence my personal opinion

This is a brilliant collection of blog post by this well loved author on aging, life in general and important facts about growing older. It was with great sadness I heard she passed away while I was reading this . Her contribution to literature is exemplary and I enjoyed this private look at her most personal thoughts at her end of life. It is candid and honest account of her personal growing older journey in a world that places value only on the young. I highly recommend this book for anyone concerned with growing older and fans of the authors work. This is the perfect collection for every baby boomer . A wonderful gift to the world at the end of her life.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

In “No Time to Spare”, Ursula Le Guin writes on her feelings about growing up, growing old, writing, cats, and more. I believe all the chapters in the book are from her old blog posts. Le Guin has a talent with words and some fascinating opinions. I was pleased to see that her choice for The Great American Novel was the same as mine. This is the first book by Le Guin that I have read; I look forward to checking out some of her novels.

*No Time to Spare: Thinking about What Matters* by Ursula K. Le Guin is a collection of blog posts from the author about ideas such as old age, children, and literature. I love the author's writing. It is funny, witty, and makes you think as well. I'm sad that the author has passed away. However, I am glad I discovered her writings. I am going to be reading her other books as well.

I highly recommend this book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

No Time to Spare was charming and lightweight-a blog writ like essays by Le Guin. The entries chosen were good and I liked the rearrangement order.

A pleasure and a privilege to read. I was about halfway through this one when I heard that Ms. LeGuin had died, which made it a most poignant read.

This was brilliant of course. Le Guin's candor about aging and life and not wasting one's time is needed. There is a wide variety of essays included in this book. Thoughts on eating eggs, wild kitties, and friends, as well as criticism about the general pace and scope of life and literature.

I started reading No Time to Spare on the 28th of December, intending to consume it's collection of short essays leisurely. Unfortunately, partway through the title became somewhat prophetic as the author sadly passed away. As a child I loved and devoured Le Guin's Earthsea Quartet and as an adult I have read some of her more adult works such as The Word for World is Forest; she was a writer who was very dear to my heart and the thought of reading (what I believe to be) her last published book was rather upsetting, so I put it down for a while.

"Actually, I don't exactly have expectations. I have hopes, and fears. Mostly the fears predominate these days."

The essays inside are, I believe, drawn from her blog and personal writings. They are varied in nature: musings on age, on time, on her cat, on her life as a writer and in general, on politics, and on human nature. Some of these, particularly the ones on age and the passing of time, were recast in different light and became more emotional for me after her passing.

"When all the time you have is spare, is free, what do you make of it?"

Her character really shines through the thoughtful words written here, her wit, her passion for writing and for life, her love for her family and for her cat. Some of them I did find of little interest to me - perhaps this was because of my younger age, or my not being American - and whilst her cat sounded lovely and adorable, I didn't really need to know all that much about him! However I did find the vast, vast majority of this collection to be insightful, witty, and fascinating.

Le Guin's writings affected my past and I am sure as I read more they will change who I am in the future. No Time To Spare is no exception. Rest in peace, Ursula K. Le Guin.

Ursula K Le Guin as always is a treasure and absolute pleasure to read.