I always say my favourite film is Raiders of the Lost Ark and my favourite book is the original Earthsea trilogy, or if pushed A Wizard of Earthsea. Picking one favourite is always a bit arbitrary but both of these are childhood favourites that have survived repeat viewings/readings and have developed accretions of personal associations that add to their significance to me. I think I can now go a step further and say that LeGuin is becoming my favourite author because she just has so many completely top-notch books: books that are about something, are thought-provoking, are elegantly written, tell excellently crafted stories about real people (though often in unreal situations) and reward repeat reading. The USA should consider her a National Treasure.

The Lathe of Heaven must go on my list of these superb works. It has a main protagonist whose dreams can retro-actively change reality. That's an idea any science-fiction writer would have made a pact with the Devil for - but most of them would have then squandered it on mere pyrotechnics.

LeGuin saves the pyrotechnics not for the story, but the story-telling; pyroclastics feature in the story, however. What do I mean by pyrotechnical story telling? Here's an example: A second-rank protagonist gets some brief promotions to view-point status. In the longest of these, she starts the scene in an extremely agitated, anxious state of mind. The prose is all short sentences and sharp edges. As the scene progresses over several pages, she gradually calms down and the prose gradually shifts to the calm, languid prose readers would more usually associate with LeGuin. This use of style to emphasise the mood of the character is clever and successful but is merely in the service of her aims. Too many of her contemporaries would consider such deployment of technique as the purpose of the book itself.

So if you haven't read this book, please do so - this is literature at its finest.