God I love Le Guin. The Left Hand of Darkness and Tehanu are two of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever experienced. Granted, Tehanu requires a lot more investment in not-quite-as-good stories to get to it. Not to say the first few Earthsea books are bad, they’re just not quite at that level of masterpiece.
Left Hand of Darkness surprised me, it was really good- i tried to read it years back and couldnt get past the slow politics in the beginning, but audiobook format helped. Tehanu was just stunning. I love how her books always hook me with an interesting plot, then leave me just sitting quietly, contemplating how I can be a more empathetic person. Her ability to show the value in people, even flawed ones is just amazing. I think my favorite read by her lately is The Lathe of Heaven.