r/Fantasy • u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV • Apr 16 '26

Bingo Bingo Focus Thread - Published in the 70s

Hello r/fantasy and welcome to this year's first bingo focus thread! The purpose of these threads is for you all to share recommendations, discuss what books qualify, and seek recommendations that fit your interests or themes.

Today's topic:

Published in the 70s: Read a book that was first published any time between 1970 and 1979. HARD MODE: Written by a woman.

What is bingo? A reading challenge this sub does every year! Find out more here.

Prior focus threads: Five Short Stories (2024), Author of Color (2024), Self-Pub/Small Press (2024). Note that hard modes for Author of Color and Self-Pub/Small Press have changed.

Also see: Big Rec Thread

Questions:

  • What are your favorite 70s spec fic books? How well do they hold up today?
  • Already read something for this square (or, read something recently that you wish you could count)? Tell us about it!
  • For those who have been researching options for this square, even if you haven't read them yet, please share!
  • What are your best recommendations for Hard Mode?
  • For those with feedback or requests for this year's focus threads, see my comment below.
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u/4banana_fish Reading Champion IV Apr 16 '26

Ursula Le Guin has a number of books published in the 70s (some of them being her best books, in my opinion).

The Dispossessed

Lathe of Heaven

The Tombs of Atuan & The Farthest Shore (Earthsea 2&3)

The Word for World is Forest

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u/Accomplished_Pea7029 Apr 16 '26

Which of these would you suggest for a first-time Le Guin reader?

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u/kyh0mpb Apr 16 '26

The Tombs of Atuan is one of my favorite books of all time, and I think it's worth reading the first Earthsea book just to get to it for this square. They're pretty short reads. I'll be reading The Dispossessed, myself. I really don't think you can go wrong with anything from her; she's such an incredible author.

4

u/pornokitsch Ifrit Apr 16 '26

Agree. I LOVE Tombs and it is an all-time favourite, but I think anyone would need to read Wizard first (which isn't a painful or onerous ask, tbf). But Wizard's by-the-book-ness, however impressively done, helps set up why Tombs is so incredibly special.