Earthsea — Suggested order for Reading/Watching

Question

I am wondering what books and what the suggested reading order is for the Earthsea stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, and which ones have videographic adaptations (movies, miniseries, OVAs). Please also include subsidiary works (art collections, etc.) and new-for-video stories, if any.

I have read (several times) the "core three": Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore. This came to mind because I found an inexpensive video of a story I didn't know (Disney/Studio Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea)

A quick google brings up a lot of stuff that isn't Earthsea...

Answer 1

There appear to be a number of Short Stories that I haven't read as well as the 5 novels:

The internal chronology of the stories is different from the publication order. It is, with some uncertainties:

• "The Word of Unbinding"
• "The Finder"
• "Darkrose and Diamond"
• "The Rule of Names" (uncertain)
• "The Bones of the Earth"
• A Wizard of Earthsea
• The Tombs of Atuan
• "On the High Marsh"
• The Farthest Shore
• Tehanu
• "Dragonfly"
• The Other Wind

(The novels are shown in bold type).

Lifted directly from the Wikipedia page on Earthsea.

There are also details of the various adaptations for TV, Radio etc, shown on that page.

Answer 2

For the stories written by Le Guin, I suggest reading in publication order, except that you can start straight with the first three or even four novels.

ISFDB has the list of stories in the Earthsea cycle with publication information.

• The original two short stories The World of Unbinding and The Rule of Names, collected in The Wind's Twelve Quarters and others.
• The first three novels: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, telling the story of Ged.
• The fourth novel, Tehanu, furthering the story of Tenar who was the heroine of The Tombs of Atuan, with Ged also playing a major part.
• The short stories collected in Tales from Earthsea, which provide more background on the world (some of the stories star characters met in the novels).
• The fifth novel, The Other Wind, a sequel to Tehanu and the short story Dragonfly also featuring Tenar, Tehanu (and Ged).

I haven't seen or heard any of the adaptations. The Radio 4 drama based on A Wizard of Earthsea looks decent; I recommend reading the original (the first three novels, in fact) before. Le Guin strongly disliked both the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Legend of Earthsea and the Miyazaki film Tales from Earthsea, so I recommend not bothering with either (but if you do, read at least the first three novels first).