I've only read a short story by Le Guin but have wanted to read more because I have always thought she is one of the "important" writers of sci fi. It took me awhile to find out what book would be a good jumping off point and I think this was a wise choice. The beginning of the book took a bit to get into...weird names, weirder worlds...but the second half was fast-paced and seemed to get somewhere. The interaction between Genly Ai and Estraven (the only Gethenian to believe in and help Genly Ai) was touching and compelling. 
 This is the story told mostly from the perspective of an envoy, Genly Ai, from more advanced alliance of planets (the Ekumen) who is sent to the planet nicknamed "Winter" (Gethen)to suss out whether they could be brought into the fold. Gethen is in perpetual winter and the weather itself plays its role in the story. Probably the harshness of the planet has something to do with the way Gethenians have evolved, the reason they haven't advanced as quickly as other planets. The Gethenians, although like Genly Ai and the rest in the Ekumen system are part of the human race, they have at least one big difference in that they are neither male nor female...except for once a month when they go into "kemmer" and one picks a partner and one takes on the traits of maleness and the other femaleness. Even though Le Guin's writing is a bit startling at first, maybe the style of writing is a bit boring, this story is very thought-provoking. I have read that Le Guin wrote the story of the Gethenians because she hoped that if she eliminated gender she would find out what was left...what it was to simply be human. This was a great start. There is more to this story of course, other books in the Hain cycle which I would be very interested in reading as I would more of Ursula Le Guin in general.