[SarahP]

Oh, yeah.  A Ring of Endless Light was the first book I fell passionately in love with. 

And about A Wrinkle in Time.  Like so many other readers, I identified with Meg.  It's been a long time since I read it, but I can still 'see' so many of the scenes...

[ecb]

I have to say that I understand the original poster's reaction.  I adored the books about the Wallace kids, but they were the only L'Engle I was familiar with when I was young.  A couple of years ago, I picked up a second-hand copy of A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT... and found it absolutely unreadable.

Clearly, the adage "your mileage may vary" could not be more appropriate here.

[1846 Posts: 358 Status: Offline]

I never had the opportunity to read this book as a child, but I imagine I would have liked it.  It was published when I was twelve and its existence escaped me until I was in college.  Though I'm not big on either fantasy or time travel, I have enjoyed all of the books in this series, because it's good writing with interesting charcters.  My favorite is Many Waters, mainly because I enjoyed Sandy and Dennys in the earlier books for being so deliciously normal compared to the rest of the family, and I was happy so see them get their own story.

[EmeraldGown Posts: 991 Status: Offline Rock Your Destiny! WWW]

RIP MADELEINE L'ENGLE!

From PW Daily TODAY:

Madeleine L’Engle
Author Madeleine L’Engle died last night in Connecticut, at the age of 89. Best known for her 1963 Newberry Award winner A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels, L’Engle was the author of more than 60 books for adults and young readers, most of which were published by FSG. This spring, the Square Fish imprint of Holtzbrinck reissued L'Engle's Time Quintet in new editions.

[aca]

Wow, the timing of this thread and her death is eerie (eery? now that word looks weird to me).

Yes, rest in peace, Madeleine L'Engle.

Abigail

[Laura D Posts: 189 Status: Offline Stop. Hammer Time!]

RIP Madeleine!

[Brookie Wookie]

I LOVED, LOVED "A Wrinkle in Time." At the time it, it was one of the few books to "blow my mind"--like Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception" for kids (but with out the mescalin) 

I'm sorry to hear about L'Engle's death. But she really did, in my opinion, GREAT things for children's literature. Ever since, my 5th grade teacher read "A Wind in the Door" to us-and I was hooked.

[LindaB Posts: 332 Status: Offline I want to write!]

When my son discovered A Wrinkle in Time, I went back and re-read many of L'Engle's books and found I still loved them. One of my favorites was The Arm of the Starfish as well as Wrinkle in Time. She was a brilliant writer and one of my absolute favorites.

She gave so many of us great joy. May she rest in peace.

LindaB

[CheezWeezil]

Wow! Um... I feel kind of bad giving a bad review, then find out she was dying when I did it.

RIP

[witzl]

CheezWeezil, I'd rather have an honest but unflattering review than a dishonest but flattering one, even on my deathbed. I have reread books that I loved as a kid and not enjoyed them as an adult, and I'd reserve the right to feel that way even if the authors were old and decrepit.

What I like about this thread is that it so many people loved A Wrinkle in Time, but others did not, and this really does show how subjective the whole business is.  It gives me hope that there may be agents and publishers out there who like my manuscripts even though others have said 'not for me.'

[Theo]

Okay, I'm a fantasy fan.  I cut my teeth on Merritt as a teen but caught up on writers like L'Engle as an adult.  Personally, I think she had a lot to say about the nature of love.  Regardless of your age, there's something to be learned even on the second or third reading.  L'Engle, like most great children's authors, is deceptively simple.

As for her importance, the half page obit in the New York Times blew my mind.  Someone else must agree with me about her importance.

K

PS: Must say I liked the Murray books better than the Austin books.  Must be something about cooking dinner on a bunsen burner.