Madeleine L'Engle is dead

[Mercutio]

New York Times article... (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/books/07cnd-lengle.html?ex=1346904000&en=332247bcc295cc00&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)

I loved the "Wrinkle in Time" books. When I read them for myself, and when I read them to my children for bedtime stories...

[alfaniner]

I loved the first one. I was so excited a few years ago to find out that there were others in the series! But ultimately disappointed, as although they retain the same characters, they are virtually entirely separate books, with no references to previous events.

There was an awful TV-movie version of A Wrinkle in Time as well.

I have the paperback series, with lovely covers by Jody Lee.

[Complexity]

Awww

[fuelair]

Wrinkle In Time was the first hardbound book I ever bought for myself. 2.95. The cost of 8 and a half paperbacks and worth it (I had read my school library's copy).

[Piscivore]

:(

[cafink]

I am quite upset about this!

I actually hated A Wrinkle in Time when I first read it, for a book report in sixth grade. A few years later, however, one of my cousins, whose opinion I greatly trust, convinced me to give it a second chance, and it quickly became one of my favorite books. I next read its immediate sequel, A Wind in the Door, and enjoyed it even more!

I later learned that not only were there two additional sequels to Wrinkle, but there were many other books that occur in the same "universe," including four books about Wrinkle protagonist Meg's children, and the "Austin family" series which shares several important characters with the Wrinkle series.

Though I'd been meaning to for years, it wasn't until last year that I finally got around to reading some of those other novels. I've been on a L'Engle kick for the past year, reading all of the Wrinkle-related books in order of publication. I just finished An Acceptable Time, and am about to start Troubling a Star, the final title on the list.

To be honest, some of the novels have been pretty weak. In my opinion, the later books have suffered a sharp decline in quality compared to the earlier ones. A Wind in the Door is still my favorite L'Engle book. Nevertheless, I'm really glad to have read them all, and I'd still consider L'Engle one of my favorite authors.

She was very religious, and it showed in her writing. I could not be less religious, and would normally be put off by so strong a religious influence, but L'Engle had a very progressive attitude, particularly about science, which she fully embraced and which played a central role in several of her stories. Though it's been several years since she's written anything, and everyone pretty much knew there wouldn't be any new book coming, her passing is nevertheless a tremendous loss.

I guess we'll never find out about that "secret mission" Charles Wallace Murry was supposed to have been on.

I shall miss L'Engle.

[BPScooter]

:-( from me.

Just reading the title of the thread, only her name, I said to myself "Oh yeah, A Wrinkle in Time" and that says something, since I read that book at least 30 years ago and probably more. It set the stage for all the stuff I saw later in Star Trek and other stories, I guess, as well as thinking about modern cosmology much later.

The only other thing I can call forth from memory is a book called "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" that I read in school at the same general time. Can't remember the author there, but when I ran across the NIMH acronym as an adult I immediately thought of the story.

Teach your children well!

[DmKrispin]

A Wrinkle in Time has had a special place in my heart since I was eleven (1979). It was one of the first science fiction books I ever read. My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved around a lot. As a result, I turned to books and spent a lot of time in libraries while waiting for housing or for school to start. It was a dark and stormy night (early winter in England) when I picked up this book and started reading. I loved it and went on to explore other books in this genre. One of my guilty pleasures is to curl up with an afghan and a cup of tea on a dark, rainy, cold night and read this book again (I do that with The Hobbit,too).

[J_E_R]

"...I sometimes think God is a s--t—and he wouldn’t be worth it otherwise. He’s much more interesting when he’s a s--t."
Madeleine L’Engle 2001

This is from a good Newsweek interview about the movie for 'A Wrinkle in Time' -- sorry can't post links yet.