Madeleine L’Engle has died at the age of 88.
I have nothing but great memories of the four books in her Time series, “A Wrinkle in Time“, “A Wind in the Door“, “A Swiftly Tilting Planet,” and “Many Waters.” I suppose technically they’re children’s books but Minae, the producer for Achaea, just re-read them and said they hold up quite well. I’ve just ordered them from Amazon. What I remember about her books were the fairly metaphysical (not that I understood this at the time I first read them) themes running through them. They are very ‘adult’ children’s books if one wants to consider them children’s books. I think they may have been the first fantasy/sci-fi books I ever read, though I kind of hesitate to call them either. Go read them if you haven’t. Easy, short reads but well worth it.
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September 7th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Richter
Aww, sad… I read A Wrinkle in Time and a few others at a young age, and it still sits on my shelf, I should re-read it after all these years. It was that kind of book that led me to things like The Golden Compass (the feel of the books are very similar at points) and other kinds of more off the beaten path fantasy.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Martha Mihaly
Yes Matt. They were my introduction to the realm of ’science fiction’ although that isn’t quite the gengre, neither is fantasy. They were as you say ‘metaphysical ‘and drew me on to read more and more.
They remain among the most often “banned books” (I can’t remember if I read that on her official website or on the NYT obituary) for their treatment of God I supppose. If anything is the mark of a good book, it’s that it got banned in the 60’s or 70’s….think To kill a Mockingbird, and A Catcher in the Rye…
She stretched us when we needed it. R.I.P. Madeleine L’Engle.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Dianne Krause
They were my favorite books of childhood and I have re-read them several times, although not recently. Your post about them has prompted me to search through my personal library for them and take another gander. Thanks!
October 4th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Bruce Joy
I absolutely loved A Wrinkle In Time. It was the first book that dug into reality for me as a kid in a way only books about mythology used to do for me. Unfortunately I don’t think I remember one little bit of the plot or the characters… but as I remember there was a concept in there called a tesseract - a cube inside a cube. I have occasionally thought about the philosophical/physics ideas provoked in me by that book ever since. I certainly owe her a debt of gratitude for opening up my mind to other realities. I’m sure many others would have had a similarly strong experience with the ideas in the book.