Madeleine L'Engle Books

This is one of the best introductions to popular Christian fiction that seeks to draw the reader into the world of meaning. too often modern literature, following earlier reductionist authors, strips the inner meaning of life away, leaving a dark, bleak universe void of any real and lasting meaning by which the reader can transcend the shadows of life. The authors covered in this short intro do the opposite by enlivening the universe with meaning, playfulness, sobriety, and joy.

Lewis, Chesterton, Bunyan, Charles Williams, George MacDonald, Tolkien, L'Engle, and Walter Wangerin are discussed individually with a fantastic apologia for their literary forms as an introduciton. A great read! Enjoy!

In this relatively short work, Rolland Hein manages to successfully review and critique the works of many Christian authors who created mythological stories. The critiques, ranging from Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" to Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," are arranged chronologically, beginning with Dante and ending with contemporary 'mythmakers.'

The reviews not only cover the works and the Christian elements in them, they also provide useful information and good insight into the lives of these men and women. Quotes are presented, giving the authors' views on the art of Christian mythmaking and their attitudes toward the various ways we can discover truth.

This book is excellent. It is very well-written, and thoughtfully organized. The insight it provides on such authors as Tolkien, Lewis, and MacDonald is invaluable. If you are interested in one or more of these authors, get this book--it may help you to better understand them or even discover new authors and new worlds to explore.

Fantasy's "breaking away" from the primary sensory world offers a journey into the unknown to experience the REAL, according to Rolland Hein. We all have a Mythos (worldview); this cherished text sharpens the Christian sensibility by using the secondary worlds to help us understand spiritual concepts. Out-of-print version has been updated, a superior gift to anyone interested in Christianity, Fantasy, Narnia, Middle Earth, Imagination, or any of the Oxford Christian Writer or their successors.

This wonderful book is Madeline L'Engle's meditations on the Gospel of John and Genesis and how her sprituality relates to her life, bound up in a tale of her sea voyage on a freighter. It reads like much of her fiction, engaging rather than didactic. She does take some unusual approaches to the stories in Genesis, some of which I found a little disturbing, but basically I loved this book, and have reread it many times.

This book wasn't just good, it was brilliant. So far, this is my favorite Madeline L'Engle book because she combines her own personal reflections with her fascinating fiction in a book that was hard to put down. I had to check the date twice to see that it was published in 1984....I was like, "Are you kidding, me?" It reads like it's more contemporary and timely than ever and that is always a good sign with any book (stand the test of time).

I heard about this book through a friend of a friend whom I didn't know and went out on a limb and bought it....and now, I think I may have found another author (apart from Brennan Manning) who is so challenging, insightful and exhilerating, you can't help but sit back, breathe deep and simply thank God for her words.

I used several of these poems for poetic interpretation competition during high school (winning quite a few competitions with them) and I wish I could find a good copy at an affordable price in order to refresh my memory. I still have several poems memorized and they are still my favorites. I have enjoyed everything I have read that was written by Madeleine L'Engle as she has always been a favorite author of mine. This book has been on my wish list for quite some time now.

I'm only thirteen and fell in love with Madeleine L'Engel's writing from her poetry to her great novels. If you love poetry you should really check this book out. The way Madeleine writes how she feels is just so breath-taking.

I couldn't get through more than 2 pages of this book at a time, because my eyes kept swelling with tears. I purchased this book as a gift for my adult daughter, and hope that she passes it on to hers someday.

A POSITIVE WAY TO SHARE A FEW CHARISHED LOVING MOMENTS WITH YOUR MOM/DAUGHTER IN OUR BUSY WORLD. THE PHOTOGRAPHS WILL TOUCH ALL MOTHERS HEART'S AND THE TEXT WILL EXPLAIN TO A DAUGHER'S HEART THE FEELING WORDS CAN NOT DO JUSTICE FOR. IT SHOWS AND TELLS THE DEPTH OF LOVE THAT PARENTS FEEL FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS, BUT FOCUSES ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MOTHHERS AND DAUTHERS. THIS ALSO MAKES A BEAUTIFUL GIFT OF THE HEART TO PASS ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION.

This book is a wonderful compilation of many different poems. This is one of the only Christian poets I have ever read that I am able to enjoy (modern especially). She is honest and allows her own journey to pour into her writing with amazing depictions of the emotions she was feeling. We are in debt to Madeleine and lose out on her passing.

When my best friend, Jenn, moved to Manhattan she commenced with church shopping. She searched the island looking for the congregation that seemed best suited to her theological leanings and preference for worship style. Nice people were also a big plus. She landed at All Angels Episcopal Church on the Upper West Side, despite the fact that she hadn't fancied herself Anglican in the past. It's a great parish, and I'd like to think that the fact that I'd become involved in the Anglican church not long before she departed for Manhattan might have nudged her to check this one out. I would like to think that, but it would be wrong. Because I know the real reason Jenn is at All Angels --- Madeleine L'Engle.

Out on the church shopping circuit, rumor had it that the famed author was a long-time parishioner at All Angels and that fellow congregants often visited her since she didn't get out as much as in her younger days. The thought of whiling away hours chatting with L'Engle was more excitement than Jenn, book lover that she is, could bear. She took up residence in an All Angels pew (well, chair, they don't really have pews) post haste. In the years that followed she became an active member of the congregation, made friends, got confirmed, met her future husband, taught Sunday School, and got married --- all at All Angels. And she has Madeleine L'Engle to thank for all of that, despite the fact that she still has yet to meet the woman.

Such is the power of L'Engle. Trust me, if you'd read her work and had the potential opportunity to spend lazy afternoons in her company, you'd make your decisions on church membership accordingly as well.

Thankfully, the truth of the matter is that you don't have to trust me. L'Engle is nothing if not prolific with over fifty books --- fiction, nonfiction, and poetry --- to her credit. Her latest release is a collection of almost 200 poems, including 18 that have never been published before, and is an excellent starting place to acquaint or re-acquaint oneself with this potent literary force.

THE ORDERING OF LOVE is a magnum opus of sorts, spanning more than 30 years, from the mid '60s to the late '90s, and it includes everything from unbridled free verse to disciplined sonnets --- all of which tread the well-worn ground of love, faith, and suffering. In her introduction to the book, friend and fellow writer Luci Shaw notes "a good poem is layered, does not reveal itself all at once, in one reading." And, indeed, the understanding of these poems develops so much on subsequent readings that the words themselves seem to be ever-changing. One of my favorites is "The Birth of Love":

To learn to love
is to be stripped of all love
until you are wholly without love
because
until you have gone
naked and afraid
into this cold dark place
where all love is taken from you
you will not know
that you are wholly within love.

In poems like "Fire by Fire" one gets the distinct sense for L'Engle as an "everywoman" who writes about life as it happens and has a gift for seeing the whole spectrum of human experience in the seemingly mundane.

My son goes down in the orchard to incinerate
Burning the day's trash, the accumulation
Of old letters, empty toilet-paper rolls, a paper plate,
Marketing lists, discarded manuscript, on occasion
Used cartons of bird seed, dog biscuit. The fire
Rises and sinks; he stirs the ashes till the flames expire.

Burn, too, old sins, bedraggled virtues, tarnished
Dreams, remembered unrealities, the gross
Should-haves, would-haves, the unvarnished
Errors of the day, burn, burn the loss
Of intentions, recurring failures, turn
Them all to ash. Incinerate the dross. Burn. Burn.

L'Engle also has a very specific talent for turning the stories of Christianity on their heads and making us look at them in new ways. Her poem "Mrs. Noah Speaking" presents a perspective on the flood that we don't often hear but that sounds quite familiar. "The Ram: Caught in the Bush" tells the story of Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac from the point of view of the one who would actually go under the knife, conjuring up the image of Christ in the process.

If they ever do meet, I think Jenn and Madeleine L'Engle will get along quite well. Jenn has a knack for endearing herself to somewhat ornery souls and I suspect L'Engle is one, based on her work and the interviews I've read with her. Regardless, she has done her work in Jenn's life merely by living in the space of the written page. Even though Jenn hasn't stopped by at L'Engle's with fresh bagels from Zabar's, she has learned from L'Engle much about life --- the sometimes painful conundrum of faith, the ache of loss, the bliss of love, the assumption of small truths into the Big Truth of redemption --- on afternoons spent with her printed pages. And from a life as a member of All Angels, which she can thank L'Engle for as well.

--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel

Against the backdrop of the approaching Christmas holiday, her role in the church play, and her family's wonderful holiday traditions, young Vicky Austin experiences feelings of rivalry for a sibling not yet born, and whose impending birth threatens to disrupt the holiday. This is a warm, loving book. It is an excellent story for older children, and I would recommend making the reading of it, chapter by chapter, part of a family's preparation for Christmas, like a literary advent calendar

If you love Madeleine L'Engle's books, then this is a definite "must have" for the holidays. Read about the Austin family as they prepare for Christmas, the church pageant, and a new addition to the family. Their warmth and love for each other are contagious, and yet they are a "real" family, growing pains and all. This is a fabulous book for young girls - and one to read every year in preparation for the holiday season.

This delightful and creative book of prayers for children deals with issues that children face such as sibling rivalry and scary monsters. These simple prayers instil a delight in creation while teaching God's love to both child and adult.

I loved this book. Ms. L'Engle has a way of explaining the most difficult concepts so that even the most inept readers can understand. This is suggested for 9-12 year olds, but I'm 14 and I still love it. Like most of her books, this story is wonderful for all kids and adults over the age of 8. I thought this a wonderful story that I couldn't tear away from. I stayed up all night reading.

A wrinkle in time is a wonderful book. My class and I read it in fourth grade and loved it. We are looking to read the whole Trilogy. We highly recomend it.

Many Waters

Many Waters was written by Madeleine L'Engle. It's part of a series of four books, two of which I've read, including this one. The book is about two fifteen-year old twin boys named Sandy and Dennys. They live with their brother, sister, and scientist parents. They come home from school one day, and decide that they want some hot chocolate. So they go into their parents' "lab," which is really just a storage room turned into a lab, to get the hot chocolate mix (Don't ask me why they keep hot chocolate mix in a lab). They get distracted by the computer in the room, and start messing with it and typing things like, "Take me someplace warm," (It's extremely cold winter where they live). The computer just happens to be part of one of their dad's experiments, and it takes them back in time a few thousand years to a huge desert where, surprisingly, people live. They walk around for a few minutes, wondering how they could have gotten there, when a very short man sees them. The man then takes them to his camp, where many more people live. Sandy and Dennys spend their time there trying to figure out to get back home.
One of my favorite parts in the book was when Dennys was no longer sick and could finally go outside. I'm not going to tell you why he was sick in the first place, but I'll tell you this: It has a little something to do with the sun, a unicorn, and a garbage dump. Of course, that doesn't help, but you don't want me to give it away, do you?
From a scale of one to ten, I would give this book a nine. I like adventure and mystery stories, and this story is an adventure, so I liked it. Even if you don't like adventure, you'll still like it. It's not like one of those books where the action never stops, but it's not boring either.
So...Since I'm obviously not going to tell you what happens in the rest of the book, you'll have to read it yourself.