Madeleine L'Engle, RIP

I've never actually read one of L'Engle's books, but what little I know of her caused me to gasp in horror when I saw those three terrible letters after her name. May God bless her and her loved ones...and help me find a copy of "A Wrinkle in Time" as soon as possible.

I loved A Wrinkle in Time. My sister, mother, grandmother, two maiden great-aunts and I went on two very long summer driving trips in the early '70s. Either my mother or Great-aunt Ruth, whichever wasn't driving at that point, would read to the rest of us. So I can't separate A Wrinkle in Time from that big yellow Oldsmobile station-wagon rolling down the interstate. A transporting and moving book, with very happy associations for me.

"If I cannot see evidence of incarnation in a painting of a bridge in the rain by Hokusai, a book by Chaim Potok or Isaac Bashevis Singer, in music by Bloch or Bernstein, then I will miss its significance in an Annunciation by Franciabigio, the final chorus of the St. Matthew Passion, the words of a sermon by John Donne."

Well said! Similarly, has any Christian composer ever taunted death better than the unbelieving Brahms did with his setting of part of 1 Cor. 15 in Ein Deutsches Requiem? Can anyone's Credos surpass those of Schubert, who in a letter to a friend quoted the traditional notes of the introduction to the Credo and wrote "though you know very well that I do not"? The Author of beauty, for His own good pleasure and purposes, shines forth his glory into the world through many surprising windows.

I have been reading Madeleine L'Engle's books since third grade. I remember meeting her while in college at Sewanne and she autographed for me my dog-eared copy of "A Wind in the Door."

I read and re-read "A Two-Part Invention" within the last month (the story of her long marriage to Hugh Franklin and his death from cancer) and have somehow been expecting this. At last they are joined in heaven.

Memory Eternal!

Great author and I'm sure a delightful woman. R.I.P.

I sat down at my computer this morning to find that my mom had forwarded me John Podhoretz' beautiful remembrance from The Corner sometime before dawn. I read the Wrinkle in Time trilogy as a child, and my mom read them along with me. Later, it was on to her adult books. L'Engle's books are something my mom and I have shared over a lifetime.

Incidentally, Matushka Anna, I too am a Sewanee graduate! Will be heading up to the Mountain for my 20th reunion in early November. What class are you?

RIP. My 11-year-old just read A Wrinkle in Time just this summer, a book I loved as a child.

I have not read her other stuff, particularly her Christian writings. Can anyone recommend some favorites?

Madeleine L'Engle was one of my favorite writers while I was growing up. I think I started reading her books when I was about 8 or 9 years old.

Her soaring prose was always inspiring and it never felt like she was talking down to her readers (all too common in your typical "young adult" fiction).

Now, I'm reading her books with my daughter, Kathryn, 10. We were reading aloud from "A Wind in the Door" on the day that Ms. L'Engle died.

I am saddened by her passing, but she was a woman who lived fully and was fully alive and vigorous until the past few years. She lived the sort of authentic life to which I aspire.

I recently started reading her adult works. I enjoyed "Bright Evening Star" and I'm about to start her autobiography.