quote:

---

Author Madeleine L’Engle died last night in Connecticut, at the age of 89. Best known for her 1963 Newbery 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.

---

 

---

Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
 

 

---

Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
Oh, how sad that we will never have another book from her. I hope her family finds peace with her death.
 

---

Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
 
I love those books.
 

---

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
 

 

---

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
 
Time QUINTET?

I thought it was a trilogy...
 

---

Posted by NancyE (Member # 10932) on :
 
Wrinkle in Time was one of the first Science Fiction books I read--and I read it again and again, and everything else by her I could get my hands on, including some of her adult literature.
 

---

Posted by katdog42 (Member # 4773) on :
 
I have long told people that I have two others whom I greatly admire...Orson Scott Card and Madeleine L'Engle. The news of her death really saddens me.

And I thought it was a quartet... Wrinkle in Time, Wind in the Door, Swiftly Tilting Planet and Many Waters.

Edit to add:
Just looked it up... They are now considering An Acceptable Time (about Meg and Calvin's daughter Poly) to be the fifth in the "Time Quintet."
 

---

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
 
KatDog-- that's what the Wiki on it says. I'd forgotten about Many Waters.
 

---

Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
 


A Wrinkle in Time was my introduction to science fiction. I can't tell you how many times I re-read the tesseract section as a child trying to wrap my mind around that.
 

---

Posted by katdog42 (Member # 4773) on :
 
I always felt so closely connected to Vicky Austin, a character from the non-time books. She is, by far, my favorite fictional character, I think, because I empathize so much with her.

I have read all of the Austin books (and the time books) more times than I could count.
 

---

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 


I re-read the series this Summer.
 

---

Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
 
Thanks for passing this news along.

And I'd agree that "An Acceptable Time" feels like part of the "Wrinkle" series.
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
She was my introduction to science fiction -- and the same is true of many YA readers, I imagine.

She will be missed.
 

---

Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
 
She wasn't the first science fiction writer I discovered -- Bradbury and Heinlein found my shelves first -- but she was a much-read one.
 

---

Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
 
I got to meet her once at a book signing, she must have been in her 70s then but she was really cool, and I have some of her books autographed.

AJ
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris Bridges:
She wasn't the first science fiction writer I discovered -- Bradbury and Heinlein found my shelves first -- but she was a much-read one.

---

I read AWIT at age 11. Bradbury about 1-2 years later, and Heinlein at about age 15. (Unfortunately, I started with several of his later books, which led to at least one disastrous dinner table conversation. Those books should have R ratings!)

My first OSC book was given to me when I was 13.
 

---

Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
 
Her books played a very important role in my childhood. They were well-loved by my friends and I.
 

---

Posted by School4ever (Member # 5575) on :
 
A Wrinkle in Time is my favorite book and has been for 22 years.
 

---

Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
 
She spoke at my college graduation.

I've read A Wrinkle in Time, but currently all I can remember about it is "tesseract" and that brain that was controlling people.
 

---

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
 
Heartbreaking.

Her books helped me to shape my paradyme.
 

---

Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
 
:-/
 

---

Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
 

 

---

Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
 

 

---

Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
Oh I don't know what to say. My middle daughter just Read A Wrinkle in Time and I was so happy to be able to watch her read a book I loved in childhood.

I'm so sad.
 

---

Posted by Ivygirl1937 (Member # 10918) on :
 
Awww, that's so sad. I loved her books.

 

---

Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :
 
This is so sad. I JUST started rereading the only one of her books I have left(my parents, the idiots, got rid of the others, including A Wrinkle in Time).
 

---

Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
 
I'll have to dig out my battle worn copy of A Wrinkle in Time and re-read it. A few times.
 

---

Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
 
"A Wrinkle in Time" was one of the first scifi books I read as well and definitely paved the way for my love of the genre. I read each of her books more than once, the original probably a dozen times. I still remember big parts of them, even though it's been over a dozen years since I last read them. They were also inspirational in the start of my writing. She will be missed.
 

---

Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
 
I have a signed copy of L'Engle's _Many Waters_. The inscription is "....cannot quench love" followed by her signature.

Indeed.
 

---

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
 
That line about the "happiest sadist" has stuck with me since my mother convinced me to read AWIT years and years ago.


 

---

Posted by Qaz (Member # 10298) on :
 
You did some beautiful things, Ms. L'Engle. Rest in peace.
 

---

Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
 
I will miss her.

Along with C.S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander, her writings helped shape my taste in fantasy.

[ September 07, 2007, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: Puffy Treat ]
 

---

Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
 
Now we'll never know what Charles Wallace ended up doing (in later books, he is away on a secret government project and Ms. L'Engle said someday she might tell his stories).
 

---

Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 
I was at a retreat with her several years ago and she told us parts of what was coming next for the Murray/O'Keefe families. But she had a stroke soon after that and never finished the book that she was working on.

My friend Mike and I did a reading from her play Journey with Jonah at that retreat and she asked if she could sit with us at lunch afterwards. I managed to contain my fangirl gushing enough to have a real conversation.

I think A Ring of Endless Light and A Svered Wasp are my favorites of hers. And maybe Certain Women.

Edit: Also her nonfiction Genesis trilogy. And the Crosswicks Journals. And one particular poem, whose name I can't remember, but has a great line about water and Incarnation.
 

---

Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
 
I almost cried when I read that at work. One of my most memorable moments from school was when a teacher in 6th grade introduced me to "A Wrinkle in Time" and the rest of her books. All through elementary school, teachers had thought I was too withdrawn and didn't like that I spent so much time reading. So L'Engle's books were the first ones I ever read with the approval and encouragement from a teacher.

Thankfully, her books will live on though she has left us.
 

---

Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
 

 

---

Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
 
I'm glad she existed.
 

---

Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
 
I wrote to her when I was 10 and asked if tesseracts were real. She said they were.
I reread A Wrinkle in Time so many times it wasn't even funny. Strangely, I never liked any of her other books, but that one was perfect.
 

---

Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
 
"In this strange land where all are born to die?
Each tree and leaf and star show how
The universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and cherished,
And nothing loved is ever lost or perished."

May she rest in a ring of endless light.
 

---

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
 
I didn't discover her until I was in my mid-twenties and already fully converted to science fiction since before I hit puberty, but I still loved her books.
 

---

Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
 


And thus passes probably the most influential writer in my life after Lewis... I need to go out and find some more of her poetry.
 

---

Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
 
She has poetry? I'm getting all her books tomorrow.
 

---

Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
 
This makes me sad. I always loved AWIT- I never read it that often like I do my other favorite books. But for some inexplicable reason I could not bear the thought of getting rid of it. They are so beautiful and thought-provoking.

This is one reader who feels the world much smaller- the ideas and beauty of her books always connected to a larger world that was controlled by our day-to-day actions. And without her brilliant imagination- the world is much smaller indeed.

But alas- her books do give me hope- hope that someday some things might make sense and that all will be made clear- and I look forward to that day with passion and anxiety.

Thank you Madame Madeleine.

*tear*
 

---

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
I read AWIT for a school project, and I wasn't sure I like it. But I found myself think about it a lot, and kept coming back to it. It ended up being one of my all time favorite books, and I loved the other books in the series as well. ASTP was my favorite, though.
 

---

Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :
 
A Ring of Endless Light is easily my favorite: one I loved as a young adolescent and which I know I will re-read throughout my adulthood. Samuel Bush, that was exactly the line running through my head when I read her obituary: "Nothing loved is ever lost or perished."
 

---

Posted by katdog42 (Member # 4773) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Liz B:
A Ring of Endless Light is easily my favorite: one I loved as a young adolescent and which I know I will re-read throughout my adulthood. Samuel Bush, that was exactly the line running through my head when I read her obituary: "Nothing loved is ever lost or perished."

---

That's my favorite of her books as well. I think that line sums up my feelings about her death quite succinctly. Although I am very sad that we will never have another book by her, I am immensely happy that she gave us all that she did.
 

---

Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
 
I remember my sister reading Wrinkle to me when I was a boy. I'm sad to hear this. But it sounds like she lived a long and full life, and I know she left behind great work which will be long remembered.
 

---

Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
 
I'll fourth Ring of Endless Light as being a favorite. Her thoughts about death, and young love, were very powerful to me when I first read them.
And Wrinkle in Time was definitely my first taste of sci-fi, and at the time, the whole tesseract thing made perfect sense. I'm grateful to her for being so able to speak clearly to my younger self about ridiculously-hard-to-conceive concepts.
 

---

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
She lived a really, really full life. And I know she is at peace in death-- everything she wrote spoke of the power of love and faith. But like all her fans, I am saddened to lose her.
 

---

Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
 
Question for my fellow geeks. I was talking to a friend tonight and we were talking about A Wrinkle in Time and we both mentioned that after we had read the book as kids we spent a lot of time drawing cubes on paper and trying to cube the cube.

What we're trying to figure out is how odd this was. Anyone else attempt to do this, or were we alone?
 

---

Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Strider:
Question for my fellow geeks. I was talking to a friend tonight and we were talking about A Wrinkle in Time and we both mentioned that after we had read the book as kids we spent a lot of time drawing cubes on paper and trying to cube the cube.

What we're trying to figure out is how odd this was. Anyone else attempt to do this, or were we alone?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by ketchupqueen:
She lived a really, really full life. And I know she is at peace in death-- everything she wrote spoke of the power of love and faith. But like all her fans, I am saddened to lose her.

---

hear hear...
 

---

Posted by Pelagius (Member # 10965) on :
 
Think I'll go and re-read them all for good measure...
 

---

Posted by enjeeo (Member # 2336) on :
 
Am I the only person who didn't realise she was still alive?
 

---

Posted by CrowGirl (Member # 345) on :
 
You're not the only one. Boy, do I feel out of it.

I just read ASTP for the first time just a couple of weeks before she passed. I'm still thinking about it.

Rest in peace, madame. And thank you for sharing your talent with us.
 

---