Grappling with two ideas on TWOsday

Both are quotes from Madeleine L'Engle, one of my favorite writers.

Beginning ~ with grandmother sharing

Beginning

"We were young when our grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle, started sharing with us the patchwork of events, relationships, and emotions that shaped her into the person she was always becoming.  She described her childhood as solitary, and we thought it must have been lonely — after all, even we, who had each other, had periods of loneliness."

Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by Her Granddaughters ~ by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy, 2018, YA biography, 176 pages

For this insightful biography of Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007), her granddaughters used never-before-seen archival materials that include photographs, poems, letters, and journal entries from when Madeleine was a child until just after the publication of her classic, A Wrinkle in Time*.  They weave together an in-depth and unique view of the famous writer.  It is a story of overcoming obstacles ― a lonely childhood, financial insecurity, and countless rejections of her writing ― and eventual triumph.  This book will speak not only to fans of Madeleine L'Engle's work, but also to anyone interested in writing.

I look forward to reading this book, because L'Engle has long been one of my favorite writers and also because I got to meet her* and actually shake hands with her after she spoke decades ago at the University of the South in Sewanee.  When she died*, I wrote about it on this blog, including these words:

Although L'Engle was often labeled a children's author, she disliked that classification.  In a 1993 Associated Press interview, she said she did not write down to children.  "In my dreams, I never have an age," she said.  "I never write for any age group in mind. ... When you underestimate your audience, you're cutting yourself off from your best work."

* Click the blue links to read what I wrote about her.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

  Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Books I'll remember

I posted about "15 books that will always stick with me" on Facebook in 2009.  I decided to do it again, updating that list to include books that I've read in the last dozen years.  So here are 15 books, in alphabetical order, that I think will always stick with me:

1. Agape Love: A Tradition Found in Eight World Religions ~ by John Templeton, 1999
2. The Gnostic Gospels ~ by Elaine Pagels, 1979
3. The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions ~ by Karen Armstrong, 2006
4. The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith ~ by Marcus J. Borg, 2003
5. Herland ~ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1915
6. Honest to God ~ by John A. T. Robinson, 1963
7. Little Women ~ by Louisa May Alcott, 1868
8. Miss Rumphius ~ by Barbara Cooney, 1982
9. My Sister's Keeper ~ by Jodi Picoult, 2003
10. The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity ~ by Hyam Maccoby, 1986
11. The Red Tent ~ by Anita Diamant, 1997
12. The Social Construction of Reality ~ by Peter L. Berger, 1966
13. Talk Before Sleep ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 1994
14. Time and Again ~ by Jack Finney, 1970
15. A Wrinkle in Time ~ by Madeleine L'Engle, 1962

I am currently re-reading The Social Construction of Reality ~ by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, that I told you about in a recent blog post.  And now I want to re-read some of the other books on this list.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been reading and doing during the week.

Beginning ~ with something wrong on stage

"Katherine knew, before the first act was half over, that something was wrong with Manya."

The Small Rain ~ by Madeleine L'Engle, 1945, fiction

This novel is about the many difficulties in the life of talented pianist Katherine Forrester, a gifted but socially isolated adolescent studying to be a concert pianist at a strict boarding school, who falls in love with her piano teacher.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.
Click this link for more book beginnings.

At my Thanksgiving table

Wouldn't it be great to have, say, a dozen of my favorite authors around my Thanksgiving table?  Even better, I'd love to have them visit one at a time, so I could have a real conversation with each one.  On this Thanksgiving Day, these are the twelve I'm thankful for — in alphabetical order.

Barbara Brown Taylor

Barbara Cooney
(August 6, 1917 – March 10, 2000)

Beth Kephart

Fannie Flagg

Janisse Ray

Jodi Picoult

Laurie Halse Anderson

Madeleine L'Engle

(November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007)

Masha Hamilton

Roberta C. Bondi

Sue Monk Kidd

Susan Beth Pfeffer

As you can tell by the dates under their names, I won't get to sit down with Barbara Cooney and Madeleine L'Engle.