somebody, stop me now
Feb. 23rd, 2003 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
church this morning bored me to tears, almost literally.
but no one can annoy me in that special way i annoy myself. grr.
i am this close to gathering together all my madeleine l'engle books together and reading through the humongous pile of them. i loved her dearly for a long time. i missed out on the kid books when i was actually a kid and read them all around age 16 instead. and then kept reading. swiftly tilting planet and a ring of endless light were my most favorite. and as i read her more recent stuff and saw her speak once at smith (her alma mater - something which came very close to making me pick smith over mhc) i came to two disturbing realizations - a) she is very christian and b) she's not actually a very good writer. the older she got, the more ridiculously fanciful her writing became. the wrinkle in time series is probably her best work because it doesn't pretend to a hold on reality like some of her other stuff. of course, reading her memoirs, i also learned that her actual life was a unrealistic as her books... so one could almost excuse her. but i think a small rain, written when she was young, showed a promises that's completely gone by the time she wrote its belated sequel, a severed wasp.
that said, i still love the books i love. even if the whole dolphin thing is silly, a ring of endless light still leaves me happier than it finds me. and i'll always love the murrays and canon tallis and all. i never sing the tallis canon with thinking of her too-cute families singing grace before every meal.
the idea of slashing her characters... it's perfect really. she was so into her universe - all her characters crossed over into other book universes and all. by the later stuff it's like she writing fanfic for her own stories. so of course there should be more. hmmm... maybe there should be a home for these ponderings... a community... hmm...
but no one can annoy me in that special way i annoy myself. grr.
i am this close to gathering together all my madeleine l'engle books together and reading through the humongous pile of them. i loved her dearly for a long time. i missed out on the kid books when i was actually a kid and read them all around age 16 instead. and then kept reading. swiftly tilting planet and a ring of endless light were my most favorite. and as i read her more recent stuff and saw her speak once at smith (her alma mater - something which came very close to making me pick smith over mhc) i came to two disturbing realizations - a) she is very christian and b) she's not actually a very good writer. the older she got, the more ridiculously fanciful her writing became. the wrinkle in time series is probably her best work because it doesn't pretend to a hold on reality like some of her other stuff. of course, reading her memoirs, i also learned that her actual life was a unrealistic as her books... so one could almost excuse her. but i think a small rain, written when she was young, showed a promises that's completely gone by the time she wrote its belated sequel, a severed wasp.
that said, i still love the books i love. even if the whole dolphin thing is silly, a ring of endless light still leaves me happier than it finds me. and i'll always love the murrays and canon tallis and all. i never sing the tallis canon with thinking of her too-cute families singing grace before every meal.
the idea of slashing her characters... it's perfect really. she was so into her universe - all her characters crossed over into other book universes and all. by the later stuff it's like she writing fanfic for her own stories. so of course there should be more. hmmm... maybe there should be a home for these ponderings... a community... hmm...
(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-23 10:53 am (UTC)My favorite of her book will always be Troubling a Star. Because Vicky is 15/16 in the book, and that was my age when I got the book.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-24 11:45 am (UTC)yes, there needs to be some bunnying going on for them and various other murrys and austins.
Re:
Date: 2003-02-24 12:35 pm (UTC)Something about the book just worked for me. It's not the greatest writing, but I don't know.
And yes, bunnies need start appearing.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-23 11:33 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-24 11:43 am (UTC)and i poked around at nostalgia. good stuff. we may still need a separate spot for in depth l'engle musings...
Re:
Date: 2003-02-24 10:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-23 01:17 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-24 11:39 am (UTC)hey, dont' squash those bunnies! save the for the forthcoming community...
(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-23 02:54 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-24 11:34 am (UTC)