Customer Reviews (3)

"The Small Rain" and "A Severed Wasp"
I have read "The Small Rain", and it's sequel, "A Severed Wasp."I didn't realize that "Prelude" was the first half of "The Small Rain," until I just read it in someone's comment above.I loved both books very much.Katherine's youth is explored in the first, and her old age in the second.It is a bit frustrating to find that you have to "catch-up" on all that has happened between the books, but I believe it took Mrs. L'Engle 20 or more years to write the second.I highly recommend both of these, and all her books for their ability to express kindess, spirituality, and genuine emotion so deeply.She writes stirring stories, whether they are for children or adults.

Just different
i loved this book by Madeleine L'Engle and it was the 1st one i ever read.It's shocking that it's out of print.Anyway this book is about a girl named Katherine who's mother had a series of problems during Katherine's childhood causing her to live with her aunt maya.When Katherine final moves in with her mother and learns to be a fine pianist something awful happens and she is sent off to a boarding school.In this boarding school she has only one friend and a piano teacher who really in her talent.Then continues her stuggle.If you are depressed about this book being out of print its ok because the entire thing is the first half of "A Small Rain" and the rest of Katherine's life is continued in the rest.

Touching
This is one of Madeleine L'Engle's earliest works (I believe it may even be her first). It's the tale of a young and highly gifted pianist, who is sent off to a boarding school where her talent is anything but appreciated. In fact the school administrators firmly believe they are doing her a favor by forcing her to broaden her interests, and by limiting her practice time and forbidding her access to the piano at other times. There's a good deal of interplay between our protagonist and her family (it's family difficulties that cause boarding school in the first place), and her relationship with her piano teacher. It's a bittersweet look at a time of life that's difficult for many, made more so by circumstance and talent that must have it's way. ... Read more

Product Description
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior embark on a journey through time and peril to prevent the destruction of the world by the mad dictator Madog Branzillo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful Read
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. ... Read more

Product Description
Thirteen-year-old Meg Murry, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin are guided by unearthly strangers as they go on a journey through space and time to search for Meg's and Charles' scientist father who disappeared while experimenting with a new form of space travel. Includes related readings and study questions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

spellbinding
A Wrinkle In Time is a book by Madeline that I would DEEPLY encourage any young person to read. It opens the fantasy in a child, taking them away from the life we now live in. Me, as an adult have found this book to be my very favorite of all childrens books. Thank you for taking me to another place with this book! ... Read more

Product Description
From one of the world's most beloved writers comes a heartwarming collection of prayers for children, each one a thoughtful tome written from the perspective of a child, reflecting upon a young person's thoughts and concerns about daily life and faith. Includes dozens of striking black-and-white photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Deals With Issues Small Children Face
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 toboth child and adult. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very good, but read the two prior for a taste of Madeleine..
SOLD INTO EGYPT, the third in Madeleine's Genesis trilogy may be the weakest, but it is still a good read and contains some glimpses of truly profound thoughts on pain and suffering, especially with the loss of a loved one.

A STONE FOR A PILLOW and AND IT WAS GOOD, the two excellent books prior to this one, make up the trilogy and are far more advanced when it comes to not only spiritual depth but biblical depth as well.

This was still a good read though, so if you liked the first two in the triology, don't be discouraged to not get this one.It's definitely very different, but still worth the time it takes to read it.

Family Therapists Will Be Tantalized
In this analysis of the Old Testament's Joseph and his eleven brothers, one of my favorite authors from childhood (A Wrinkle In Time) has pursued a line of questions worthy of a family therapist.L'Engle essentially explores the patriarchal legacy of Jacob and his sons on a level that blurs the line between spiritual and psychosocial development.She expresses faith that God knows where He is headed with Joseph, yet allows plenty of room for us to enjoy how much these biblical characters resemble our own families.Jealousy, murderous intrigue, envy, revenge, retribution, redemption, and forgiveness all are present.Sexual politics in a two-wife family (not so different from today's divorced, blended, and/or affair-tainted marriages) and the complicated half-sibling relationships that result are clearly presented. L'Engle intersperses her commentary on Joseph with autobiographical material regarding her widowhood and changing sense of family after the death of her husband.At one level, this makes for a rambling and almost chatty work; at another level, it adds intimacy and makes for a sympathetic (rather than judgemental) reponse to the foibles of Joseph's family. Like an old favorite aunt, L'Engle sometimes repeats herself, overgeneralizes, or wrongly assumes that her faith is the same as ours.Oh, but would that we all had a favorite aunt with this much compassion for the human condition to which this epic story speaks!My spiritual journey has been enriched. ... Read more

Product Description
This journal offers a loving and poignant portrait of L'Engle's mother in old age that is more about living than dying. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Wonderful Read
I just lost my own mother and this book was just what I needed to read to help with my loss.I read it very quickly and I passed it on to my sister, who also loved it. It is actually a celebration of a life well lived.

Summer of the Great-Grandmother
I had ordered this book to replace a copy I'd lost. It's a favorite--a very poignant account of Madeleine L'Engle's experience of losing her mother while at the same time realizing both how little and how much she knew of her mother. It's a celebration of her mother's life and of the awe and wonder we can experience when we are attentive to our lives (and the generations before and after them) and to the truth of love as it is revealed in our everyday existence.

Touching and comforting
I read this book years ago with my book group and loved it. I recommended it to friends who were dealing with aging parents. Now that my Dad is suffering from dementia, I decided to reread it. I was not disappointed. It is an authentic, poignant, touching view of what it is like to deal with the parent who is here and the one who is only here in your memories. It is beautifully written, not at all like a self-help book. Yet, I am finding it very comforting. I recommend it highly.

A Summer of Contemplation
Madeleine L'Engle has long been one of my favorite authors so encountering the mind behind the fiction in her Crosswicks journals has been a privilege and a joy."The Summer of the Great-Grandmother" is a meandering account of L'Engle's family history as she grapples with the unraveling of her mother's mind.As someone who has witnessed loved ones deteriorate in the same manner, portions of L'Engle's tale can be heartbreaking, but knowing that she asked the same questions is affirming and refreshing.

L'Engle begins her account with the changes that she has noticed in her mother who has come for her annual summer stay at Crosswicks.She is suffering from artherosclerosis and needs constant care, fears the unknown and unnameable, and is no longer the mother that L'Engle knew.L'Engle openly shares the joyous times - the memories of the fabulous life that her mother lived - alongside the difficult times - wondering if it's wrong to want her mother to die so she does not have to suffer.All the while, the reader sees L'Engle's struggle to reconcile her faith and reason, to know what is right concering honoring a loved one as they die, to come to terms with the births that come along with dying.

"The Summer of the Great-Grandmother" is a book that will offer solace for anyone who has experienced something similar or is all too familiar with death.Other reviewers have taken umbrage that L'Engle is preachy or revisionist; perhaps they are forgetting this is a private journal she made public, her emotions and opinions made bare not in an effort to instruct or coerce, but to offer insight and possibly some hope.Her family had more than its share of remarkable stories, but then it is no wonder that L'Engle herself would lead such an amazing life.It makes one wonder what the end was like for her, a woman who has touched so many lives through her writing, whose words will forever live on and enchant.

For fans of L'engle's nonfiction
Madeleine L'Engle was publishing memoir before most writers had mastered how to pronounce the word; The Crosswicks Journal--Book 1 (A Circle of Quiet) was first published in 1972.I have to honestly say that Book 1 saved my life, coming at a time when I, like L'engle at one point in her life, had just about given up on my writing career.L'engle's honesty about her own broken heart gave me the courage to continue going forward.In the same way, Book 2 (The Summer of the Great-Grandmother) has given me courage in dealing with the decline of my own mother, who turns 90 this summer.I have always viewed Madeleine L'engle as a writer's writer; her honest words are meant to encourage us to keep believing in ourselves, in working to perfect our craft.But this book is more about the stuff of life that can oppress us, and how to find triumph in daily tribulation.Those who love Madeleine as an authentic individual will love this book. ... Read more

Product Description

What is the source of personal writing? When do we begin to consider our own lives worthy of a story? These powerful and passionate selections of spiritual autobiography do not merely represent a vital literary tradition; they bring together fifty-eight writers whose search for truth and understanding has spanned over two millennia and several continents.

From Saint Augustine and Rabi'a to T. S. Eliot and Kathleen Norris, each of these autobiographers tells the story of the inner life as a spiritual quest. Although separated culturally, historically, and linguistically, they are united by their efforts to respond to Socrates' challenge to "know thyself." In four parts this insightful collection includes works by:

* Wanderers and seekers, like Leo Tolstoy and Thomas Merton, who feverishly explore many experiences and world views
* Pilgrims and missionaries, like Anne Bradstreet and David Livingstone, who unwaveringly pursue God and holiness in lives of self-sacrifice
* Mystics and visionaries, like Julian of Norwich and Annie Dillard, who discover the ecstasy of epiphany in a life of contemplation and seclusion
* Scholars and philosophers, like Simone Weil and Blaise Pascal, who seek to ground spiritual conviction in a rational certitude.

Strong, deep, and enduring, the selections in this illuminating anthology remind us that "the unexamined life is not worth living" and speak to us with an immediacy that transcends time and space.Amazon.com Review
This anthology is broken down into the four basic categoriesof spiritual journeys, according to the editors. 1) Wanderers andseekers--those who pursue "all available experiences under the sun."2) Pilgrims and missionaries--"individuals whose life goal has beenthe unwavering pursuit of God." 3) Mystics and visionaries--"who focuson supernatural experiences and epiphanies." 4) Philosophers andscholars--those who "demonstrate a lifelong commitment to thediscernment of the truth through the exercise of the intellect."

By organizing spiritual quests into these themes, the authors createan effect that is more liberating than confining, offering a clearcontext for the sometimes ethereal and wrenching stories of real-lifesaints, rabbis, writers, and pilgrims from all walks of life. Literaryheroes add their impassioned and tender stories of spiritualtransformation, whether it be LeoTolstoy's excerpt from The Confession, MadeleineL'Engle's self-revealing story of forgiveness and the sensualityof the human body, or AnnieDillard's tug of war with a loving God who allows terrible thingsto happen to good people. Spiritual seekers will no doubt find theirown stories in this stimulating and expansive dedication to the soul'seternal pilgrimage. --Gail Hudson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A seeker's one stop shop.
An excellent collection of Christian ideas with a broad stroke of mysticism and practical theology that extends beyond orthodoxy and Christianity itself.Approachable and beautifully organized... something to keep within reach for quick spiritual jogs... poetic, deep or just plain curious times with a minimum of effort.Perfect for the short-attention-span seeker.

The Unseen Hand
I met Ms. Powers on a walk I take for spiritual purposes and art exercize down the Hudson, or, as its known in 'Tugboats of New York', the North River. We had an interesting talk and we introduced ourselves. Afterwards, I googled her up and found this title which I bought and am currently reading. Its not a book to breeze through and I'm only on page 90 of the Spiritual Journey section. Pretty good stuff, but like that 80% Cocoa don't have too much at one time. Tolstoy gets religion and like that.

A Wonderful Collection of Spiritual Writings
Any book that is a collection is only as good as the people represented in the book. If your book is about spirituality and contains writings by St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, Julian of Norwich, and Simone Weill, to name a few, your probably on excellent ground, and PILGRIM SOULS is certainly a volume filled with great spiritual insight. Most of the people included in the book are from the Christian tradition, but not all are "spiritual giants" or even religious so to speak. Yet each can help a person in his/her quest for God. PILGRIM SOULS is an excellent resource for those who are interested in great spiritual thinkers but may not have time to read all the longer works. It is also a great resource for those who would like an introduction to the wide variety of classic spiritual writing available.

most fulfilling book
Pilgrim Souls was one of the most fulfilling books, spiritually and intelectually, that I have read in a long, long time.In is an immense collection of writers who have so much to offer. I personally enjoyed St.Teresa of Avila, Victor Frankel, and Flannery O'Conner. Actually, I loved and learned from all of them.I've already recommended this book to all of my friends.END ... Read more