2 posts tagged “madeleine l'engle”

Aside from the fifth book in Naomi Novik's "Napoleonic Wars, plus Dragons!" series, my reading in June had a distinct theological bent.  Karen Armstrong's A History of God is as good as I remembered it for following the development of concepts of deity in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  The two Lois McMaster Bujold novels on my list deal with a thoroughly fictional world with a richly developed religious life in which five gods are worshipped by the orthodox Quintarians: the Mother of Summer, the Father of Winter, the Daughter of Spring, the Son of Autumn, and the Bastard, god of all things out of season.  Finally, Many Waters finds twins Sandy and Dennys (minor characters at best in the previous books of the series begun with A Wrinkle in Time) thrown into the middle of the pre-Flood society from whence Noah sprang.  It was a much stranger read than I remember it being when I was a kid, probably because I now have the religious studies background to scratch my head at some of the veiled allusions.

I started out the month with the conclusion of Robin Hobb's Soldier Son Trilogy. Boy, that woman loves to torture her characters! Then it was off to revisit Compact space through the eyes of C.J. Cherryh's Chanur clan; depending on one's viewpoint, that counts for either three books or five due to the omnibus edition containing the first three novels in the series. A Gaimanish mood took me then back to Earth, or at least an Earth that might exist just beyond our perception. Actually, one might say the same thing about Madeleine L'Engle's stories of the Murry family. There is a reason A Wrinkle in Time and the following tales have remained young adult favorites, and that is because they aren't just good YA fiction--they are good fiction, period.

I didn't include the volumes from which I read  smattering of short stories here and there, but those are great for when I'm feeling attention span-challenged.

I can't believe April's already wrapped up and it's May already. That means it's time for the Kentucky Derby, dinner outside, and my birthday. I'll hit the quarter-century mark in the middle of the month, and it is my considered opinion that this would be an excellent opportunity for anyone who was waiting for an excuse to buy me lots of Guinness and chocolate to do so.