Madeleine L'Engle Read-Along - A Wind in the Door

Here it is the 15th, so that means announcing the second book in the Madeleine L'Engle Read-Along. I hope that there are still people reading it! I actually have all ready, so I will be posting a review of it soon. I hardly remembered the book at all, so it was almost like reading it for the very first time. I think it is my least favourite in the series, but I have to read the rest before saying for sure anymore.

It is November. When Meg comes home from school, Charles Wallace tells her he saw dragons in the twin’s vegetable garden. That night Meg, Calvin and C.W. go to the vegetable garden to meet the Teacher (Blajeny) who explains that what they are seeing isn’t a dragon at all, but a cherubim named Proginoskes. It turns out that C.W. is ill and that Blajeny and Proginoskes are there to make him well – by making him well, they will keep the balance of the universe in check and save it from the evil Echthros. Meg, Calvin and Mr. Jenkins (grade school principal) must travel inside C.W. to have this battle and save Charles’ life as well as the balance of the universe.

Leave links to reviews in the comments and feel free to use the comments as a discussion area.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Father is missing! His top secret job as a physicist for the government has taken him away--but where?--and how? Meg and her younger brother, Charles Wallace, set out with their friend Calvin on an exciting adventure through time and space to search for him. With the help of the mysterious Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, the youngsters learn to expect the unexpected as they move in the fifth dimension known as the "tesseract".

With this award-winning story, Madeline L'Engle has captivated millions of readers throughout the world. Her universal themes of courage, perseverance, and love are interwoven with imagination and suspense. A Wrinkle in Time, published in 1962, won the distinguished Newbery Medal for children's literature in 1963.

This is a perfect example of why the blogging community is such a wonderful thing. When I read this book for the first time I didn't know anyone else that had read it. I couldn't even find the rest of the books in the series easily! Thankfully there was Barnes & Noble. I bought almost all of L'Engle's novels fro the States this way. This was before Canada had joined in on the online shopping, so my options were limited. Then, I went to a Barnes & Noble when I was in Texas and they had a whole section of books by her! So, um, I had a very heavy suitcase coming home... Fast forward to the present day and I have actually met people that have read L'Engle before. Not only that, but a group of us are reading her together. I really wanted that when I read her the first time around, so it thrills me that it is a possibility now.

Anyways, so it was a few years ago that I read this book the last time. I bought a four-in-one edition and reread it then. I am always nervous that I will hate the book when I reread it, so I try not to reread it too often. It was one of my very first science-fiction novels, though, so I think that for the memories alone I will always consider it one of my favourite books. I know that I notice things now when I read it that I wasn't really aware of when I read it all those years ago for the first time. I am much more aware of the religious aspects, for example. When I read it as a kid I knew religion played a part, but I guess I didn't pay a lot of attention to it.

Meg is still one of my favourite characters. I still don't entirely get all the science involved in the book. Charles Wallace is still cute. The three ladies still amuse me. Calvin is still a really good male character. I still find the books a tad bit old-fashioned at times, but I found that when I read the book for the first time. I find that with all of her books, though. Many of her famous ones were written during a different period of time than the one we are living in now. What else can I say but that I am glad that I had the chance to read this book with others and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

A Wind in the Door

It is February, so that means it is time for the second book in my Madeleine L'Engle read-along. Yay! I still have to post the review of A Wrinkle in Time, but that's nothing new for me! I also need to collect all the reviews that people have posted so that other people can read them... January was a hectic and stressful month. I apologize for being a slacker!

In the meantime, it is time to read A Wind in the Door. I actually have read it all ready and I hardly remembered it at all! It's not that I didn't like it, but I think it is my least favourite in the series. I look forward to hearing what other people have to say about it. Enjoy!

A Wrinkle in Time Read-Along --- Discussion Post

Today is the 15th, halfway through the month, so as promised here is a thread to discuss any spoilerish-type things. Comment away!

I had thought that each participant could come up with a couple questions and then they could be included in the reviews, but that's just a brainstorm. If you are interested you can either post them here or email them to me: kellyreads (at) hotmail (dot) com. If you are not interested in this idea I will scrap it.

Hopefully people are enjoying the read-along so far! You can comment and leave links to your posts, too, and then I will link to them here so everyone can read them!

Amanda's Review
Care's Review

Madeleine L'Engle Read-Along

I am a little late, but believe it or not I am hosting a read-along for A Wrinkle in Time during January. I tentatively mentioned it back in December, but I need to announce it officially and lay out a few guidelines. I hope that people will join in!

Here is what I was thinking. I plan to read all five books in her Time Series. The first, A Wrinkle in Time, is the first book in the series. The aim is to read that in January. The great thing is that it counts for Carl's Sci-fi Experience, or, like me, it is a reread and counts for the reread challenge hosted by Aarti. And, actually, Meg is a strong female character, so she could work for the Unbound Challenge. If you plan to read-along you have 30 days to read it and it is not really all that long of a book.

Guidelines:

• You have until January 31st to finish the book.
• On January 15th I will post a place to talk about spoiler-related things. Things you want to talk about but can't mention in your review.
• The reviews should aim to be finished on the last week of January because I want to have questions that everyone answers in their posts and people need to have time to come up with them.
• For a sense of community I am hoping that people will come up with questions about the book. I am hoping to have them all by the 20th so I can post them and people can write their reviews. Even if you take the whole month to read the book I hope you will come up with questions. Send in a few so there are some variety. It isn't much fun if people send the same questions over and over again. How you choose to use the questions (and whether you choose to use all of them) is up to you.
• When I post the questions on the 20th, I will also post a place to post links to your reviews.
• Feel free to use the button, made by Jason, wherever you want. It's great!

I hope people will join in! (And when you do, I will add your name down below for organization reasons.)

Possible Participants:

Melissa @ Book Nut
Vasilly @ 1330v
Cat @ Beyond Books
Florinda @ The 3 R's Blog
Kate @ Kate's Book Blog
Care @ Care's Online Book Club
Amanda @ The Zen Leaf
Bellezza @ Dolce Bellezza
Joanne @ The Book Zombie
Kerry @ Saving my Sanity...

Challenges for 2010

I have been toying around with the idea of joining the GLBT reading challenge next year, but hadn't really made any sort of committment. Then, I was reading Eva's list and discovered that I owned several of those books! I read several GLBT books this year just for fun, so I don't think I will have any trouble with the challenge. A couple of the books I am reading right now could count for the challenge, actually!

The basic idea of this challenge is to read books about GLBT topics and/or by GLBT authors.

The challenge runs year-round, and there will be three levels of participation:

• Lambda Level: Read 4 books.
• Pink Triangle Level: Read 8 books.
• Rainbow Level: Read 12 or more books.

You don't need to choose your books right away, and they can change at any time. Overlaps with other challenges are fine.

In January, I will put up a post for you to leave links to your reviews, if you like. Those links can help serve as a reference for others. That will also be how I track participants for prize drawings.

Prizes! There will be prizes, both for this main challenge and for various mini-challenges throughout the year. Keep an eye on the blog for details.

Books Read:

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Leviathan

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

Rage by Julie Anne Peters

My Pool of Potential Reads:

Some books I own:

Melusine by Sarah Monette
Life Mask by Emma Donoghue
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Regeneration by Pat Barker
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (for the author, not the book...)
The Wars by Timothy Findley (for the author, not the book...)
Naked by David Sedaris
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jacqueline Winspear
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey
Inda by Sherwood Smith
Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen

I want to read some non-fiction, too, but the library has a terrible selection. So far nothing I have wanted to read is available!

Then, I know for sure that I am going to join the Flashback Challenge. The goal is to reread books. I plan to do that every year, but I am really quite bad at it!

The Flashback Challenge will run from January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010. If you're super-excited and want to reread a book before that, feel free, and let me know. If many people do so, then I'll do a December challenge linky post and you can all link to it here. Otherwise, we can hold them over to January.

You can sign up for the following levels:
Bookworm - Up to three books
Scholar - Four to six books
Literati - Over six books

Within these levels, we have mini-challenges! These are:

1. Re-read a favorite book from your childhood

2. Re-read a book assigned to you in high school

3. Re-read a book you loved as an adult

I'm not sure how much I will manage to read. Like I said, I am rather bad at rereads, so we will see what happens! I would say a Bookworm (at least) if I want to participate in my own challenge for next year...

Some potentials:

Phantom by Susan Kay (Read as adult)
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Read as adult)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Read in high school)

A series from my childhood:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle

These books are for the read-along I am doing with Nymeth, Amanda, Shannon, and now several other people!
Then, there is the LOTR read-along. I am really up in the air about it, to be honest! It's a huge committment for someone that doesn't reread a lot, but I love these books... I don't think I will reread The Hobbit, but there is a good chance I will read the main trilogy. The good thing is that you don't have to read them in the months they are being discussed. I might have to stretch them out a bit. I used to read trilogies all in a row, and I have done that a bit this year, but generally the last few years I have a hard time doing that.

Then, there is the Woolf in Winter Challenge. It is basically to read four novels by Virginia Woolf in January and February. Instead, I am going to read one each in November, December, January, and February so I don't get burned out on her! The books are Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and The Waves. I have a very hard time with Woolf, but I am determined to read her! I have read Mrs. Dalloway before, though!

Oh, and there is also The Classic Reads Book Club! The first book is East of Eden and then the second book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I have been meaning to read more Steinbeck forever! Then, I can read Betty Smith for the Flashback Challenge. It is win-win!

In my Sunday post the other day I mentioned joining The Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge. I thought I would put it on here, too, so it is a bit more official!

The challenge will start from 1 December 2009 and run through to 30 November 2010. There are several different levels of participation for you to choose from:

1-3 books - Cashier at Ankh-Morpork Mint
4-5 books - Guard of the City Watch
6-8 books - Academic at the Unseen University
9-10 books - Member of Granny Weatherwax's Coven
10-12 books - Death's Apprentice

You can either be reading the books for the first time, rereading, or even watching the TV adaptations if you like! As long as everyone has fun I will be happy! Please also do not feel limited to only reading the Discworld books as any books by Terry Pratchett will count for this challenge.

I will say I am aiming for Cashier at Ankh-Morpork Mint, but I am hoping to make it to Death's Apprentice! We will have to see what happens!

I am going to have to update my sidebar to keep this all straight!

Week in Review

Random Thoughts

Note to self, do not get really excited about reading weeks! The next week generally turns out to be rather bad after that... I have only finished three books this week. Count them, THREE! How depressing is that! It means several books are going to have to go back to the library unread, though, and that makes me sad!

I am still coughing from when I was sick. I get like this every year, but with the swine flu worries I feel like everyone thinks I am going to die! I really do get a bad cough every year... I mean, just ask the charming comedian! For our first date we went to the movies and I coughed for the first half and he kept asking me if I was okay. I was really regretting saying no to the drink, but he gave me gum and I managed to make it through the rest of the movie cough-free! That is probably why he just is my mini-pharmacy and doesn't complain... It is also why I am now required to have a drink at all movie viewings.

November Reading Challenge

I don't think there are any new reviews for my unofficial reading challenge, but if there are feel free to leave the URL in the comments and I will post about it next week! I hope to read at least one more book for the challenge, but I wouldn't hold my breath...

Virtual Advent

Can you believe that this starts in just over a week? I am so excited! There has been an amazing turnout of sign-ups and I can't wait to read all the posts! There is still plenty of time to sign-up and there will be a post soon with last-minute details. To sign-up, just head over to the blog! There are still some people I was hoping would sign-up that haven't... Hint, hint!

Dewey Reading Challenge

In December there will be a mini-challenge as a bit of a wrap-up to the challenge! It's all about doing things in Dewey's memory, so I hope that people will sign-up. There will be an official place to post your links in December, but for now you can read all the details on this post.

Other Challenges/Events

I have a big post scheduled for Thursday to talk about all the challenges I am planning to sign-up for so far in 2010, so be sure to check it out! In the meantime, I am hosting a read-along in 2010 to read The Time Quartet by Madeleine L'Engle. There has been a decent amount of interest so far, so I hope others will join in. I was just posting to see if there is any interest. Since there is, should I put up a place to offically sign-up or something?

Also, don't forget about The Alphabet in Historical Fiction that is being hosted by Historical Tapestry. The letter is 'A'. You still have another week to post for it. I know what my post is going to be, but I seem to have forgotten to post it. I will have to try and squeeze it in this week somewhere.

Weekly Reads

I read Peter & Max by Bill Willingham. I am reviewing this with Heather, so my review will be up on Tuesday! Then, I read Avalon High Coronation - Volume 2: Homecoming by Meg Cabot. This is manga series. Apparently there is a novel that they spin-off of and I have it from the library now, too. Lastly, I finished Ash by Malinda Lo. If you are doing the GLBT challenge next year this is a good book for it! It's supposed to be a fairy tale retelling, but it is not what you would generally expect...

It's not like I don't have good books on the go! I am reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, and Flappers by Joshua Zeitz. I just need to settle down, read, and finish something! That's the plan, anyway! Instead, I am thinking about all the books I want to be reading...

Weekly Posts

Music Munday - Guest Post: SoundRelief
Review: The Wild Things by Dave Eggers
Dewey Reading Challenge: A Mini-Challenge
Random and Some Reminders
The Time Quartet Read-Along

Library Loot

Avalon High Coronation - Volume 2: Homecoming by Meg Cabot (read)
Day After Night by Anita Diamant (like the author)
Truckers by Terry Pratchett (Terry Pratchett Challenge)
Ash by Malinda Lo (read)
Avalon High by Meg Cabot (carry on with series)
The Passion by Donna Boyd (someone said I should try it...)
Flapper by Joshua Zeitz (Maybe Women Unbound...)
Princess in Pink (carry on with with series)

The Time Quartet Read-a-Long

Twitter really is a wonderful place. You can credit it with the birth of a lot of things! Last night it inspired me to write this post, and since I could use some inspiration, I am going to take full advantage of it. One of my favourite authors when I was a young adult was Madeleine L'Engle. Over the years I have read most of her books and I encourage everyone to read her!

I was on the library website the other day (big surprise) and I saw that they had all of her Time Quartet in audio format. Since I hadn't re-read the series in a while, I was thinking about it and mentioned it to Nymeth. She has read the first book, but not the rest. Then, you get talking about it in a public forum and other people start noticing and mentioning they want to join in, too! Someone suggested it could be a read-a-long like some of the others that are going on next year, so I decided to write a post about it to see if other people were interested. I was thinking of a very easy schedule:

January - A Wrinkle in Time
February - A Wind in the Door
March - A Swiftly Tilting Planet
April - Many Waters

Then, you technically should read An Acceptable Time. I consider it book five in the Time Quartet. (If Douglas Adams can turn a trilogy into a series; than L'Engle can turn a quartet into a quintet.) It seems to depend on who you listen to, though. (I was on her main web site and they have it as book five, so it is not only me.) There is also The Arm of the Starfish, Dragons in the Water, and A House Like a Lotus.

So, what are your thoughts? Is there an interest in a read-a-long? What do people think about the schedule? I know there is a lot going on next year, so I didn't want to make it too restrictive, but maybe it is too relaxed... Let me know!