A beautiful memoir from a powerful and poignant writer and mother. L'Engle's descriptions of her home life and artistic endeavours all encourage any woman who longs to record the beauty and longing around her.

This was not my cup of tea. I love A Wrinkle in Time and with the movie coming out I was very excited when I remembered that I had this lurking on my Kindle. I am also a fan of memoir/spirituality/growth books so I figured it would be a slam dunk. Nope. L'Engle rubbed me the wrong way from the very beginning and it never got better. I would not recommend this one.

I have been a fan of the author since I was a child reading "A Wrinkle In Time." Madeleine L'Engle 's intellect and storytelling ability draws a reader into any of her books.
This book is quite different than the novels I read so long ago. This is more of a memoir and a revealing of her philosophies on writing, literature, religion, and life. It was so interesting to get a look behind the novels and learn more about the author.
If you are a fan of Madeleine L'Engle, pick up this book and enjoy.

This is a perfect use for a reissue...republishing the memoir/journal of a woman who truly thought about her life, her family, her writing, teaching, and her place in the world (and not in any grandiose sense). And there is careful thought here, about not only her family, her writing, her life, but also about the major questions of all life: good and evil, the presence or absence of God, how should children be taught meaningfully, how should one try to live a meaningful life.

Within these pages we meet the well known author of A Wrinkle in Time, who takes us through a young writer's struggles to create...and then to be recognized. We also see how her personal family develops both in New York City and in their beloved out-of-city home at Crosswicks, where they lived when her children were young. We also meet the church choir member who loves singing but isn't so certain about God. We see her at workshops helping teachers of children learn how best to approach them in meaningful and helpful ways. We also see her at the Iowa Writing workshop working with other writers as a guide and teacher.

L'Engle lived many existences but appears to have remained her same true self in them all. This was an exciting, at times delightful and inspiring book to read and I believe I will go on to read more episodes of her journal. Any book that so frequently finds me nodding in agreement or amazement at the "rightness" of something said, or highlighting for re-reading or possible quote, has left a mark on me. I very definitely recommend this to those interested not only in memoir but also those interested in writing, teaching and in the art of self-discovery.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Madeleine L'Engle's books were a staple of my childhood. I enjoyed reading her reflections on writing and art through her journals and memoir. This is a great journal for those needing some inspiration for art or writing. Thank you to the publisher for the copy.

I only started reading Madeleine L'Engle's children's books as an adult, so I was very excited to read this to get more background on her (I love context). Unfortunately, this didn't give me what I was looking for. It seemed like one big run-on sentence that I couldn't keep track of. I really wish that I loved this, but I didn't.

I read and reread Madeleine L’Engle’s A Circle of Quiet over and over in my 20s and 30s. In fact, I read all of her Crosswicks Journals during those years, as well as several of her other nonfiction books and, of course, much of her fiction. All of them influenced me, but A Circle of Quiet had the most profound impact.

Rereading it now, I’m struck by several realizations. First and foremost is how much the book influenced me: my writing style as much as my personal philosophy. I incorporated L’Engle’s liberal (but always deliberate) use of semicolons and colons into my own nonfiction writing; I subconsciously adopted some of her cadence and voice as well. A Circle of Quiet was my first encounter with a writer’s own thoughts on writing, on the creative process, on language. Her observations rang true to me then. Many of them still do.

As for my personal philosophy, I have never highlighted as many passages in any book as much as I did while rereading this one, and every highlighted section was an old friend: thoughts on writing, on creativity, on love, on faith. Some of them I remember copying out in my journals when I first read them; several adorn a small book of inspirational quotes I have collected and hand-lettered over the years. Here are just a few that struck me this time through:

"We write alone, but we do not write in isolation. No matter how fantastic a story line may be, it still comes out of our response to what is happening to us and to the world in which we live."

"Inspiration does not always precede the act of writing; it often follows it."

"It’s all been said better before. If I thought I had to say it better than anybody else, I’d never start. Better or worse is immaterial. The thing is that it has to be said; by me; ontologically. We each have to say it, to say it our own way. Not of our own will, but as it comes out through us. Good or bad, great or little: that isn’t what human creation is about. It is that we have to try; to put it down in pigment, or words, or musical notations, or we die."

"If it’s not good enough for adults, it’s not good enough for children. If a book that is going to be marketed for children does not interest me, a grownup, then I am dishonoring the children for whom the book is intended, and I am dishonoring books. And words."

"A winter ago I had an after-school seminar for high-school students and in one of the early sessions Una, a brilliant fifteen-year-old, a born writer who came to Harlem from Panama five years ago, and only then discovered the conflict between races, asked me, 'Mrs. Franklin, do you really and truly believe in God with no doubts at all?'
'Oh, Una, I really and truly believe in God with all kinds of doubts.'
But I base my life on this belief."

"To be half a century plus is wonderfully exciting, because I haven’t lost any of my past, and I am free to stand on the rock of all that the past has taught me as I look to the future."


The second realization is that I am now two years older than L’Engle was when she wrote the book (at 52.) Reading it as a contemporary, rather than as a young person listening to a respected mentor, felt odd. Not because the book is different, but because I am. I’m more experienced, more confident, perhaps more pragmatic (even if I still don’t really know who I want to be when I grow up.) And yet I’m not that different from the person I was in those early adult years; the things I value and hold dear are still the same: family, faith, friendship, books, music, the life of the mind…

I first read A Circle of Quiet during my last year of college, and several more times during those years in which I was finding not only my role in the adult world, but also the faith that has sustained me through much of my life. L’Engle’s theology, as revealed through her thoughts on life, the universe, the knowable and the unknowable, appealed to me (and still does.) In some ways, it’s similar to the deceptive simplicity of C.S. Lewis. L’Engle accepts both mystery and doubt rather than insisting on certainty, but her faith is deep and strong; it permeates everything she is and does. And yet she’s never preachy. Her approach to both faith and life is simultaneously practical, compassionate, and openhearted.

That makes the book sound more like a theological treatise than a memoir, but it’s really not. It’s both memoir and journal, the sort of reminiscing and musing over both recent and long-past events that might occur in long, rambling conversations with a friend. L’Engle writes about her marriage, her children, Crosswicks (the house she and Hugh bought in Connecticut) and the years they lived in it. She writes about where she gets her ideas, about the relationship of truth and fiction, about love and friendship and loss, about what it means to be a writer, about the frustrating years when A Wrinkle in Time received rejection after rejection, and the joy when it was not only published, but won the Newbery Award. There’s nothing formal about the book, and it’s not at all chronological, but through it you get a wonderful sense of Madeleine L’Engle, the person.

And so in the end, rereading A Circle of Quiet was like sitting down to tea with a dear friend I haven’t seen in decades. I treasured the opportunity to reconnect with her, and with my younger self. If you love Madeleine L’Engle’s fiction, I hope you’ll take the time to get to know her through the Crosswicks journals, too.

A thoughtful, meditative, and lovely read, like having a cup of tea or several with the author.

I first read this book about 10 years ago. L'Engle was my favorite author in childhood and early adolescence, so I moved on to all of her adult books. I love this updated edition with all the pictures from her estate. She truly was a gifted author and I know her books will continue to be enjoyed for years to come.