Red Comet

 

When I got this book at the library I didn't know how long it was. When I saw it was over 900 pages I told myself that I would just flip through it. I was surprised. I got through the whole thing. It's an entertaining biography but very rich with detail. You practically feel like you are going through Sylvia Plath's daily life. One thing that I got from this book was that Sylvia Plath was very humble. She didn't know how good she was. Yes she was submitting to places like The New Yorker so she had some awareness of her talent. However to most people she just introduced herself as Mrs. Ted Hughes. It's sad reading Red Comet because one minute she's in love with him and walking on air. Then during the affair she's in pieces. Ted Hughes comes across as very indifferent to her feelings during the whole mess. This is the definitive Sylvia Plath biography. I don't think it is necessary to read another one. It also describes well how it was like to be a female writer in the 1950s and 1960s and the struggle of just getting your foot in the door. It also gives a thorough analysis of her poetry.

A Wolf for a spell

This was nominated as one of the best children's books last year at goodreads so I was curious. I found it to be enchanting. The witch Baba Yaga does a spell switching her body with a young wolf. An orphan girl named Nadya asks Baba Yaga (who is really the wolf) for help. I enjoyed the use of Russian folklore in this book. You don't need to learn about Baba Yaga beforehand to get this book. I find that people don't really talk about children's literature nowadays. Children's literature is just getting better. I love reading children's literature since it is so imaginative and avoids the trash that you often find in adult literature. 

Faces in the Water

 This was a biography about a woman's experiences in two mental institutions in New Zealand. This book makes Girl Interrupted and The Bell Jar look like heaven. The living conditions are horrible and the doctors only bother with the patients who are the most "sane." The main flaw I have with this book is that it's kind of detached. The author doesn't have any friends in these institutions. I would have liked to have made an emotional connection in the book other than the main character. On the other hand though if this writer didn't make any friends then that is simply her experience. The closest connection we meet is with a staff member who used to care but gave up along the way. She knows that this author judges her and responds aggressively towards her. The author's biography An Angel at my Table was later made into a movie by Jane Campion one I watched more than twenty years ago. This is apparently New Zealand's most famous writer.  

Klara and the sun

 

This was ok. I was hoping for more since I really liked Never Let me Go. Never Let me go was about clones and this followed a similar science fiction plot with a robot. It's about Klara, a robot and her devotion to the family she works for especially Josie their sick daughter. She sees the sun as a God like figure looking over her. There weren't any surprising turns in this story. This book just seemed kind of safe.

The Lost Traveller

 It's interesting how time can change your opinion of a book. When I first read this I didn't like it. I found it too anti religious. I'm not Catholic but I don't really like religion criticized. Then I read the first book of this trilogy Frost in May and now I know the character's dilemma more. Not only that the criticizing of religion wasn't as much as I remembered. The book is about a girl entering adulthood. She becomes a governess but then a tragedy happens. Uncertain about what to do next she accepts a proposal from a man she doesn't love. I like reading Virago books and learning about all of these forgotten female writers of the past. It's pretty neat.  

The Houseguest

 

This was a pretty neat horror short story collection from a Mexican writer. I found out about it on goodreads through their Halloween recommendations. I'm surprised that not more has been translated from this writer. The back is right from they say she reminds someone of Poe or Shirley Jackson. My favorite stories in the collection are "The Last Summer" and "The Breakfast." In "The Last Summer" an overstressed woman in her 40's loses it when she finds out that she is having another baby. In "The Breakfast" a woman recalls a frightening dream that she had the last night over breakfast. The thin line between dreaming and reality gets questioned. Mexico has made several amazing horror movies and finding a book like this delighted me. I just wish that people would bother to translate more the cool stuff from their past. 

Sweet Diamond Dust

 

I love Rosario Ferre. She was a great Puetro Rican writer. I loved the soap opera drama The House on the Lagoon and especially her short story collection The Youngest Doll. This was good too. It's a collection of short stories that revolve around a sugar mill. My favorite story was the last one Captain Candelario's Heroic Last Stand about two friends in the military, one is rich and the other one poor. Their relationship is challenged when there are orders to stop the salsa dance. Sadly not many of her works are translated. 

The Bostonians

 

This isn't my favorite Henry James book but it was written well. This book is about suffrage movement. It is obvious that Henry James thinks a woman's place is at home. His attitude makes this book outdated and that's why it took me a couple of months to get through the whole thing. The book centers around a man named Basil and his love for Verena. But Verena is torn between her feelings between Basil and Olive, a feminist who is more or less her teacher. I have to give it to Henry James for daring to write about lesbianism in 1886. There was a movie with Christopher Reeves and Vanessa Redgrave made of this. I need to watch it some time.

A Hero ain't nothin' but a sandwich

 

This was a pretty good young adult book from the 1970s. I watched the movie which was also written by the author but the book is definitely the way to go. You get more involved with the characters. The book is about a teenaged junkie named Benjie. The book separates itself by letting all of the characters say their own perspective on the situation. You hear from the stepfather, the teachers at the school, his friends, and Benjie himself. The book may be on a depressing situation but it's actually a quick read and the characters for the most part are likable. 

The Mists of Avalon

 

I bought this book years ago and put it on my bookshelf. It was one of those books that I told myself that I would get around to. Then a friend told me the plot and I finally took it off the bookshelf. It's a female perspective of the King Arthur stories. The one criticism I would give it is that it was very anti-Christian and I'm religious. But the stories were interesting especially the one about the barren Gwenhwyfar and her relationship with Lancelot. It's one of the longest books I've read. I need to read other books on King Arthur. All I knew before this was The Sword in the Stone so I have a ways to go.  

The Collected Poems Sylvia Plath

 

I've just started getting into poetry. I haven't really given it a try. I've read Anne Sexton and Emily Dickinson. I decided to reread this and then I'm going to do less famous poets. I read this three years ago. Some people on the internet say she's just famous for her life which was pretty fascinating. However, she was an incredible poet. The last 50 poems in the book are from her beginning period. They're all right. It's interesting to see how she developed and became more unique. Her poems became more emotional. My favorite poems here are the ones about her dad who was a beekeeper. He died in Sylvia's youth. I don't really care for the poems where she writes about a famous sculpture. Those are more at the beginning of the book. I heard the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't that good. I hope one of these days a proper movie is made preferably with a star that doesn't have a name yet. That would be even neater.  

Melancholy Play

 

Tilly, a melancholy girl has three people in love with her a tailor, a lesbian, and a psychiatrist. The play gets really funky in the end by having all of the characters turn into almonds. At first, I thought it was too cutesy but then I admired it for daring to be that eccentric.  I read The Clean House, another play she wrote earlier on this blog. While I liked that play more I still found this play to be a worthwhile read. Ruhl has an interesting style and I'm curious to read her more.  

J,M. Barrie and the Lost Boys

 This book is about the family that inspired Peter Pan. I didn't know how involved J.M. Barrie was with these boys. His friendship with them continued into their adult years. I always have dismissed J.M. Barrie as just the writer of Peter Pan. That would have been enough though creating one major children's classic. However, he was also an established playwright and some of the plays particularly Mary Rose sounded cool. I thought it was interesting how it only talked about the play of Peter Pan and not the book he wrote of it later on. I would have liked to learn about his creative process with the book. But overall it was a fine biography and I felt I learned some new things about J.M. Barrie along the way. 

Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom

 When my library got this I was excited. It's a "lost" story from Sylvia Plath. This was written doing her college days. It was just ok. It's about a girl's hellish train ride. The ride takes an unexpected turn when the character learns that the train is taking them to an icy ninth kingdom. The girl manages to get off just before the train stops there. This story is worth reading because it shows Sylvia Plath's potential. But if you're expecting something as brilliant as The Bell Jar or Ariel you will be disappointed.

Nightmare Alley

 

The book starts with Stan working at a carny show and seeing a geek biting chickens. At the end, he becomes a geek but it's a fascinating journey to that destination. Stan becomes a successful mentalist but it is not enough. He keeps becoming more ambitious and he keeps using people until eventually, he is on the road to ruin. I thought that I would be satisfied when this incredibly unlikable protagonist goes to his doom. Instead, it was too sad and he was just too pathetic. I wonder why Gresham didn't write more. He clearly had the talent. This was made into a Tyrone Power movie and I remember liking it. I need to watch it again. There's supposed to be a movie coming out soon based on this directed by Guillermo del Toro. I'm looking forward to it. 

Geography of a Horse Dreamer

 You have to give it to Sam Shepard. He had one vivid imagination. This play is about a man who can predict the winners in horse and dog races in his dreams. Two gangsters have kidnapped him and are making their fortune off him. I got introduced to Sam Shepard through watching True West on PBS. Sam Shepard was one of the best playwrights of the past fifty years. How many people can say they got nominated for an Oscar (he was an actor in The Right Stuff) and won the Pulitzer Prize? The man was a marvel. I have yet to read a play by him that wasn't worth reading through. His stuff was packed full of interesting ideas.

Fool for Love

 

This was a good play about a couple that drives each other crazy but they keep coming back together again. The play also takes on some controversial topics like bigamy and incest. The play was all right but I have no desire to see the movie which received mixed reviews. I just don't think it would translate well to the screen. This isn't one of Sam Shepard's plays, nothing amazing like Buried Child but it's worth reading. Sam Shepard was never one to bore.

Lotta on Troublemaker Street

 

When I was in second grade I was made fun of for liking Pippi Lockstocking. I still don't care. That girl was cool. I decided to revisit Astrid Lindgren and read another one of her books. It's about a little girl named Lotta who runs away from home and lives with a neighbor.  The family is not afraid about it though and is genuinely laid back about it. But will Lotta make it through the night though? This book was short and pretty cute.

Sisters by a River

 

I wanted to read a book by an obscure female writer from the 1940s and I like Virago's selections. This book was just ok. It's about a family and it's told from the perspective of a child and the misspelling throughout the book adds to that age. It could have been better. I didn't feel like I got to know the sisters really individually. It wasn't like Little Women where I felt like I got to know the people. The personalities were kept kind of vague.  Still, this isn't the last book I'm reading that Virago published. The thought of discovering forgotten female writers from the past is too appealing to me. 

An Acceptable Time

 

I was unimpressed by the title. It's not really a title to get you excited to open up a book.  However, this was an ok inclusion in the Time Quintet that included A Wrinkle in Time. This deals with Meg and Calvin's daughter Polly.  I wasn't really interested until there was talk of sacrificing Polly to stop a drought. Even her male lover Zachary tries to push Polly into it for his own personal needs. L'Engle was a really good children's writer in that she didn't try to dumb down her books for young readers. Some of the concepts of her books were pretty scientific. Reading this made me regret that I quit reading children's books when I was 11. I like going back now because of the innocence and imagination that are evident in children's literature. It's refreshing to read a book that isn't all about shock value. 

Talley's Folly

This is a simple play. It's basically about a Jewish man courting a woman at a boathouse. Not much happens other than that they talked but the characters are pretty likable. They meet at a boathouse and eventually discuss the possibility of a life together and some of their secrets are revealed. For instance, Sally's high school love who rejected her once she became infertile. There is a gap in their ages but Matt is pretty determined to win her over even though she doesn't give much encouragement. I read The Fifth of July and even though I liked that Wilson play this is the superior one. This is charming and the characters win you over. You hope that the two will get together. This won the Pulitzer Prize. 

Fifth of July

 

This was my introduction to Lanford Wilson. The best thing about this play is that there is a gay couple and their sexuality is never discussed. This is pretty advanced for a play that was staged in the 1970s. The main character is Ken, a disabled Vietnam veteran. Should he teach high school again? Also, he's thinking of selling the house. Family and friends of the couple gather together for two days.  It was ok but I have a feeling Lanford probably wrote better plays so I'll read more from my library. 

King Lear

 

This was a pretty good Shakespeare play. This is one of his better-known plays. I need to read the popular ones and investigate his lesser-known plays as well. I did that this year with Measure for Measure. King Lear goes through betrayal and madness all because he misjudged his daughters. If he had trusted his favorite daughter Cordelia then he wouldn't have gone through this mess. At the beginning of the play, all three daughters declare their love for him and Cordelia's sounds the most indifferent. He gives his money to his daughters Regan and Goneril. This play has a lot to say about family and appearances. When it comes down to it Regan and Coneril are just deceitful actors to their father. There is also a subplot with Gloucester and his sons Edgar and Edmund. The scene where Gloucester eyes were gouged out was pretty brutal. This would be cool to see on stage. 

'Tis Pity she's a whore

 

This was a play written in the 1600s about incest between a brother and a sister. Yes, it was written to shock even so there is no nudity. There was a movie in the 1970s which I decided not to watch after seeing it was rated X. Obviously it's not too faithful to the play. It's too bad. I like Charlotte Rampling. My sister put an interlibrary loan on it and the librarian responded with what exactly am I handing you. The play was pretty good though and it held my interest. I should read more of John Ford's plays.

Henri Duchemin and his shadows

 

Emmanuel Bove was discovered by Colette. However, his career was cut short by the Germans in World War II. I liked this book of short stories because they were simple and to the point. He is not pretentious. The stories are almost too straightforward. Two stories stuck out the most for me. "Night Visit" is about two friends, one of which is suicidal and has had a marriage just end. He convinces his friend to speak to his wife, to beg for reconciliation between the two. However, the wife is cold to the friend. The last story "Is it a lie?" is about a husband whose wife had stayed out all night. She has a story but is it really believable. I got this book done in just a couple of days. New York Review Books usually releases good stuff.  

La Morte Amoureuse

 

This was a pretty cool story I read from Kessinger Publishing. It concerns the story of a priest and his lustful love for a girl named Clarimonde. The book gets more bizarre when the girl comes back from the dead as a vampire. Is the priesthood his imagined life or is the one with Clairmonde real? It was cool to read a vampire story that wasn't lame. So many of them are nowadays. I've got to read more from this author. 

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

 

This isn't my favorite Iris Murdoch work. She's done better but it's all right. It's about a governess who arrives only to learn that the person she is governing is an adult named Hannah. Hannah is being imprisoned by her husband who hasn't been there in years. This is for an affair she committed. There's another man called Effingham who is infatuated with Hannah. The book sees Hannah as a unicorn figure, a representation of purity. The governess tries to rescue Hannah but the plan backfires. I need to read Under the Net again. It's been a while, I also really need to read The Sea, The Sea the one she won the Booker Prize for. 

Gigi

 

This is Colette's most famous work, a novella. It's about a playboy and the gossip of his numerous relationships. Eventually, he falls for Gigi a young girl. SPOILERS: I like how Gigi wasn't blown away by his proposal. She just says in the end I'd rather be with you than without you. This isn't my favorite Colette work though. I really love the Claudine books. They are fun and very charming but then so was this. Colette was one of the best things to ever come out of France.   

Venus in the Blind Spot

 

I'm in the middle about this Junji Ito release. I liked the stories "Venus in the Blind Spot" and "Billions Alone". There were two Rampo adaptations "The Human Chair" and "An Unearthly Love." I've read "The Human Chair" by Rampo before and Ito does a good job on it. But the nudity in "An Unearthly Love" made me uncomfortable. Not only that two of the stories featured in this collection have been in other books I own by Ito which makes me feel like I got ripped off. I can't say this is essential to own.

Amazing Things are Happening Here

 

Jacob M. Appel was an author I randomly picked up. I was in the mood for a short story collection at the time. This is the second book of short stories I've read from him. He manages to be quirky and original. My favorite story from this book has to be the one where an old woman reluctantly agrees that her husband can marry a different woman at his nursing home. The woman's husband pressures her to do so. Appel has also written novels so I'll have to see how he does at that.  

Many Waters

 

This is the fourth book in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet series. It's ok. There aren't that many young adult or children's books that delve into Biblical times. The only other one I have read was The Bronze Bow and that was a superior book. I like how this book centers around Sandy and Dennys two characters we have barely got to know in the Time Quintet series. They enter Biblical times when Noah starts building an ark. Most of the book is focused on what will happen to the girl they like Yalith. Will she get drowned with the others?  It took me a while to finish this book so I can't say it was a page-turner. Still, I have to give it to L'Engle. This book was at least different than most books you find in children's literature. 

Daisy Miller

This was an ok novella by Henry James. It's about an American girl who becomes the fascination of a man named Winterbourne. She flirts with an Italian man and after getting a bad reputation Winterbourne loses interest in her. It is only after her death that Winterbourne discovers she did nothing. Winterbourne has to deal with the fact she was a jerk. It was a nice commentary on the damage gossip can do even tainting people who have done nothing. I have no desire to see the movie version by Peter Bogdanovich. My imdb.com ratings says I already watched it and I didn't give it a good rating. I have no memory of it. It probably was forgettable. 

The Drifting Classroom volume 2

 In the second part of The Drifting Classroom, we see the characters battle yet again with a bug monster go through the black plague and deal with a horrible one-eyed god. The characters are pretty bright. If I was left in this situation when I was a kid I would have been cooked. I like the bond Takamatsu has with his mom and how she can connect with him through his crisis. So far this has been a promising Japanese comic series. I'm curious about Umezz's other stuff now. 

Book of a Thousand Days

 

This was an ok fairy tale book based slightly on Grimms' "Maid Maleen." It's about a princess and her maid being trapped in a tower together. This happened because the princess refused a man named Khasar. It soon becomes clear to the reader that the maid is the stronger of the two. She's the one who remains most stable when the food rations dwindle and the one who figures out how to escape. Eventually, the maid breaks free of the tower even defeating Khasar himself. However, she almost gets hanged for impersonating the princess. This was an enjoyable book though not as strong as Princess Academy which was a lovely book. I wish that the love story was more developed though. 

The Driver's Seat

 

This was a pretty good read from writer Muriel Spark. I read this over ten years ago and decided it needed another rereading. I remembered it being edgy and it lived up to its memory. The main character Lise is a mess and she's on a self-destructive journey. When she is on an airplane a man immediately changes his seat. It's just his gut instinct that something is off with this woman. The ending is unpredictable. I was expecting her to end up with the new age guy but the novella had a different direction in mind. I liked The Girls of Slender Means and it was more subtle. The Driver's Seat wants to push the envelope though and if anything it shows that Muriel Spark was a pretty versatile writer. I read it in a few days.

The Drifting Classroom volume 1

 

So far this has been an excellent anime from Kazuo Umezz. It's about an elementary that drifts itself from the world. The parents have no idea what has happened to their kids. Meanwhile, the adults and the kids are losing it, especially the adults. It turns out their nice lunch man is actually a mean guy. It's up to the kids to organize leadership positions and control the food supply. They also come upon unexpected situations like gigantic animals. So far this has been promising and I'm awaiting the rest.

The Girls of Slender Means

 I remember I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie once during my lunch break at work. A person said they had to read that in high school and they were baffled that anyone would read that on their own time for leisure. I felt like reading another book by Muriel Spark. It's been a while and this was a good one. It's about a boarding house called The May of Teck. The house boards pretty young girls but also spinsters who will never get a chance at marriage. We get to know some of the girls specifically Joanna and Jane. Jane spends time with the writer Nicolas Farringdon but he would rather be with the beautiful Selina. The book ends in a tragedy and we find out what"the girls of slender means" really means and what benefits they get from it  There's also a pretty funny scene where Jane writes to authors to gain monetary value for their autographs. George Bernard Shaw gives a pretty funny reply. This wasn't as good as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie but it was all right.  

The Wizard of Oz

 

The Wizard of Oz surpassed its publisher's expectations definitely selling more copies than predicted and putting a classic. It's imaginative. It's funny and whimsical. (My favorite part is when we meet the real wizard himself. It was hilarious.) When I was a kid my twin sister and I used to have fights on which land was better Narnia or Oz. I was a Narnia girl. But I'm slowly making my way through the series. The Patchwork Girl of Oz was easily the second-best book of the series. A lot of love went into The Wizard of Oz which is why the book still remains a unique imaginative book. 

The House on the Lagoon

 

I really liked The Youngest Doll which was a neat short story collection so I decided to try out one of Ferre's novels. I liked this one. It is about a wife writing the history of her husband's family background as well as their own love story and children. The husband has a range of emotions. First off he's jealous. He doesn't have the time to write a book like this. There are also the inaccuracies like the things she gets wrong about his family's background. He wrestles between the thoughts of throwing it away until there is finally a confrontation about it. The book also has a rich history of Puerto Rico. I especially like reading about the woman's love of dancing as well as the making of the house on the lagoon itself. Ferre was a versatile writer. She could write short stories and novels equally well. This was a National Book award finalist. I wonder why it didn't win the prize. It's pretty good. People online criticize the book saying that the characters and plot got like a soap opera at times but I liked it that way. It made me involved and kept me turning the pages.

A swiftly tilting planet

 

This is the third volume in the Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle. I found the book difficult to follow at times. A Wrinkle in Time could be challenging too but that was more rewarding. A dictator declares war so Charles goes back through time into four people to try to stop it. The most satisfying of these encounters was the plot line about Meg's mother-in-law herself and her brother Chuck. This book was just all right and I will read the others in the series. I read this book three years ago and I gave it one more star on goodreads. What made me like it more years ago? I wish I remembered.  

The Bell

 

I first became aware of Iris Murdoch through Roger Ebert's review of the movie Iris on his show. He said that the movie didn't give the author her due. He mentioned he was a fan. Despite this, I didn't read an Iris Murdoch book till much later. This is my second time reading this book. There are two storylines one involving a gay priest named Michael who goes through turmoil after he realizes he is in love with two boys Toby and Nick, although they are both at different times in his life. Then there is Dora who is married to an older man Paul who she merely tolerates. Toby and Dora uncover an old bell. They try to replace the ancient bell with the new one. This is kind of lengthy. A.S. Byatt wore an introduction for one of the editions and I'm actually interested in what she has to say. I've got to read more books by Iris. 

Valerie and her week of wonders

 This is a bizarre Czech book. I saw the movie first and liked it so I decided to read the book. I like the book more since it is less trashy and more involving. I found this in the romance section of my library where it was very misplaced. This is an experimental novel. Valerie is developing into a woman and she has to deal with a grandma who has found a way to be young, a person who might be her brother or not, and a polecat who sucks the blood of chickens. I read this ten years ago and read it pretty quickly the second time this week. I need to check out more surrealist books like this. 

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

 This was Nabokov's first English book. I read Laughter in the Dark which was written before this. That was good and showed Nabokov had potential. The Real Life of Sebastian Knight probably wouldn't be remembered at all had Nabokov not written Lolita. It's merely ok. It's about a half brother writing a biography of his brother Sebastian Knight. He meets a phony biographer of his brother along the way and gets some information about Knight's past loves. It also talks about Knight's writing. It was kind of boring, to be honest. Still, I'm going to read more of Nabokov's works. 

The Feigning Courtesans

 

In the play "The Feigning Courtesans" two sisters Marcella and Cornelia run away and pretend like they are courtesans. One does so to escape marriage from someone she doesn't care for. Meanwhile, a past lover of Marcella falls in love with the new person she pretends to be. In the end, Marcella is allowed to be with the one she loves and other subplots are settled.  I like Aphra Behn. She was one of the first women writers able to make a living off her writing. I read "The Rover" earlier and that was better. Still, this was ok. 

The Ocean at the end of the lane

 

This is one of Gaiman's best. It's a gothic like tale about an outcast boy who becomes friends with a peculiar family called the Hempstocks after his father begins an affair with his babysitter who more or less is a monster literally. This was my third time reading the book. I like how it was short and to the point. I can't figure out which one I liked better Coraline or this. I heard once that this was going to become a movie with Tom Hanks. That would have been cool but that never happened. It's not exactly a kid's book since it has sexual elements in it even though it is seen through a kid's eyes. It kind of reminds of me movies like The Reflecting Skin that combine both elements. Simply amazing. 

Among others

 

This science-fiction book was ok. It had a subplot with fairies that I wasn't that interested in. The character was really into science fiction. In fact, she joins a book group devoted to science fiction. The author was very enthusiastic about science fiction and I added a lot of the books that she discussed onto my goodreads books to read list. There's also a bad guy in her science fiction group that she falls for. I also liked the relationship between the main character and her estranged father.

The Youngest Doll

 

This was a pretty cool book of feminist stories from the Latin American author Rosario Ferre. My favorite story was"The Youngest Doll" where an aunt makes all her nieces dolls as a wedding present. For the youngest niece, she makes a doll filled with honey. The girl finds her husband only really wanted her as a trophy. "Amalia" is an interesting story too about a girl who is infatuated with a chauffeur and fights off the advances of her uncle. I need to be more multicultural with my reading. There is no doubt that this book will get another reading maybe in a year or two.

A Wind in the Door

 

This sequel wasn't as great as A Wrinkle in Time but it was still good. This was mostly due to the fact that the characters are fully developed, likable people. Meg's brother Charles has been getting bullied lately. Meg tries to convince the principal Mr. Jenkins of her brother's situation but there seems to be no hope. Meanwhile, their scientist mother has realized that Charles has a problem with his mitochondria. This is where I think the book gets creative. It makes up a scientific reason for his bad health. It says that the farandolae in his mitochondria is making him sick. This is, of course, a made-up term but it works in the book and it becomes believable. The part of the book I liked the best was when Meg had to choose who the real Mr. Jenkins was. She had to choose between two false identities and the real one. All of them seem alike but Meg had to take her hatred of the principal aside to have the real one revealed to her. I thought this was pretty imaginative and a good moral lesson.  It's interesting how L'Engle managed to put science in children's literature but not do it in a tedious way. Unlike a lot of children's writers, she gives kids a lot of credit thinking they can take on such complicated concepts. 

A Wrinkle in Time

 

This book deserves so much more. A better movie definitely but also more recognition. Yes, it's one of the most beloved children's books of the past 50 years. Yet there's a snobbery involved with adult books as if adult content all of a sudden makes a book more mature and considerate of praise.  This book is complicated using scientific concepts like a fifth dimension but it also has interesting characters. Meg meets three eccentric women Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which who aid her in finding her lost father. I really liked reading about the planet where all the children have to play their balls in sync. It was creepy so was the takeover of Meg's brother Charles. This book is unique. I feel in general that children's books have improved over the years but still you rarely find a book as stellar as A Wrinkle in Time and I'm going to reread the trilogy again.  Also, this was the book that the gifted children read in the fourth grade of my elementary school again. I never bothered with it. I figured that I would just fail because of my mathematical skills but at least they chose a great book to match the kids.