favorite books: A Wrinkle in Time

from Amazon (obvs) - why have I not put this on my kindle yet?!

I love reading fiction. I read non-fiction, too, mostly Christian non-fiction, but I have always been a lover of fiction. I wasn't a strong reader at first. Then in 2nd grade we had to choose a library book with "at least ## pages" each week. Reading novels was way better than the dumb stories we had in 1st grade. Suddenly, I was motivated to read, I liked reading, and I moved from the lowest reading group to the advanced one. I filled up the blanks on my Summer Reading Program lists and then some. Here, I'm bringing you some of my all-time favorite books, in no particular order, but the first might be my favorite. 

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle is possibly my favorite book ever. I don't remember how old I was when I first read it, but my guess is no more than 13. I had a paperback copy, which I left in the US when we moved to Kenya.

I identified with the main character Meg because she's rather plain and average. She's utterly unremarkable in a family of exceptional people. I wasn't exactly like her, and my family was so not like that, but I could understand how she felt very well, what with my middle child syndrome and the general rejection that comes in junior high if you aren't one of the Pretty Girls.

They go on a sci-fi adventure, and it is Meg who saves the day, not her super athletic brothers, her genius child prodigy brother, or even her scientist father (whom they are adventuring to save in the first place). Best of all, she defeats the evil alien monster with love, not romantic love, but real love.

There is some budding romance in the book, involving Meg herself, which made plain, ordinary 13-year old me hopeful for my romantic future (though I was hoping something would happen sooner than 10 years later, but it worked out for the best anyway).

A Wrinkle in Time kicked off a reading obsession for me. I read the entire Time Quintet, all of L'Engle's books about the Austins, and her O'Keefe family series. And I loved them all.

I'm linking up with Tuesday Talk this week: