Ally's #34: A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

While the first two books in the L'Engle series were about space travel, A Swiftly Tilting Planet was about time travel, and I loved it! The focus shifts away from Meg, now a grown woman married to Calvin and expecting their first child, and centers around Charles Wallace, a young man of 15 who still looks like a boy.

I really appreciate how the author highlights different characters I had written off and shows that, well, you shouldn't really write anyone off as being insignificant. In the last book, it was the sourpuss principal, Mr. Jenkins. In this book, it's Mrs. O'Keefe, Calvin's drab, indifferent mother with missing teeth and cobweb hair who is incapable of speaking in full sentences. Without these characters, members of the Murray family would not be successful in their missions of saving whomever or whatever they've been called to save.

This time the task is simple--Charles Wallace has to help redirect moments in history that impact the world's present predicament: a blood-thirsty politician from Vespugia, a fictional South American country near Patagonia, is threatening to declare nuclear war on the U.S. It's Thanksgiving, of all days, and the entire Murray family spends a restless night waiting for the axe to drop.

Charles Wallace, on the other hand, is given a mysterious, ancient rune from Mrs. O'Keefe and the charge of doing whatever is necessary to bring peace. Aided by the guidance of a unicorn named Guadior, the two ride the wind to the very distant past. At each junction, they're attacked ferociously by echthroi (forces of evil), who want to prevent Charles Wallace from changing history, however minutely, so that the world is still on track for nuclear disaster.

When Charles Wallace enters a new era, there is an influential person chosen for him to "inhabit." In doing so, he helps the particular person make the necessary choices to keep evil from propagating. The story and CW's travels closely follow the lineage of Welsh princes, Madoc and Gwydyr, two sons of a deceased King who left their homeland to escape the bloodshed and pain of competition for the throne. Madoc, the kind and gentle brother, marries into a Native American family and remains in the North East. Gwydyr, power hungry and overflowing with pride, heads south and decides to colonize land near Patagonia. While the author made every effort to keep the family lineage clear despite multiple travels for CW, it became tiresome and a bit confusing to have variations of the same names used repeatedly (i.e. Bran, Brandon, Branwen, Zyll, Zylle, Zillah, etc).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and though it was a bit longer than the previous two in the series, it flew by just as fast. This is a great series thus far. Two more to go!

Ally's #33: A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

Mitochondria, farandolae, echthroi, cherubim, and kything. If you know what one of those words means, give yourself a pat on the back. If you know what all five mean, you've either read this book, or you are a genius and shouldn't be wasting your time reading my review. Go cure cancer or something.

While L'Engle's last book, A Wrinkle in Time, felt like a children's story with an interesting scientific spin, A Wind in the Door felt more sophisticated both scientifically and theologically. In fact, the author intertwines the two; the forces of evil in her story (echthroi = Greek for enemy) seek to convince all elements of creation, large and small, significant and seemingly insignificant, that you find the most freedom and joy in destructive self-centeredness.

The temptation for farandola or for man or for star is to stay an immature pleasure-seaker. When we seek our own pleasure as the ultimate good we place ourselves as the center of the universe. A fara or a man or a star has his place in the universe, but nothing created is at the center.

Another tactic of the echthroi is to take any one of the objects or persons in creation and to drive them into nothingness by un-naming them--which is effectively stripping them of their uniqueness and significance in creation.

An Echthros can be as large as a galaxy and as small as a farandola. Or, as you have seen, a replica of yourself. They are the power of nothingness, those who would un-Name. Their aim is total X--to extinguish all creation.

Once again, Meg Murray finds herself at the center of a rescue mission. In the first book, she, Charles Wallace, and Calvin were sent to rescue her father from a distant universe via time-bending. This time, Meg, Calvin, the loathsome school principal, Mr. Jenkins, and a multi-eyed, multi-winged cherubim named Proginoskes are sent to save Charles Wallace. He becomes deathly in when the (fictional) farandolae of his mitochondria refuse to function as they should, effectively killing him as they slowly deprive him of oxygen.

The story gets really bizarre when the rescue team is inside Charles Wallace, so small that they would be undetectable even by the strongest microscope and unable to see or communicate with one another verbally. For several pages, we see them struggle to kythe (communicate telepathically) and fight a battle of sorts while being severely handicapped with these limitations.

The author does a good job of foreshadowing in this story, setting the reader up for the weight of responsibility the members of the Murray family will carry into future stories. In fact, the statements sounded downright prophetic. I'm eager to read the rest of L'Engle's books and to see how the stories mature as the characters age. That little Charles Wallace is the most intriguing, considering that he could probably attend Harvard at the age of six!

I close with some final, fun quotes:

It is only when we are fully rooted that we are really able to move.

Communication implies sound. Communion doesn't.

War and hate are [the Echthroi's] business and one of their chief weapons is un-Naming--making people not know who they are. If someone knows who he is, really knows, then he doesn't need to hate. That's why we still need Namers.... When everyone is really and truly Named, then the Echthroi will be vanquished.

JRF's #15 - Indescribable by Louie Giglio and Matt Redman

 

Anyone who knows Louie Giglio knows what this book is about.  And you know your soul will be blessed by reading it.  Indescribable is Giglio and Redman doing what they do best.  Leading us in worship of our Great Savior and Creator by pointing us to His marvelous creation that screams His praise.

I learned a lot about astronomy from this book.  I even friended the Hubble Space Telescope on Facebook as a result.  So I can recommend it on the basis of its accessible and well researched astronomical information.  But infinitely more important is how Giglio and Redman use that information to stoke worship and wonder in the hearts of those who seek to worship the Creator and not the creation.

Read this book and get lost in wonder at our Beautiful Lord who creates and sustains galaxies with His words.

"Your greatest glory is not a great you, but you radiating more of His great light."  - LG

p.s. I got this book for free on the Kindle (yes I have a Kindle now).  The free part was great but took away a lot from the experience as there are full page pictures every few pages which the Kindle screen just didn't do justice to.  This is one to get in print.

JRF's #14 - Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Book 4 of Burroughs' 11 volume Barsoom series focuses on the adventures of Thuvia, princess of Ptarth and third most beautiful woman on Mars and Carthoris,  the son of John Carter and Dejah Thoris.  If that last sentence was unintelligible to you I recommend you skip this review and start with the first book in the series - A Princess of Mars.  

For the three of you that are still with me, this story is what you have come to expect from one of the masters of pulp fiction.  Romance, adventure, chivalry, sci-fi, treachery, and bloody sword fights.  Like the other books, it is interesting to see how ideas and technologies that were all the rage at the time of writing (like communism, flight, Theosophy) worked their way into the plot.  If you like this series or genre, book four will not disappoint.

Ron's #14-20 (I'm back...sort of)

In my third year of reading a book a week, I stumbled. As we adopted our second son in May, I decided that I couldn’t keep up with the reading and writing that this project demands. I’m still reading as much as I can, but it is not as much as I used to or would like. For you who have two or more children, please assure me that I’ll read again! I’m behind, but I’m still trying. Here is a wrap-up of the books I’ve read but have not reviewed. I hope to give longer reviews on upcoming books.

#14: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

This was my first time reading this classic. Here is John's review from this site.

#15: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

I read this again as I taught through it a second time this year. A wonderful novel with lots to discuss. Here is my former review.

#16: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs

I read this Puritan classic as a devotional in the morning. A needed reminder for me to be content in all things.

#17: A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

Read Mark’s excellent review here. I agree that this was one of my best reads so far this year. It’s a must-read.

#18: A Case for Life by Scott Klusendorf

Abortion is not a merely topic over which political parties divide; it is murdering the innocent. The church cannot sit and do nothing about this. Klusendorf outlines important topics to use to think and discuss this pivotal issue. Here is Mark’s review.

#19: The Masculine Mandate by Richard Phillips

Check out my friend Dave Steele’s review of this book about God’s call to manhood.

#20: Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson

A great overview of how the Gospel must wake us up from our slumber. We must go beyond merely walking an aisle and coasting throughout our Christian life. If you are like me, chances are you could use this book.

JRF's #13 - An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens by William Carey

And that's the abridged title.

This 80+ page "pamphlet" (we call them books today) was used by God to launch the Modern Missionary Movement in the Western world.

When humble shoemaker turned pastor William Carey read his Bible, studied Church History, and looked at the world around him he asked the simple question "Why aren't we as English followers of Christ doing anything to reach those around the world who have yet to hear of the good news of Christ?"  The answers he got from the ecclesiastical elite basically was, "if God really wanted them to get saved, He doesn't need us to do it.  Besides there is plenty of Gospel work still to be done here in England."  This answer did not satisfy and sent Carey back to the Book.  The result was this treatise and plea to take the Great Commission seriously.

His basic premise is that although God is totally sovereign and not dependent on His children to accomplish His plan of redemption, that plan includes using His faithful followers as the means of bringing His Life Giving Gospel to the ends of the earth.  To conviently hide behind God's sovereignty would be to disobediently ignore His clear commands and foolishly forfeit the joy of participating in God's design for His glory.

Carey organizes his manuscript into five major sections.  Section I. examines whether the Great Commission is still binding on believers in the Modern Era (the answer is YES).  Section II. is a whirlwind tour of the history of missions starting in the book of acts and ending in Carey's day.  Section III. is a survey of the spiritual state of the world in Carey's day and reads like a 18th century Operation World.  In Section IV. Carey examines the obstacles between the church and the unreached world, and in Section V., proposes practical steps to overcome and/or endure them.

I thank God for this book, the man who wrote it, and the fire that was ignited through it.  Its message is just as importantly urgent today as it was when it was written.

"...have not English traders, for the sake of gain, surmounted all those things which have generally been counted insurmountable obstacles in the way of preaching the Gospel?"

"If a temple is raised for God in the heathen world, it will not be by might, nor power, nor by the authority of the magistrate, or the eloquence of the orator; but by the Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.  We must therefore be in real earnest in supplicating his blessing upon our labours."

"What a heaven will it be to see the many myriads of poor heathens, of Britons amongst the rest, who by their labours have been brought to the knowledge of God.  Surely a crown of rejoicing like this is worth aspiring to.  Surely it is worth while to lay ourselves out with all our might, in promoting the cause, and the kingdom of Christ"