Somewhat repetitive but a lovely compilation of writing and teaching wisdom from one of the great storytellers of the 20th century.

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway copy of this and loved it. It's an anthology of quotes on writing from L'Engle's other works. I'd definitely recommend getting a copy with the Lindsay Lackey reader's guide in the back. The quotes may be very familiar to anyone who's well-read in L'Engle's writing, so I'd only have it as a guide. I'd also recommend reading her other book, Walking on Water, before going onto this one.

I fell in love with L'Engle when I read A Wrinkle in Time. I was in fourth grade. It cemented my interest in fantasy and science fiction and ignited my hunger for adventure. I identified so strongly with Meg: with her uncertainty, her stubbornness, and her struggles with self-esteem...essentially her faults! Also, here was a science fiction book with heroine. Tired of reading about what felt like the same skinny young boy in every story about magic, L'Engle's Meg let me know that I could have adventures too.

So as an adult picking up Herself, I was excited to learn more about one of my favorite author's philosophies. I was not disappointed, and enjoyed the diary-like entries from her interviews, lectures, and personal writing. I especially appreciated her thoughts on religion and spirituality having recently entered a time of discernment regarding my own faith after growing up Presbyterian. Her musings on how entangled religion, art, and the soul are were interesting to absorb even when I didn't fully agree with them. I sometimes wished I had her clarity as she spoke of ethereal callings and divine knowledge; writing often feels clumsy to me. But L'Engle also shared moments of personal and spiritual struggle which helped me visualize that behind a finished book are many tear-stained, crumpled pages of doubt.

One of my only criticisms of the collection were the amount of near-repeated entries. As a teacher as well as a writer, it's clear that L'Engle would have shared her wisdom with multiple classes, phrased perhaps differently depending on the year and the nature of her students. However, often I'd read an entry - about writing, children, faith, etc. - and feel like I had read it before! Sometimes I'd have to check and make sure I wasn't sleep-reading the same entry or had lost my place and returned to a previous page. Each time it was simply a case of two entries sounding very much like the same advice or thought spoken differently to a different audience. I wish the book had been curated more to keep the most poignant versions of each entry instead of simply repeating them. It happened often enough that I put down the book a few times and picked up something else due to a feeling of stagnation.

Nevertheless, I finished Herself with a tranquil feeling. I never got the opportunity to meet L'Engle or attend one of her lectures, but I feel like this book offered me the closest experience to learning from her in person.

A collection of short thoughts on writing by Madeline L'Engle pulled from her many books and writing workshops. It's good, but it's better in context. Presented like this, it starts to feel repetitive.

This is an easy to read, powerful collection of words from the entire career of Madeleine L”Engle. She shares thoughts on her faith, on writing and even life itself. The writing in this book is very conversational in nature and it feels as if you are attending an interesting personal lecture. If you want to explore the Christian faith from a writers perspective then this is a must read.

This is a collection of quotes from Madeleine's writings as well as lectures and classes she gave over the years. It is divided into ten sections and talk about writing, reading, and story. It was an encouraging and inspiring read.

Because I’m now such a huge Madeleine L’Engle fan, I checked out Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life. However, once I got it home from the library I realized it was not another book by L’Engle, but rather a compilation of quotes taken from her other works. This was a disappointment to me, because while I enjoy quotes, and took a vast number of pages of them down while reading other L’Engle books, I prefer to read her essays in their entirety. When you just get a quote that someone else thought was important, you miss the whole development of the argument, and the quote often loses much of its weight.

{Read my full review here}

I really liked Herself! It takes small, readable chunks (rarely more than a page at a time) from L'Engle's lectures, workshops, and other books, and shows cohesively, through these pieces, L'Engle's viewpoint on writing and faith. I initially got the book from the library, but after typing up passages I wanted to keep for later reference got ridiculous--so much of what I read struck cords in me--I bought a copy and finished the book when it arrived.

Chase organized L'Engle's ideas thoughtfully and well, in ten parts holding overarching ideas, which the short chapters then expand upon in different directions. Given so many sources, I'm especially impressed by Chase's selection and sorting. I also found her inclusion of an index listing the source for each short chapter, from first to last, incredibly helpful and easy to navigate.

Herself is a wonderful journey into the mind of a woman who was both writer and Christian, and who saw both as integral and intertwined parts of her identity. Herself articulated many thoughts relating faith and writing that hold true for me, but which I had not yet voiced. This book was a joy and a comfort to read. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the writing life, or in how spirituality and stories can relate even when the stories being written aren't "religious."

a gift to the world - this collection of audio turned written word.

the pieces are like madeleine hereself:
generous of spirit, large in perspective and divine in
encouragement and truth telling.

thankfully for the library this book is available as many times as i
want and need to read it.

I liked certain passages out of this and wrote them down because I think L'Engle has a talent for spinning a sentence. However, a lot of passages seemed repetitive and too religious/outdated for my tastes.

I always enjoy a peek into a Christian writer’s mind, thoughts and writing process and this is exactly what this little book did.

A collection of her quotes on a variety of writing-related topics. I personally did not enjoy this - there were some gems, but not a lot compared to the volume of the collection. Many were repetitive, and too many were religion-focused for my taste.