This book is not a light read but it is enlightening not only to this author and her journey and family but it has a peculiar way of lighting your journey also. Thoughtful and gentle, meandering and sweet, it’s like sitting with an old friend and talking about life, love, who we really are, what we really believe about who we are and who God is. It’s the kind of book you feel safe to ask questions and think about them without “judgement” or complacency either one. Read it and be refreshed.

I loved this book so much, I read it in small pieces so I could savor it. A Circle of Quiet is one of my favorite books of the year, maybe even of my lifetime. Ms. L'Engle's voice speaks so assuredly, winding bits and thoughts that seem somehow unrelated into a profound yet simple point over and over again. I especially love her shared experiences about her writing career, her family life, her quiet solitude, and her faith. A beautiful, much-treasured book.

L'Engle is famous for her bestselling novel, A Wrinkle in Time (among other equally masterful novels), but she was also a skillful nonfiction writer as well. In this contemplative collections of journal-style essays during her summers at their country home called Crosswick, she reflects on a variety of topics concerning the writing life as well as her intentional pursuit of being rather than doing, known also as ontology (her word of the summer) and the definition and exploration of 'self'. She looks back at pivotal moments in her life, many of which occurred at Crosswicks. She also shares some of her faith journey. She is witty and hilariously self-deprecating at times, while deeply thoughtful and wise on the next page. She tackles areas such as the dangers of censorship in literature, what makes a book deemed "childrens" literature, not being threatened by other writer's success in a competitive rat race but instead being inspired to create, and the importance of practice, practice, practice (or in a writer's world, write, write, write) even when not feeling passionate or even particularly motivated. This is a slow, meandering collection of essays, so it is best read without an expectation for an intriguing plot or lots of action (head straight for A Wrinkle in Time for that. You won't be disappointed!). I enjoyed her thoughts on the writing life as well as a bit of an inside look to the fascinating person behind so many wonderful novels.

“I'm apt to get drunk on words...Ontology: the word about the essence of things; the word about being.”

“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.”

“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.”

"I go into the museum and look at all the pictures on the walls. Instead of feeling my own insignificance. I want to go straight home and paint. A great painting, or symphony, or play, doesn't diminish us, but enlarges us, and we, too, want to make our own cry of affirmation to the power of creation behind the universe. This surge of creativity has nothing to do with competition, or degree of talent. When I hear a superb pianist, I can't wait to get to my own piano, and I play about as well now as I did when I was ten. A great novel, rather than discouraging me, simply makes me want to write. This response on the part of any artist is the need to make incarnate the new awareness we have been granted through the genius of someone else.”

This is one of those quiet, soothing reads that ministers to my soul. It reminds me very much of Dillard's Pilgrim as well as her book, The Writing Life. I couldn't read more than a paragraph or two without underlining. Highly recommended.