I think I definitely missed my peak age to read this book by about 20 years--I can definitely see why it resonates with younger readers, especially back in the day when the YA landscape was pretty barren. (Yes it's true, I'd never read this before.)

It holds up... okay, I think. It is a little cheesy and feels to me like West Side Story AU hurt/comfort fanfiction? Which, hey, is a story with HELLA teen appeal.

It's interesting that it was written by a woman (a girl, really) and beloved by many girls when the female characters in this book are few and far between. But again--I get the appeal to many girls of reading about a bunch of boys with a lot of feelings and great hair and no girls to compete with for their affection. Like, I bet there is a LOT of self-insert Outsiders fanfiction out there.

OK, when I read volume 1 I remember liking it well enough but definitely feeling like it was doing a lot of heavy lifting to set up the new norms for the characters etc after Civil War II..and now this is all tangled up in Secret Empire nonsense?! WHY MARVEL WHYYYYYY

(tho I did like Carol referring to Hydra Steve as "Stevil")

(also I like the new Alpha Flight recruits)

This book is the worst example of This Kind Of Thing that I've ever read, and also maybe has the distinction of being the single most Tell-Not-Showiest thing I've ever read.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-94-suzannes-diary-for-nicholas/

oof this has not aged well. to me it felt like being force-fed an entire chocolate cake--I like to flip through a Cosmopolitan magazine now and again but this was just...........too much, and a lot of it is very....bad (homophobic/biphobic, gender essentialist, fat shamey, classist...etc...)

there's like 10% of still-good advice buried in here but mostly gross. (and I acknowledge that HGB and Cosmopolitan were important to second-wave feminism and there's some value to her acknowledging lady horniness but that doesn't mean this book is readable in 2018.)

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-95-having-it-all/

hahahaha I did not pay attention to the book's backmatter and so did not realize that this was a PREQUEL until I got to the AFTERWORD and then I was like WHOA

also now that I know it's a prequel I'm a little bummed tbh

Spoiler

for Clariel I mean, because I liked her so much! so it's a bummer that she ends up being Chlorr of the Mask and fucking things up!

I was also a little bummed when I first started reading this because it was so different from the first 3 books but I got into it and really enjoyed it. I love it when lady characters get to be the grumpy loners!! GRUMPY LONERS FOR LIFE

Spoiler

except when they become semi-immortal necromancers or whatever

I'm not really sure who this is for? It seems like it would be confusing to a child who was too young to read the original Wrinkle in Time books. I see it was originally published as a kind of bonus short story and that seems like...where it should remain tbh. Or if they really wanted to publish this as its own thing maybe have Hope Larson adapt it into a full graphic novel instead of the illustrated...long...picture book...thing that it currently is?

like listen I'm very sorry that Madeleine L'Engle is dead too but let's leave her old drafts/short stories be.

This was a beautiful and engaging read! I read it all in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. (And it's mostly in verse so it makes for a relatively quick read.) It's such a powerful story especially for this current moment in time. Speaking of, content warning for rape, and for the depressing fact that a 17th century rape trial isn't that different from a 21st century rape trial in a lot of ways.

I DID wish this had some more endnotes/backmatter because there are so many extraordinary details that I went on Wikipedia to be like "IS THIS TRUE?" like 20 times. (apparently yes!) also wish it had some reproductions of Artemisia Gentileschi's paintings but I do understand that having them in color would be cost prohibitive and having them in black and white would be underwhelming. so...hooray for the internet.

ok first of all why do Garth Nix's books all have THE WORST COVERS, like is his publisher MAD AT HIM or what

anyway I mostly picked this up for the first story, a novella about Nicholas Sayre from Lirael, which I loved. the other stories were good? It's kind of a mixed bag of stuff that has been published elsewhere; nothing else in here is related to the Old Kingdom series. A fun but inessential read.

I feel like the impulse that there's a story here is good, but this isn't an especially compellingly-written story despite all the juicy details buried in here. I picked this up on an impulse because I had seen the musical War Paint (also on an impulse) and thought I'd like to learn more. And I did! But this was kind of a slog and I wouldn't especially recommend it to anyone.

In compiling this "All Time Favorites" list I am finding it extremely difficult to talk about my favorite books. What more could I possibly have to say about A Wrinkle in Time? It is amazing.

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re-read for book club and this book still owns