9 Stars
"Every so often I need out--away from all these people I love most in the world--in order to regain a sense of proportion. My special place is a small brook in a green glade, a circle of quiet from which there is no visible sign of human beings. . . . [there] I move slowly into a kind of peace that is indeed marvelous, annihilating all that's made to a green thought in a green shade." (Taken from the text.)
I have a hard time classifying this as a biography--it is a series of sketches from Madeleine L'Engle's life. But, she explores so much more than her own life here that "biography" just doesn't quite cut it. She weaves in stories from all ages in a seemingly random pattern and then ties them all in to a gorgeous tapestry of words. A consummate author giving guidance and advice from her own world to the budding writer, the artist within. This is one of the best books I have read in a very long time.
Warning: "A Circle of Quiet" is not for the faint of heart. Though the cover looks placid, L'Engle runs through some fairly deep and turbulent topics. She writes about things that are not easy to talk and think about--things that often don't have cut and dry answers. And, while she covers all these topics with the same practical, everyday wisdom, they are only easy to bear reading about because you can feel the strength of her own humanity with you on your trip through them.
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