Madeleine L'Engle dies

I originally posted this as a comment in sartorias's lj.She will be missed.I don't know how old I was when I first read A Wrinkle in Time, but I know it was in elementary school (perhaps grade 3) and after I had already fallen in love with The Lord of the Rings and Watership Down. L'Engle's books never became favorites on quite the same level as those, but I'd be horrified to think of the person I'd be if I had never read them.I loved how she blended the mundane world with the fantastic, and I could identify with her characters. In a world of books populated by pretty princesses, Meg, awkward like me, was one of the first characters I really felt close to.The book was probably the first science fiction I read. It broadened many horizons. I remember having to ask my Dad what a sadist was.It's been probably thirty years since I last read her books, but remembering the impression they made on me gives me the urge to pick them up again.