It can't be just me, right? These reissues Square Fish has done of Madeleine L'Engle's Austin Family Chronicles are simply beautiful. Enough so that I'm actually pretty impressed at my unusual display of self control at not having purchased them the day they came out! I love the title font, the simple, solid colors, and the detail of the window box art on each one.
I love this series and have done so for a long time now. My copies of The Young Unicorns and A Ring of Endless Light are extremely worn well-loved from having been read so many times. I love the way the siblings grow up and change and love each other across the arc of this five-book series. I love emotional Vicky and precocious Rob, tragic Zachary and grey-eyed Adam. And the music. The way the Austins love and play and appreciate music. They are happy books for me.
Are there series you love so much and over such a period of time that they're reissuing them? And do you find yourself with the urge to own multiple copies just for the beautiful covers alone? Or is that just me?
Those are really nice covers. :D
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of this series of books, but I would be tempted to read the first one based on the cover alone!
ReplyDeleteI love the redesign! And I love this series. Madelein L'Engles will always be a favorite of mine. I hold a special place for her in my heart because Wrinkle in Time really, truly changed my 7 year-old life. :)
ReplyDeleteKeenan and I are LOVE book covers and books. We have several copies of the same book, because we like the different covers. It makes sense to me, but I can see how it would make 0 sense to non-book lover.
What pretty reissues!
ReplyDeleteBritt, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteMolly, then they're doing their job. I love how cohesive it makes the series look. Matches the tight family dynamic going on in the series nicely.
Kos, oh man. A WRINKLE IN TIME was like a revelation, wasn't it? And this series was a lovely segue into her other books after finishing the Time series. Plus all the wonderful crossover characters! She did that so well. Poor Zachary... And I can see you and Keenan with multiple copies and covers. Kindred spirits.
La Coccinelle, I thought so, too. Had to highlight them here once I saw them.
Oh no. My poor wallet.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this series and you make it sound perfect for the family book shelf. I'm sure I could find copies in the library, but it's very difficult to resist the lure of these gorgeous covers that would look so perfect together!
Those covers are just gorgeous. Drooling onto my keyboard here.c
ReplyDeleteI read and love A Ring of Endless Light! And, those covers make the books that much more collectible. I like The Young Unicorns cover. I read your Bright Star post and I can't wait to watch it myself!! Just a nosy question but what was your master's thesis about?
ReplyDelete--Sharry
I've only read one book by Madeline L'Engle and that was Many Waters. I wasn't too thrilled with the book. She's such a staple in fantasy, and I feel I should give her other books a chance. I really like these new covers; they've got the simple, elegance look going on. I'm always wanting to buy reissues of books I own for the new artwork--the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce has got some really awesome new artwork!
ReplyDeleteLan, Many Waters is the middle of a series. I can imagine it being difficult for you to follow.
ReplyDeleteThese are the Chronos books, right? I could never get into them. I liked the Kairos ones. But that was when I was a child. I loved Wrinkle so much it was anything else, anything that wasn't about the Murry/O'Keefes was beyond my comprehension. Perhaps I should give them another chance.
Especially since one is called the Young Unicorns. I thought for ages about how to fit the Many Waters unicorns into Rampant, but coudln't get them in. All I got was the Harry Potter ones.
Christine, lol, they would be lovely additions to the family bookshelf indeed.
ReplyDeleteKerry, they really are! They must be mine...
Sharry, A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT was such a favorite of mine when I was 14. I think THE YOUNG UNICORNS is possibly my favorite now. But it depends on the day and how much I want to read about Adam. :)
Definitely see Bright Star! It's exquisite.
And my master's thesis focused on the path to the second marriage in MIDDLEMARCH and THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL. Love me some 19th c. female writers. Especially Eliot and Bronte.
Lan, like Diana said MANY WATERS is definitely not the place to start with L'Engle. I recommend either A WRINKLE IN TIME, MEET THE AUSTINS, or AND BOTH WERE YOUNG--which is such a sweet favorite of mine.
I'm so glad you mentioned the newest Alanna covers because they are my favorites by far. She just looks so much like the Alanna in my head, particularly on the LIONESS RAMPANT cover, and they picked such good scenes to highlight. I bought them right when they came out, even though that makes my 3rd set of that series. Husband's eye roll was rather larger and longer than usual that day...
Diana, that's right. These are the Chronos books. I remember being prepared to be let down by them after reading the Kairos ones. But after the first book I got over my longing for the Murrys and the supernatural and fell in love with the Austins. It doesn't hurt that all those lovely traveling characters cross over between Kairos and Chronos and are suddenly there on the page and themselves and wonderful. :)
THE YOUNG UNICORNS, as I said above, may be my very favorite. It's a wonderfully creepy mystery set in NYC and more particularly at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Plus, Canon Tallis is there and I love him.