Saturday, August 6, 2011

J.R.R. Tolkien by Mark Horne

As a reviewer for Book Sneeze, I recently had the opportunity to request a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien to review.  I’m not a huge fan of biographies, but my oldest daughter is doing an exhaustive study on the Lord of the Rings series for school this year, and I thought this book might be beneficial to her.  So, in other words, I ordered it with the express purpose of having her read and review it – not me.  However, it arrived at my door, and I was compelled to read it. 

_240_360_Book.234.cover Christian Encounters, a series of biographies from Thomas Nelson Publishers, highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the Church. Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests. But all, through their relationships, struggles, prayers, and desires, uniquely illuminate our shared experience.

J.R.R. Tolkien famously penned The Hobbit and the 3-volume novel The Lord of the Rings. Known as “the father of modern fantasy literature,” his writings have inspired many other works of fantasy and have had a lasting effect on the entire genre. In this Christian Encounters biography, learn how Tolkien’s faith was an intrinsic element of his creative imagination, one that played out in the pages of his writings and his life.

I found the book to be very interesting, informative, and thorough.  I was very intrigued by the fact that Tolkien lost both parents at a very young age.  Statistically, apparently, children who have lost one or both parents go on to live very creative lives.  Tolkien definitely did. 

It was interesting to learn more about his personal and private life, his religious beliefs, and his relationship with fellow fantasy author, C.S. Lewis. 

I would recommend this book, especially if you’re a fan of Tolkien’s work or if you’d like to learn more about him.  I’ll be passing my copy along to my daughter to include in her studies this year.  I will consider reading more books from this series of biographies from Thomas Nelson.

NOTE: I received this book from free from the publisher in exchange for my sharing my thoughts on it on my blog.  I was not influenced in any way, nor was I required to share a positive review.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting.

The Hobbit is going to be the first literature book we work through when we start back up. I'm not sure how it's going to go, because when I was young I remember not liking it. Hmmm...we'll see.

Unknown said...

Just a little FYI: My father is a English and Literature professor at a Bible University, and he teaches a class called "Inklings." Named after the writing group that C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams were apart of, the class has a wealth of knowledge about their writings.

If your daughter ever needs any info for her studies, let me know! I can easily put her in contact with my dad...

(P.S. in case you don't know, I am apart of the TOS Review Crew, so you can get my contact info there.)

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