this was basically a repeat of the biography of friendship but with added bits from tolkien- i think their friendship is interesting, but it just was interesting to my diss and i just GAHH was kinda boring

It was an interesting read but unfortunately needed another proofreader. Not just for grammar but to avoid plagiarism - in one instance, the notes about a quote (that was given in the same paragraph) were almost verbatim to the quote.

I must say this has been one of my favorite recent reads. And I picked it up for a dollar in the book sale room of my local library! Other reviewers can cite the organizational concept of the book. I'm just going to tell you what I loved about it.

I loved that it gave me a living, breathing view into the relationship that existed between these two literary giants.

I loved that it didn't sugarcoat either their personalities or their stories.

I loved that it explained to me in a way I could understand the important distinctions between creating myth and simply using allegory to tell a story.

I loved that by the time I got to the part when Lewis died, I was so immersed in the story that I cried. And I knew this story, their story, the story of their friendship, prior to reading this book, but this book made them somehow more "touchable."

My favorite *picture* of Tolkien from the book was the picture the author painted of a scholarly Tolkien on his way to classes on his bicycle complete in collar and gown, as was the custom for all who taught at Oxford in the 30's.

And my favorite picture of Lewis (if I MUST confine myself to one favorite) is that of the portly, jolly, joy-loving, philosopher-smoker, half-a-pint guy, sitting with friends, extending hospitality, enjoying life and love and the people he called "friend."

May we be ever so blessed!

Thank you, Colin Duriez, for a delightful foray into the Oxford of The Inklings. I suppose I must, for duty calls, return to 2012. But only long enough to catch my breath before dipping into yet another story from the world of faerie....

Enjoyed reading about the friendship of these two writers - how their lives intertwined and how they encouraged one another.

"Friendship, like the fantasy tale, gave a person a vantage point to see the world in a fresh way. Friendship with Tolkien, he [Lewis] found, shook him fully awake, out of the cold dream of materialism."

I began this book with little knowledge of the lives of either of these 2 great men. But I like to think that I know and understand them a great deal better after reading this. I enjoyed getting a feel for how Lewis and Tolkien influenced each other.

Tolkien's diary: "Friendship with Lewis compensates for much, and besides giving constant pleasure and comfort has done me much good from the contact with a man at once honest, brave, intellectual - a scholar, a poet, and a philosopher - and a lover, at last after a long pilgrimage, of Our Lord."

"But as the group (Inklings) expanded, partially by embracing Charles Williams, he began to feel somewhat left out from Lewis's attention. The dynamics of the larger group worked for Lewis, but did not seem to work from Tolkien. Jealousy is too strong a word for Tolkien's feeling of loss; it was more perhaps a gradual and barely articulated hurt. He was a warm and generous man, however, and continued to particpate in the Inklings, showing affection and interest to each member."


On the whole, an excellent resource and starting place for anyone interested in learning just a bit more about Tolkien, Lewis and their friendship. For anyone who has done some research into either of them, none of this is new information, but it is well presented.

3.5 ⭐️ starts off dry with a lot of theory but once you get to the inklings it picks up

Livro excelente, duas vezes excelente. O autor traça uma minibiografia da vida desses dois gigantes, e não só da vida separada, mas da vida que viveram "juntos". Entendendo o "juntos" como um influenciando o outro (Mais Tolkien influenciando Lewis, e Lewis encorajando Tolkien).

This not a good book. It bounces around and adds information about other people that I don't care to know. I will say the book identified that I wanted to know more about L&T and read more if their respective works, just not by this writer.

Worthy of comparison with Humphrey Carpenter's The Inklings (q.v.).

Wow, this book is very informative and enlightens the truth of the unique friendship between Tolkien and Lewis, as well as giving the reader more understanding about each author's life. I highly recommend it!

An enjoyable review of the parallels and intersections of two of the great Oxford scholars of the 20th century. We tend to know more about Lewis, for better or worse, from his many popular theological writings. But Tolkien truly shines in this book as a scholar and creative genius. Some of the techniques the author uses can be distracting (using the present tense to have the reader imagine a particular episode), but overall he helps the reader get to know the two main characters and well as other important people in their lives like Charles Williams and Joy Davidman. Although this is not a typical biography (for example, there's no sense that the author interviewed any of Lewis's or Tolkien's family members or friends), the author presents a nice literary and personal sense of their lives. For someone who has read standalone biographies of Tolkien and Lewis (or Lewis's autobiographical works), I think I can recommend this book without many reservations. Then again, for readers who are uncomfortable with Christian writers - who are generally conservative - or their messages, this may not be a satisfactory book.