I've never read any Tolkien, though my wife made me watch all the movies. Meh. But, I appreciate his impact on culture and society and his Christianity, even of the Catholic variety. As such, this is the short, informative biography I needed to know more about Tolkien and his work. It is short, informative, and just enough without going into excruciating in-universe detail. One of the better volumes in the Christian Encounters series. ( )

This book by Mark Horne is a welcome addition to the series of short biographies in the Christian Encounter series published by Thomas Nelson. Others include J. S. Bach, D. L. Moody, Schweitzer, Columbus, Newton and Galileo.

J. R. R. Tolkein (1892-1973) needs no introduction, he is the author of one of the most popular books of the previous century, The Lord of the Rings. In this short, accessible and well-written book we are introduced to Tolkein the man. The biography is chronological and chronicles Tolkein's life from birth in Bloemfontein, South Africa to his death in Oxford.

This book breaks no new ground, but that is not its aim. It's aim is to provide a simple introduction to the life of Tolkein. Horne recognises that 'Tolkein's faith is important to understanding his works.' Unfortunately, this aspect is not fully developed.

We are told that 'Tolkein's faith helped him to persevere in the midst of severe losses and taught his patience as he forced himself to work at his job and support his family.' His father died while Tolkein was young. Horne makes the interesting observation that Tolkein's religious imagination and faith would have been different if his father had lived. Tolkein's mother later converted to Catholicism and brought up her two children as Catholics. The influence of Catholicism was also evident through Tolkein's guardian Father Francis Morgan, who took over his care when his mother died.

The role of the TCBS (Tea Club and Barrovian Society) is expounded in some detail but little is made of the Inklings - the group that comprised Tolkein, C. S. Lewis, etc. The fellowship and camaraderie of small groups was obviously important to him.

As Horne concludes:
While God calls Christians to proclaim his truth in a variety of ways and situations ... we can learn from Tolkein that sometimes a mere story can change lives.
This book provides a good brief introduction to the life of Tolkein. If you like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit then this book will help you understand a little more the man behind them.

There is a helpful short appendix on the bibliographical sources.
( )

Very interesting to read about Tolkiens upbringing, his first love, his strong catholic faith, his war-experiences and how the world of Middle Earth as a creation was formed in his mind due to his love for the old nordic myths.

Most interesting was the small clubs he formed with other students and later as a teacher. The first one “Tea Club and Barrovian Society” (a good reason to meet, a cup of tea) - sad that the members with the exception of two died in the first world war - later of course The Inklinks with C. S. Lewis, although it is only briefly mentioned.

The Christian Encounters Series include 12 biographies and I’ve been lucky to get a few of them as good kindle-deals.

All short biographies, this one 150 pages - but it has wet my appetite for reading a more in-depth biography of Tolkien. ( )

[Book received from publisher for review, through BookSneeze]
[Review originally published at my blog: AWordsWorth.blogspot.com]

As a lover of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, I know very little about the author - and looked forward to the introduction offered by a Christian Encounters biography. Horne does a wonderful job of breaking Tolkien's life into manageable chapters, and corresponding them with Tolkienesque chapter titles that made my inner geek smile. Beginning at the very beginning, Horne looks at Tolkien's life from a dual-perspective: how it impacted the man, and how it influenced the writing. Drawing from previously written, more extensive biographies as well as Tolkien's letters and writings, Horne creates a biography that is condensed without feeling lacking - an enjoyable read, but also substantive. And, of course, there's attention paid to Tolkien's faith and its role.

The writing of the biography is such that I am led from chapter to chapter - not just in the text, but in Tolkien's life as well. Spanning cultural and political changes (Tolkien 'came of age' during WWI, losing all but one of his closest friends), it's interesting to look at how his life experiences may have shaped his writing -- and I'm a literature major who hates to superimpose meaning on texts! In this instance, there's a compelling case. With this informative, though necessarily brief, introduction to the personal story of one of my favorite authors, I now feel compelled to track down some more in-depth information -- and I'm probably starting with Horne's own bibliography! ( )

J. R. R. Tolkien's fame seems strangely limitless. His limited published output of only one children's book, one three-part adult book, and a few scholarly works during his lifetime only add to the curiosity of his world-wide appeal. That is, at least, until you sit down and read The Lord of the Rings. Then it all makes sense.

Mark Horne has written a slender little book on Tolkien for Thomas Nelson's "Christian Encounters" series of biographies. This isn't a book of original research on the man; it's more a summary and overview of the work of other biographers such as Humphrey Carpenter and Leslie Ellen Jones. That's not a criticism. If you're looking to get a bit of a handle on this legend in a short amount of time, this is an excellent biography.

Horne explains what made Tolkien the man he was with clarity and incisiveness. Tolkien's early love for languages, his forbidden relationship with his future wife, and his struggle with losing friends in the great war mark his early years. As life moved along, his struggle to support his family coincided with his perfectionism and his inability to ever consider his work finished (this explains why The Silmarillion was never published in his own lifetime). His friendship with C. S. Lewis which degenerated over time is also telling.

I was most pleased by Horne's account of Tolkien's Christianity. Christianity was a way of life for Tolkien—it was more the substructure of his life than a passion. Horne doesn't try (in a "Christian Encounters" book) to turn Tolkien into someone he's not, or read Christianity into his works. He simply reveals Tolken for the man he was: a brilliant perfectionist who lived and loved like the rest of us.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free as a member of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze program. ( )