J. R. R. Tolkien

Author: Mark Horne

Series: Christian Encounters

Genre: Non-fiction/Biography

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.

Summary: Seeing as how this is a biography, I won’t go over the positive/negative elements. I like Christian Encounter’s biographies; they’re not too long, and they’re not dusty and dry. In fact, they’re rather interesting! This is a lot, coming from soneone who doesn’t really like biographies. I’d recommend this one.

 

Christian Encounters: Jane Austen

 

Title: Jane Austen

Series: Christian Encounters

Author: Peter Leithart

Peter Leithart sheds Christian light on Jane Austen in this fantastically written biography. Through the book you read about Jane ‘Jenny’ Austen’s family, her writings, her life, and her death, but the most interesting was her personal life, which you get much of from reading this book. I have tried to read other Austen biographies, but found them dry and frankly boring – this one, I could not put down. (And it was a biography! You know me and biographies.) I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a biography on Jane Austen that is easy-to-read, contains many, many interesting facts, and clearly shows how her Christian walk affected her writings. This book challenged me to continue with my writings as Jane did despite many hardships in her life, and it inspired me to take joy in the world – laugh at it, let it amuse me, draw my writings from what I see and think and do. Jane did not let the world bother her, rather she let it entertain her in a way that allowed her to write her novels in ways that would be appealing and realistic, and yet also enjoyable and maybe, just a little, whimsical.

Age Rating: 14+ (It is entirely appropriate, but probably difficult for any younger to understand.)

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars!

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