I was particularly interested in the amazing story of how the Middle Earth books became such big “hits.” It turns out to be a far more complex story than I would have guessed. Not at all how I suppose a series like Rowling’s Harry Potter series is achieved these days. Without Tolkien though, I wonder how the fantasy market would look today.

I imagine that there are far more complete biographies of J.R.R. Tolkien out there, but I think Horne’s bio is an excellent and reader-friendly place to begin. His bibliographic info at the end of the book is a great source to lead the reader to more complete works.

Read the whole review! Book Review: J.R.R. Tolkien (biography by Mark Horne) – CORYBANTER II: babble and banter, bypassing banality.

By the way, there are of course more complete and much larger books out there. No shame in admitting that. I’m trying to be helpful in a brief compass…