Biographies to read

One of the books that one will have to start reading is the story of the relationship between JR Tolkien and CS Lewis (leave discussion of data protection for another day). Here is a short synopsis, why the authors, known for their works, were also very different in their ways of work and thinking:

The friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis lasted over forty years and was for each the most important creative collaboration in their lives. The two met at Oxford in 1926. They were both survivors of the First World War, both academics and, as children, their lives were both dominated by imagination. However, they had very different religious upbringings. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic while Lewis, initially Protestant, later advocated what he called 'mere Christianity' - a faith in the supernatural, the historical Jesus and the reality of sin and judgement. Thus by different routes both Lewis and Tolkien found a way to express truths that lie deeper than surface appearance. Colin Duriez's book is the first to focus primarily on this remarkable literary association, exploring the origins of the mythological worlds which both writers placed at the centre of their fiction. He does not flinch from exploring their differences - Tolkien did not have a high opinion of some of Lewis's Christian writings and Lewis famously found Tolkien's elves too much of a good thing....

Best known works of CS Lewis include Mere Christianity. Orwellian works (such as Animal Farm) including his diaries will have to be left for another day.