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cassiakarin's review against another edition
5.0
Highly recommended! I enjoyed this book immensely, and read through it with a friend (which is one of the suggestions in the book itself). The decisions to read this book with a writing-friend of mine turned out to be the starter-fluid for a standing weekly tradition of conversation on the subject of writing. It is probably my favorite two hours of every week. This book is about creative collaboration by the epic examples of the Inklings. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and other very pronounced individuals took to writing together, in so very many different ways. This book illuminates what happened through those most auspicious collisions of minds, personalities, and efforts of heroic persons. The book has wonderful stories about these great men. I’ve learned a lot about Tolkien and Lewis over the years, but after reading this book I felt like I actually knew them personally.
Read it! Read it with someone or ones.
Recommended by: The Habit Podcast (Episode S2 #20 Diana Glyer)
Read it! Read it with someone or ones.
Recommended by: The Habit Podcast (Episode S2 #20 Diana Glyer)
friendofhayley's review against another edition
Didn't know how Christian they were.
iusmani's review against another edition
5.0
“No-one ever influenced Tolkien—you might as well try to influence a bandersnatch.”
This book is a DELIGHT if you're a fan of Lewis, Tolkien, and the other Inklings. It was such a fun read and I loved seeing the extent to which each of the writers were so heavily influenced by each other. The descriptions of their meetings made me wish I could be a part of an literary fellowship replete with tea and intellectual banter.
This book is a DELIGHT if you're a fan of Lewis, Tolkien, and the other Inklings. It was such a fun read and I loved seeing the extent to which each of the writers were so heavily influenced by each other. The descriptions of their meetings made me wish I could be a part of an literary fellowship replete with tea and intellectual banter.
hellhoundharry's review against another edition
5.0
A true goldmine for any writer who yearns for some writing company!
ehays84's review against another edition
5.0
Really loved this book. It is great for anyone who loves the Inklings, like I do, or anyone who is interested in how creativity thrives. I am interested in second one, for now, because I am really it for my wife in terms of her "resonator" for her ongoing writing project. If I could provide even an ounce of what the Inklings gave each other, then I will have done something in the right direction.
I could tell that this book was a pared down version, and I look forward to reading Glyer's the Company They Keep someday, because I think as someone who has read several of Christopher Tolkien's edited works, I can handle the more "scholarly" version, but this was a great place to start.
The book does a great job of just helping you feel right at home among the Inklings, in all of their oddities, their genius, their joy and good humor, their harsh criticism, and probably above all, their constant friendship and support through thick and thin. This is not the place for me to go into detail about how much they have meant to me (my twitter handle isn't Inkling84 for nothing), but I will say that this book contained lots of revelations that, I am a bit ashamed to admit, I hadn't known about before, such as Tolkien's never published epilogue to the Lord of the Rings, or lots of things about Charles Williams (whom I have yet to read anything by to my great discredit), or that Warnie Lewis was a noted scholar on 17th and 18th century France, or the details about the Cretacious Perambulators (Lewis and Barfield's walking group).
Part of me just longs to be one of them, but I think I am wise enough to know that I am just not up the IQ of these men. The main difference between them and someone of my education is their depth of knowledge of language. I also have to remind myself that I have a much more rounded life than they did, and have a family to take care of, which some of them did not. I have to remind myself, as Lewis would do instantly if he were here with me, that he never learned to drive, and didn't know the first thing about sports, and didn't take very good care of himself. But my longing to be one of the Inklings, I think, does point me to something that I shouldn't ignore. At a later point in my life, I need to write something myself. It will probably be something more historically oriented than what the Inklings typically worked on because that is more of my background and strength, but I should do it. And Glyer's book reminds me that to do that, I need a supportive team around me to tell me what I've written something that is absolute crap, and to praise me to high heaven when I've written something that is at least worth editing over and over until is becomes good enough to publish.
While I actually think I would have had serious trouble sitting through the evening Inklings meetings because of Lewis' shabby and downright unhealthy rooms at Magdalen College, I think I would have most enjoyed one of the meetings at the Bird and the Baby. I still say that if I could travel back in time to any instance not directly tied to the Bible, I would sit in on Bill Evans' sessions at the Village Vanguard in NYC in 1961, but one of the lunches at the Bird and the Baby would perhaps take its place. And I wouldn't know that nearly so well without this book.
I could tell that this book was a pared down version, and I look forward to reading Glyer's the Company They Keep someday, because I think as someone who has read several of Christopher Tolkien's edited works, I can handle the more "scholarly" version, but this was a great place to start.
The book does a great job of just helping you feel right at home among the Inklings, in all of their oddities, their genius, their joy and good humor, their harsh criticism, and probably above all, their constant friendship and support through thick and thin. This is not the place for me to go into detail about how much they have meant to me (my twitter handle isn't Inkling84 for nothing), but I will say that this book contained lots of revelations that, I am a bit ashamed to admit, I hadn't known about before, such as Tolkien's never published epilogue to the Lord of the Rings, or lots of things about Charles Williams (whom I have yet to read anything by to my great discredit), or that Warnie Lewis was a noted scholar on 17th and 18th century France, or the details about the Cretacious Perambulators (Lewis and Barfield's walking group).
Part of me just longs to be one of them, but I think I am wise enough to know that I am just not up the IQ of these men. The main difference between them and someone of my education is their depth of knowledge of language. I also have to remind myself that I have a much more rounded life than they did, and have a family to take care of, which some of them did not. I have to remind myself, as Lewis would do instantly if he were here with me, that he never learned to drive, and didn't know the first thing about sports, and didn't take very good care of himself. But my longing to be one of the Inklings, I think, does point me to something that I shouldn't ignore. At a later point in my life, I need to write something myself. It will probably be something more historically oriented than what the Inklings typically worked on because that is more of my background and strength, but I should do it. And Glyer's book reminds me that to do that, I need a supportive team around me to tell me what I've written something that is absolute crap, and to praise me to high heaven when I've written something that is at least worth editing over and over until is becomes good enough to publish.
While I actually think I would have had serious trouble sitting through the evening Inklings meetings because of Lewis' shabby and downright unhealthy rooms at Magdalen College, I think I would have most enjoyed one of the meetings at the Bird and the Baby. I still say that if I could travel back in time to any instance not directly tied to the Bible, I would sit in on Bill Evans' sessions at the Village Vanguard in NYC in 1961, but one of the lunches at the Bird and the Baby would perhaps take its place. And I wouldn't know that nearly so well without this book.
merrysociopath's review against another edition
4.0
Fossi stato un membro degli Inklings, avrei avuto ansia da prestazione 24/7. E probabilmente avrei supplicato Tolkien di tagliare tre quarti delle canzoni nel Signore degli Anelli.
kailey_luminouslibro's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This book analyzes the inner workings of the writing group, The Inklings, showing specific examples of how they encouraged and influenced each other's writing. We learn about Lewis' and Tolkien's individual writing styles, and how their group read aloud portions of their writing. The process of writing, revising, and editing was intimately connected with the influence of the Inklings, despite Lewis famously saying that it was impossible to influence Tolkien: "...you might as well try to influence a bandersnatch." This book proves Lewis wrong, giving specific examples of times when Tolkien took criticism from the Inklings very seriously and altered major sections of his writing accordingly.
I really loved that this book gives specific examples of how the Inklings influenced each other, sometimes even showing the manuscript before and after revision, with little notes from their fellow authors in the margins.
Tolkien said that he loved "hobbit talk", but Lewis urged him to cut down on the silly hobbit dialogue since it slowed down the plot. Tolkien listened, and his earlier manuscripts of the Lord of the Rings show a lot more hobbit dialogue and a slower pace. Although there might be readers who would enjoy a little more silly "hobbit talk", all of that was cut down for the final version of the book. It was fascinated to read an early scene from Fellowship of the Ring as the hobbits are trekking across the Shire happily chatting amongst themselves, but in the end, only a handful of those lines were kept.
Another interesting section of the book was about how the Inklings would collaborate on humorous poems, composed on the spot during walking tours, never written down, but just recited or reeled off for their own amusement in the moment. They would also play a game of round-robin storytelling, inventing part of a story and then the next person would have to concoct the next leg of the tale. For these creative geniuses, imagination was like breathing.
But their close friendship did not mean that they always agreed. There is a whole chapter about how the Inklings often argued and butted heads. Most famously, Tolkien didn't like the Narnia books. Although Tolkien had a deep respect for Lewis, both as a writer and as a scholar, he admitted that the style of the Narnia books was just not his cup of tea, mainly because he disliked allegory so vehemently. But when Tolkien saw how popular Narnia was becoming, he acknowledged that they "are deservedly very popular".
There are also sections about Charles Williams, with his enigmatic personality and his deep influence on each of the Inklings; and about Owen Barfield, and his delightful intellectual skirmishes with Lewis (apparently they loved to argue good-naturedly over everything). There is also a focus on Warren Lewis and his scholarly writings about French history. We really get to know the intimate details of how these people talked and worked and interacted.
You can tell that this book is extremely well-researched. In fact, the author has published another similar book with a more scholarly tone, and they wrote this book to be more geared towards the fans, rather than scholars. We have some fun anecdotes, and the writing style is engaging.
There is one thing that makes this book stand out from all other books about the Inklings: the application. At the end of each chapter there is a section that talks about applying lessons we can learn from the Inklings group to your own creative group. No creative journey should be attempted alone, and we can learn from the example of the Inklings to see what works and what doesn't work, and what practices allow creativity to thrive and what kills creativity.
I enjoyed this book so much! It really got me inspired to take on some creative projects, and look about me for like-minded people to encourage me on my writing journey.
If you are looking for a creative breakthrough, this book is wonderfully insightful and helpful. Or if you are just wanting to learn more about the Inklings and their work, you will definitely discover something new in these pages!
hheartbooks's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced