What follows is a short list of resources—books, films, CDs, websites—that are recommended for those who would like to delve deeper into the lives of Tolkien and Lewis, the worlds of Narnia and Middle-earth, and some of the thoughts and ideas that shaped those worlds.
Books:
Bradley J. Birzer
J. R. R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-earth
Devin Brown
Inside Narnia: A Guide to Exploring The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware
Finding God in The Lord of the Rings
Finding God in the Land of Narnia
Humphrey Carpenter
J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography
David Day:
A Guide to Tolkien
Colin Duriez
A Field Guide to Narnia
The Inklings Handbook: The Lives, Thought and Writings of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield and their Friends
Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship
The J.R.R. Tolkien Handbook: A Concise Guide to His Life, Writings, and World of Middle-earth
Paul F. Ford
Companion to Narnia: A Complete Guide to the Enchanting World of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia
Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson
Angels in the Architecture: A Protestant Vision for Middle Earth
C. S. Lewis
The Letters of C. S. Lewis
Letters to Children
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
The Four Loves
An Experiment in Criticism
The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
Boxen: The Imaginary World of the Young C. S. Lewis
The Complete Chronicles of Narnia
Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories
The Ransom Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength)
The Pilgrim’s Regress
Mere Christianity
Miracles
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
Kathryn Lindskoog
Journey Into Narnia
C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian
Light in the Shadowlands: Protecting the Real C. S. Lewis
How to Grow a Young Reader: Books from Every Age for Readers of Every Age (with Ranelda Mack Hunsicker)
George MacDonald (the author that C. S. Lewis called his ‘master’)
Phantastes
The Princess and the Goblin
The Princess and Curdie
At the Back of the North Wind
The Gifts of the Child Christ & Other Stories and Fairy Tales
Michael D. O’Brien
A Landscape With Dragons: The Battle for You Child’s Mind
Joseph Pearce:
Tolkien: A Celebration
Frederick Rebsamen
Beowulf: A Verse Translation
Tom Shippey
The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology
J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
Mark Eddy Smith
Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion:
The Hobbit (The Annotated Hobbit is highly recommended)
The Lord of the Rings
Roverandom
The Father Christmas Letters
Mr Bliss
Tree and Leaf: Including the Poem Mythopoeia, the Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
Morgoth’s Ring (The History of Middle-earth, Volume X. See especially ’Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth’, which sheds much light on the Christian foundations of Tolkien’s mythology)
Turgon (from theonering.net)
The Tolkien Fan’s Medieval Reader (Texts of many of the Old English, Middle English, Old Norse, and Celtic tales that shaped Tolkien’s stories)
Recordings:
BBC
The Hobbit (Radio adaptation)
The Lord of the Rings (Radio adaptation)
Focus on the Family Radio Theater
The Chronicles of Narnia (Paul McCusker’s excellent radio adaptation of all seven books)
R. C. Sproul, Jr.
Further Up and Further In: Studies in Narnia (CD set)
Basement Tapes #24: You Don’t Know Jack (CD set on C. S. Lewis)
Douglas Wilson
What I Learned in Narnia (CD set)
Periodicals:
Christian History Magazine, Spring 2003: Tolkien: Man Behind the Myth
Credenda/Agenda: Volume 13, Issue 5: Jack: A Reformed Appreciation of C. S. Lewis
St Austin Review, January, February 2003: Tolkien Revisited (see especially Bradley J. Birzer’s fine article, ‘Grace and Will in Tolkien’s Legendarium’)
Websites/web articles:
theonering.net (fan site)
lordoftherings.net (official movie site)
narniaweb.com (official movie site)
cslewis.drzeus.net (Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis site)
tolkienlibrary.com (the books of Tolkien)
christianitytoday.com/history/newsletter/2003/aug29.html (This is an interview with Colin Duriez on the friendship of Tolkien and Lewis. At the bottom of the page are links to a number of other articles, including a fascinating email conversation between Bradley J. Birzer and Mark Eddy Smith)
Video:
The Chronicles of Narnia (TV adaptations by the BBC of four of the seven books)
The Lord of the Rings (Big screen adaptations directed by Peter Jackson)
