Quotes from Devin Brown

while Tolkien's stories were not historically real, they were true

Can you not see death as the friend and deliverer? It means stripping off that body which is tormenting you: like taking off a hairshirt or getting out of a dungeon. What is there to be afraid of? You have long attempted (and none of us does more) a Christian life. Your sins are confessed and absolved. Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. (117)

Probably we each could point to times in our own lives when if we had listened to someone's advice, we, too, could have avoided many problems.

This is a book for anyone undertaking an adventure and leaving behind a life that has been familiar, comfortable, and predictable.

Beginning with Bilbo's unexpected party in chapter 1 with its tea, seed-cakes, buttered scones, apple-tarts, mince-pies, cheese, eggs, cold chicken, pickles, beer, coffee, and smoke rings, we find that a reverence, celebration, and love of the everyday is an essential part of Tolkien's moral vision

A love and celebration of the good things of creation—and this includes good food—is a crucial part of life.

Good books and good friends were critical in Lewis's conversion.