“For 30 weeks Ann Voskamp’s book has earned a place on the New York Times bestseller list – and her neighbors don’t have a clue. People at her church found out only because the pastor shared his congratulations.”

This is a warm story about a wonderful lady (from what I can tell at this distance) who has written a stirring book on living under the mighty hand of God. It’s One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. Recommended.

I’m shocked. Larry Solov writes, “Andrew [Breitbart] passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.” Lord, have mercy.

Dan Rosenblum writes about author Jennifer Egan’s talk on technology, life, and reading:

But Egan said she wasn’t afraid for the future of the novel because of the form’s genesis as a “crazy grab bag” had left it with the ability to assimilate many different forms.

“Really, almost everything that’s been done since was done in Don Quixote and Tristram Shandy. So I find that very heartening, too. Just remember this was invented as a flexible, strong and swaggering form that could do all kinds of things that other forms couldn’t do,” Egan said.

Author Gabe Lyons talks about his son, age 11, who has Down’s.

Cade’s life, and those like his, offers an alternative view of the good life.

These individuals alter career paths and require families to work together.

They invite each of us to engage, instead of simply walking by.

They love unconditionally, asking little in return beyond a simple acknowledgement.

They celebrate the little things in life, and displace the stress that bogs most of us down.

They seem to understand what true life is about, more than many of us.

They offer us the opportunity to truly value all people as created equal.

(via Andy Crouch)

C.S. Lewis nominated his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien, for a Nobel prize in literature. The judges said nay, or maybe Ni!. “Swedish reporter Andreas Ekström delved into 1961’s previously classified documents on their release this week, to find the jury passed over names including Lawrence Durrell, Robert Frost, Graham Greene, EM Forster and Tolkien to come up with their eventual winner, Yugoslavian writer Ivo Andrić.”

A.N. Wilson describes P.G. Wodehouse’s life in Hollywood and Nazi Germany. He apparently joked about everything and gave little thought to whatever devils may be within whatever hearts beating around him. Let them keep their devils; Wodehouse didn’t have any. (via Books, Inq.)

Also on one of our favorite authors, Christopher Hirst reviews a book by Sophie Ratcliffe.

When [WWII] was declared, [Wodehouse] blasé response (“They all say there is going to be a boom in books”) becomes all the more astonishing when you learn he was devouring Churchill’s books. “What strikes me most about them is what mugs the Germans were to take us on again.”

Today, as Phil has already noted, is the birthday of Prof. J. R. R. Tolkien (shown above as a 2nd Lieutenant in the English army in 1916), author of The Lord of the Rings and subcreator of the world of Middle Earth.

Somebody on Facebook called this his “eleventy-tenth” birthday, in the hobbit fashion. I’m not sure it shouldn’t be “twelftieth,” though.

It’s the custom of the Tolkien Society to promote a rolling, world-wide toast each year on this day, and certainly this year deserves a toast more than most. The instruction are here:

The toast is “The Professor”.

For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies:

To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words ‘The Professor’ before taking a sip (or swig, if that’s more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink.

Oddly enough, the notice doesn’t mention the time, but 9:00 p.m., wherever you happen to be, is customary.

Tolkien is often (and correctly) credited with making the fantasy genre respectable. But I think he may have accomplished one more thing. At a time when the whole western tradition was coming under attack, he elevated a part of that tradition so obscure few had even bothered to undermine it (the Anglo-Saxon age), and made it glamorous.

If western civilization survives, Tolkien may deserve much of the honor.

“Rise! Men of the west!”