Mary Karr

I read to save my life, to take communion, to enter a community of fellow sufferers and rejoicers. More

C.S. Lewis and Christianity

Born in 1898 in Belfast, Clive Staples Lewis lost his faith in Christianity at a young age after his mother died and he was sent away to boarding school. More

The Hobbit

In October 1936, Stanley Unwin, chairman of British publishers George Allen & Unwin (later acquired by HarperCollins), received a children’s book submission. More

Pilgrim

A finalist for the Giller Prize and a Canadian bestseller that surpassed the author’s own impressive sales records. More

Charlotte’s Web

Considered a classic of children’s literature; a novel of friendship, love, life, and death. More

Mark Twain

In 1866, with mostly newspaper articles and other short works to his name, Mark Twain accepted an assignment from the Sacramento Union to produce a weekly column from Hawaii. More

Doctor Zhivago

Collins was the first to publish this epic romantic drama by the Nobel Prize winner in English. More

A Bear Called Paddington

In 1958, an editor at Collins named Barbara Ker Wilson received a manuscript submission about a talking bear, which she opened with “initial suspicion” —as the publisher had received many other proposals featuring humanized animals that “are invariably either whimsy-whamsy, written down, or filled with adult innuendoes.” More

A Christmas Carol

Dickens’s beloved classic of the meaning of Christmas that has inspired countless adaptations. More

Middlemarch

Ranked number one in a 2015 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British novels. More

Amelia Bedelia

The first book featuring the now-classic, hilariously literal-minded character Amelia Bedelia. More

Letter from C. S. Lewis

In this letter to Collins publisher Billy Collins, dated November 1954, C. S. Lewis—author of The Chronicles of Narnia series, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters, among others—outlines what he sees as his three types of “literary output”: “A. Religious and General. B. Fiction. C. Academic.” More