The Inklings were a group of writers at Oxford who met to read their writings and discuss whatever came to mind. That sounds ordinary enough, but they included C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams (not actually an Oxford man). Carpenter tells their stories and the story of the informal group as it coalesced and disintegrated.
It cleared up several misconceptions for me, and gave me more history of several of the men than I'd had before (and I still think the anthroposophism of Barfield is hard to square with Christianity—and yes, I read one of his books (halfway)). They had their eccentricities, some of which are echoed in their works. I hadn't realized how much of Lewis' experiences went into That Hideous Strength.
If you have an interest in the men behind the books, read it.
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