Bunyan Characters Book

I suppose the meaning of "readable" is pretty variable, but I think the word can be applied here as long as you remember it's being used in the context of academic literary biography.

In that sense, Lewalksi's biography of Milton is readable. It is equally split between discussion of Milton's personal and work life and close reading of his various literary output. The book largely avoids speculation and sticks pretty closely to the known facts. It notes academic disputes about different aspects of Milton's work or career without going down the rabbit hole in great detail.

I think it goes without saying that you'll want to be relatively familiar with Milton's work if you hope to get much of out the close readings. And I was surprised how little of the book is dedicated to exploring Paradise Lost, the work for which Milton is of course most well-remembered. You'll also benefit if you have some broad knowledge of the history of British republicanism/Cromwell/the Restoration. The republican cause played an enormous role in Milton's life, and is explored in some depth here.

Though the book is listed as around 700 pages, it is really just ("just") 550 pages of text and around 150 pages of end notes. The notes are a huge pain to read and I confess that I almost completely skipped them, though there is some good background info contained there.

I'm no Milton scholar, but for my purposes, I was very satisfied with Lewalski's treatment of the subject. I feel like I have a good overview of his life and work, and a fuller understanding of the some the underpinnings of his writings.