For those of you who have not yet tried reading Tolkien's posthumously published works, you can find the twelve volumes of The History of Middle Earth in rather user-un-friendly - but free! - online versions at this website. A real treasure trove.  This provides access to The Notion Club Papers (Volume 9), The Lost Road (Volume 5), Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (Volume 10) and a lot of interesting stuff about elves and dwarves (Volume 12).  If you enjoy these, you will probably want to buy paper copies of all twelve books; but these versions provide a comprehensive taster.  ..read more

Like many people in the past decades, I owe a significant debt to CS Lewis as an agent of my conversion to Christianity. Lewis is more than a beloved and much pondered writer for me - he is more like a friend.  Nonetheless; beyond the basic fact of that conversion (which is, after all, the main thing), I also absorbed from CSL several elements of what I now regard as serious error, especially in terms of the ultimate question of "what Christianity is".  Even before I became a Christian, and for a good while afterwards (many months, and indeed residually for some years) I would have ..read more

I reviewed the new edition of JRR Tolkien's selected letters earlier this year; and I saw at the time that the whole thing was also available as an audiobook - which was a mammoth twenty-nine hours yet cost me just one "Audible" credit to buy (less than five pounds).  So, strangely, the audiobook of Letters is much cheaper than the paper copy! (So long as you are an Audible member.)   Listening to these letters was a tremendously enjoyable experience - probably more so than reading them. Also I felt that I was taking in more of the meaning aurally, than when reading to myself ..read more

It is an interesting question why JRR Tolkien did not finish and publish The Silmarillion; despite that The Lord of the Rings was published in late 1955 and Tolkien did not die until mid-1973; and despite that all through these seventeen-plus years he was insistent that making The Silmarillion publishable was his number one priority.  Much has been written, and truly enough, about the many technical difficulties facing Tolkien in this work, and about his habits of making matters harder for himself by writing new material (and radically changing old material) rather than focusing on the co ..read more

When the Lord of the Rings begins, we see almost everything from Frodo's perspective, through Frodo's eyes. But after as Frodo and Sam leave the Fellowship, and their separate journey with the One Ring proceeds, the point of view shifts from Frodo to Sam.  One consequence is that the situation of Frodo's paralysis by Shelob, the ring being taken from the apparently-dead Frodo by Sam while he is only unconscious; and then Frodo's capture, imprisonment and torment in Cirith Ungol - are all seen from the perspective of Sam; who is trying to find and rescue Frodo.  We therefore hear abo ..read more

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When The Lord of the Rings begins, it seems as if Folco Boffin is destined for a role as a significant minor character among the Hobbit "gentry" who are relatives of Frodo. If not as important as Merry and Pippin, then at least as relevant as Fredegar ("Fatty) Bolger, or Farmer Cotton.  We hear in the first pages that Frodo had "a good many friends" among the younger hobbits who, as children when Bilbo resided there, were often in and out of Bag End: the first name mentioned is Folco Boffin, followed by Fredegar Bolger, then Pippin and Merry.    Later, when Frodo is about to lea ..read more

A young Gandalf, perhaps?  From "The Istari" [i.e. "the wizards") chapter of Unfinished Tales (1982) we know that Gandalf's name was derived from an Old Norse name list, having the presumed Icelandic meaning of approximately "elf with a staff"; and this is supposed to be a translation into modern English of the Common Speech word of the Men of Northwestern Middle Earth.  Tolkien explains: "Gandalf was not an elf, but would be by Men associated with them, since his alliance and association with them was well-known."  And also because Gandalf was observed to have lived many live ..read more

Before reading JRR Tolkien's Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at age 13, my attitude was that of a mainstream, down to earth, science and adventure orientated kid. I was very much a "materialist", and externally focused and driven. My favourite reading was Biggles and war memoirs of fighter pilots Post Tolkien I became - although I did not know the term - a Romantic.  Although I did not for some decades set aside the scientistic, rationalistic side to my character; my deepest hopes and fears were romantic. From then onwards, compared with nearly everybody I knew or met, I seemed to h ..read more

Mrs. Anstruther opened her eyes and met Pauline's. She smiled. "My dear," she said, "I've been meaning to ask you something for the last day or two." Pauline thought it might be the hot afternoon that gave the voice that effect of distance; it was clear, but small and from afar. The words, the tone, were affectionate with an impersonal love. Pauline thought: "She might be talking to Phoebe"—Phoebe being the maid—and at the same time realized that Mrs. Anstruther did so talk to Phoebe, and to everyone. Her good will diffused itself in all directions. Her granddaughter lay in its way, with all t ..read more