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A Tolkien Miscellany

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 187 ratings · 7 reviews

This book, with illustrations, gathers some of J.R.R. Tolkien's least-known and hardest-to-find works in one volume. These include "Smith of Wootton Major (story of a magical gift concealed in the most amazing cake), "Farmer Giles of Ham" (a dragon terrorizing the English village of Ham and the townspeople only hope is a local farmer with an inflated reputation of chasing...more

Paperback, 370 pages

Published January 1st 2002 by Quality Paperback Bookclub

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Feb 19, 2011 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first 100 pages = 3 stars. The rest, one at most.

"Smith of Wooten Major" is a cute little story.

"Farmer Giles of Ham" is a good story, rather enjoyable and humorous.

Then the bad news: the books is longer than 100 pages. In fact, the rest of it shifts between unusual torture and the occasional smirk at something clever gleaned through the mire. Only occasional and that's generous.

"Tree and Leaf" is half essay and half story. Well, the essay is quite more than half and shows just what an educa...more The first 100 pages = 3 stars. The rest, one at most.

"Smith of Wooten Major" is a cute little story.

"Farmer Giles of Ham" is a good story, rather enjoyable and humorous.

Then the bad news: the books is longer than 100 pages. In fact, the rest of it shifts between unusual torture and the occasional smirk at something clever gleaned through the mire. Only occasional and that's generous.

"Tree and Leaf" is half essay and half story. Well, the essay is quite more than half and shows just what an educated and pretentious blowhard Tolkien really was. I'm sure he had some good points in there about fantasy stories, but all I cared about was getting out of it. Then the "Leaf by Niggle" story to wrap it up pretty much sucked. It wasn't long, so was forgivable. Just not as good as the first two stories. Something about doing good deeds for your annoying neighbors when you just want to paint a leaf.

"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" was ok. A series of 16 poem/tales, it was at times interesting and at other times funny, but mostly it was poetry. Aside from the fact that I don't like poetry, I guess it was ok.

Then we have the 3 epic medieval translation poems, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", "Pearl", and "Sir Ofeo". By now I'm speed reading. Sir Gawain was mildly interesting. Some violence and some knights and a boar hunt and a seducing tart of a lord's wife. Cool stuff. Boring poetic prose.

"Pearl" sucked donkey balls. It shows us what happens when one particular dumbass loses a pearl, falls asleep by the river, and dreams about a nymph who tells him about God. You get, yes you guessed it, bored shitless. I actually found myself distracted by a piece of loose skin that needed trimming from my finger. Infinitely more interesting than the crap I was reading.

"Sir Ofeo" was wonderful. Well, no. It sucked too. But it was awesome because we weren't reading "Pearl"! Here we have Orpheus, who they couldn't call Orpheus. I guess the anonymous English medieval poets couldn't chance being sued by anonymous Greek myth makers. But Orpheus lost his wife yadda yadda blab blab oh look at the flowers. Who cares? His wife probably left him for being in a fucking poem!

After finishing this, I promptly removed several "to read" Tolkien books from my GR shelves. I downgraded The Tolkien Reader to match this rating. I had read it as a child and was apparently too young to know it sucked. That book didn't have "Smith of Wooten Major" but at least one didn't have to suffer through the epic poem tortures.

I even considered removing Tolkien from my "favorite authors" list. What has he done for me, really? One novel (though many call it three because the publishers are tricky that way) that's epic and a cornerstone to the majority of the fantasy books I read today? Another novel that's a really good (though childish) prelude to the masterpiece? And a historical (his history, that is) novel that reads like a bible for elves? Sure, why not. These are still good books. And they're important enough to the direction I took in my reading preferences.

But I have copies of all of these. I've been collecting Tolkien for years. No more! It's time to downsize.(less)

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Oct 14, 2012 Linda Hoover rated it 5 of 5 stars

An excellent read, especially 'Smith of Wooton Major', which is a marvelous fairy tale. Some of the other stories will be found in "The Tolkien Reader". Worth reading for 'Smith of Wooton Major' alone!!! It is probably Tolkien's best short story.

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Jun 15, 2012 Alesia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I vaguely remember reading this book and enjoying it. It was lost in a move or something so I haven't had a chance to read it again. I don't remember much right now.

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Jan 03, 2010 Dave Haskins added it · review of another edition

Fiction,Fantasy

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Nov 24, 2007 Rhiannon rated it 4 of 5 stars

i loved farmer giles of ham, tree and leaf, the adventures of tom bombadil, and smith of wootton major... sir gawain and the green knight, however, just couldnt catch my interest. it isnt the format, just... i cant place it. i tried, made it about halfway through and there was just nothing there that made me go "i have to keep reading!"

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Sep 28, 2008 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

A wonderful collection of some of Tolkien's short works, including the fine stories "Smith of Wooton Major" and "Farmer Giles of Ham"; of more import, it has Tolkien's excellent essay "On Fairy-Stories." These are all available elsewhere, but this is a nice volume and, along with "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" ("Ding-dong-a-dilly-o!") and some interesting translations, it's a fine tome for the Tolkien fan.

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Jun 14, 2011 Keri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great collection of Tolkien's lesser works.

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May 13, 2013 Cat is currently reading it

May 10, 2013 Bmhodo marked it as to-read

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi

May 07, 2013 Ethan rated it 5 of 5 stars

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May 01, 2013 Doug Matthews rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Apr 09, 2013 Stephanie King rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apr 08, 2013 Dick Skipwith marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 07, 2013 Julianne is currently reading it

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Apr 08, 2013 Jacqueline rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Mar 24, 2013 Ladeana West rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Mar 23, 2013 Marci rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: beautiful

Mar 22, 2013 Jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Mar 17, 2013 Michelle marked it as to-read

Shelves: home-library, fantasy, middle-earth

Mar 16, 2013 Lauren marked it as to-read

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About J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE, was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the high fantasy classic works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings .

Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English language and literature from 1945 to 1959. He was a close friend of C.S. Lewis.

Ch ...more

More about J.R.R. Tolkien...

Books by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)

The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)

The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)

The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)

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