Group Read January-March 2014: The Tolkien Reader

[Stefan]

I won't be reading The Tolkien Reader but I will be reading A Tolkien Miscellany which contains all of the above mentioned stories and poems.

[Katherine]

I have tree and leaf and can read that. I think it contains on fairie stories and leaf by niggle. I've already read the tom bombadil one.

[Stefan]

Just finished Toward the Gleam so I'm going to take a little break before I start on this. Looking forward to reading it soon, though!

[Philip]

I do not own a copy of The Tolkien Reader, but I have read the prose and verse it contains. One of the most interesting things about the essay On Fairy Stories is that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote it, together with its accompanying short story, Leaf by Niggle, during the years of 1938 and 1939, when he was actually inside the writing of The Lord of the Rings, having just brought the four hobbits to their meeting with Strider in the Prancing Pony in Bree. So though he writes of the fairy stories collected by Andrew Lang and quotes from Thomas the Rhymer and mentions Alice In Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, Treasure Island, the tales of Beatrix Potter and the legends of King Arthur and of Sigurd, the slayer of the dragon, Fafnir, in his wonderful and very interesting essay, I was aware all the time, from when I first read it, that he was writing and thinking of only one story, and that was his own, The Lord of the Rings, the one he was in the first stages of putting on the page, set in his own world that he was discovering along with the four hobbits, as they ventured deeper and deeper inside it, the world he called Middle-earth. To me, only The Lord of the Rings is equal to the essay On Fairy Stories, which deserves to be read more than once. Leaf By Niggle is interesting as it is clearly about the problem Tolkien had, of having to live an ordinary suburban life, while at the same time creating his tales of Middle-earth in his house and garage, converted into a study.
Of course, in the story, Niggle is trying to complete his painting of a tree, while in real life, Tolkien was trying to finish his story, The Lord of the Rings.
Here is a quote from Farmer Giles of Ham which has always amused me:
'Then the warm summer was followed by a hard winter. It was bitter cold in the mountains and food was scarce. The talk got louder. Lowland sheep and kine from the deep pastures were much discussed. The dragons pricked up their ears. They were hungry, and these rumours were attractive.
"So knights are mythical!" said the younger and less experienced dragons. "We always thought so."
"At least they may be getting rare," thought the older and wiser worms;"far and few and no longer to be feared."
Farmer Giles of Ham is a charming book, I think, and very funny, at times. Smith of Wootton Major is another story rooted in the problem Tolkien had, of having to live in the ordinary world, while at the same time wanting to use his gift to explore the world of Faerie and to write down on the page what he found there.
As for The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, I recommend listening to Tolkien reading some of the poems from the book on the J.R.R. Tolkien Collection, published by Harper Collins Audio Books. I particularly like the way he reads The Mewlips. In the same collection, you can hear Tolkien reading from the chapter, Riddles In The Dark, from The Hobbit and his son, Christopher, reading Of Beren and Luthien from The Silmarillion. It is a wonderful collection altogether, I think.

[Elentarri]

Barbara wrote: "Are there any other editions that are just the same book under a different title that I should know about so I don't go on a Tolkien buying spree and get multiples?"

As far as I'm aware it's just the books that include compilations of Tolkien's short stories (Tom Bombadil, Leaf by Niggle, Farmer Giles, Roverandom, Smith of Wooton Major, On Fairy stories etc) that go under different titles and include or don't include a different selection of the short stories. I suggest you read the table of contents of these compilations so you can check if you are going to buy duplicates.

The History of Middle Earth set is 12 books that can be purchased separately or in a combined set (3 hard cover books as opposed to 12 separate books), but they are clearly labelled.

There is only one The Hobbit (sold as one book or as 2 book box set because of the movie), The LOTR (may be sold as one fat book, 3 normal sized books or 6 thin books box sets), The Silmarillion (one book), Unfinshed Tales (one book).


Hope that made sense?

[Beverly]

I finished reading it today and I don't feel equal to the task of evaluating any of this book. I enjoyed "Farmer Giles of Ham", "On Fairy Stories", and the poems about Tom Bombadil and others.
I especially liked the way that Farmer Giles stood up to the King, and eventually became a king in his own right.
I am ashamed to say that this book has sat on my home shelf for many years, unread, until I saw that it was the January-March read for this group. That inspired me to take it off the shelf and actually read it.
Incidentally, my copy did not have "Smith of Wooton Major" in it.