Group Reads November 2016-March 2017: The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun

[Michael]

The new publication of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun is out today, 03 November 2016.

I've added an additional Group Read for this quarter, extending the date to the end of next January as it may be that some people will receive a copy as a festive gift.

Please do share your thoughts about this work, which most of us will never have had available before.

[Michael]

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun is the Professor's version of a medieval French folkloric poem, which has previously been only scarcely available so this is an exciting opportunity for the vast majority of us to connect with another element of Tolkien's work.

Whilst this is not a part of Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, the characters he introduces here are considered to be foundational to others he developed for his later major works.

The book has accompanying material by eminent Tolkien scholar, Verlyn Flieger, whose insights I'm sure will be enlightening.

[Joey]

Got my copy in today but it was badly damaged, had to send it back to get a refund and order it again. The book looked beautiful and i cannot wait to start.