ŷ������

Hi everyone. I just found this group. I am a fairly new Tolkien fan, of about 7-8 years. I have read The Hobbit, the LOTR Trilogy, The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin, JRR Tolkien biography (by Humphrey) and The Atlas of Middle Earth (a wonderful guide to use when reading Tolkien works), and Tolkiens World:Paintings of Middle Earth.

I was wondering what some of the seasoned Tolkien fans would suggest I read next? There are so many other Tolkien books, I'm not sure what would be best to follow up with from what I have already read?

I really enjoyed 'The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien'...gives some extra insight to the man behind the myths...also, I'm reading 'Tree and Leaf' its pretty good, but has no connection to M.E. at all...

You're making me feel like a complete infant... I've only been a Tolkien fan for 4 years, tops. Anyway, welcome. There are no suggestions on my part, but I'll be watching this for my own benefit.

Welcome, indeed. You have a very solid start there; pat yourself on the back for your first read through The Silmarillion. For more on Middle-Earth I would suggest Unfinished Tales. If you can tolerate the fragmentary nature of the material there is a wealth of story and information across all the Ages of Tolkien's subcreated world. Now that The Children of Húrin is available as a stand-alone, completely readable narrative, that section of the book might become a bit redundant, but you will find a lot of details to fill the gaps between the completed books. (One of my personal favorites is the off-hand reference to Celeborn and Galadriel taking up residence in Lothlórien some sixty centuries before the events in LotR. That's old.)

You might want to try some of Tolkien's so-called lighter fare. Farmer Giles of Ham & Smith of Wootton Major are two short stories that are both a pleasure to read and have hidden depths, especially the latter of the pair. The Tolkien Reader offers a sampler approach: you get "Farmer Giles", Tree and Leaf in its entirety (the story "Leaf By Niggle" and Tolkien's famous lecture "On Fairy-Stories), an enchanting collection of poems called "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", and a very interesting dramatic dialogue ("The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorthelm's Son") based on an incident in English history. An outstanding collection for expanding your taste for Tolkien.

Warning!: Take a Xanax before/after reading 'Children of Hurin'...I was depressed for weeks after reading it...great read, but definately a tragedy...

hmhm, I am a young lad, so I was first influenced by the "Fellowship of the Ring"-movie :P and so I've been a fan about 7-8 years myself ^^ I have also read more or less the same works that Angela here has ;P
I also have a Tolkien related tattoo on my forearm, does that count as Tolkien-mania? xD

I'm an oldster I guess. I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings during the summer of 1976, and I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've read them. I bought The Silmarillion when it was first published, but it took FOREVER for me to get through. I finally listened to it as an audio book and then went back and reread it. That helped me for some reason. And yes, get some Zolof or some other like medication before you read The Children of Hurin. Man, that is a tragic story.

Has anyone read the new book that Christopher Tolkien had released? I'm meaning the one that is the epic poem. If anyone has, is it worth the read?

Still haven't read the Sigurd and Gudrun bit yet-- you may want to read the second half of Poetic Edda first (the translation by Carolyne Larrington), since, from what I understand, Tolkien's version is supposed to fill a gap in those poems. But then again, I've also heard that Tolkien's version is meant to be a bit more understandable, or more of a comprehensive overview, of the very allusive version of the story as it is in PE. Shippey has a good review of it in the Times Literary Supplement-- I believe it's available online.

As for other Tolkien books to read, Unfinished tales and the History of Middle Earth would be good to move on to, if you are okay with fragmentary material and tons of notes. Watch out-- it might lead you into academia like it did me.

I would also recommend Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories", which I think may have been left out of one of the more recent collections of T's shorter works. There are ways in which is feels a bit old fashioned, and some people may not like the fairly explicit religious overtones at the end, but as I've gone back to reread it more recently, I think there are some interesting perspectives which could be productively taken up in contemporary lit-crit.

A non-Tolkien book about Tolkien which I would recommend in Flieger's Splintered Light-- she connects Tolkien's world-building and language building to Owen Barfield's philosophy of language. Still working through it myself, but I thought it seemed fairly easy to follow.

Hello there, I just joined myself. I've been a fan of Tolkien since about 1978. I read The Lord of the Rings once a summer. I also own the unabridged audio verision of the book read by Rob Inglis (Narrator). I would suggest The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion as well as the History of Middle-earth series.

Wow, I think that is a bit of a feat at your current age ^^ and I'd also like to say how great it is that you have started reading so early (I wish I did :/ I wish everybody did ^^), good for you ;D

I have to agree with Jarl, that is impressive. I read the Hobbit when I was about 10 years old, about the time the animated movie came out. I didn't read the Lord of the Rings until I was a freshman in high school. The Silmarillion is a very tough book to get through.

My son read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings when he was in 4th grade...so he was about 8 or 9 years old. It has led to a lifetime of reading for which I am eternally grateful. Up to the time that he didn't want to read together anymore, these books were on the top of his list of bedtime stories to read. Lord, he'd have a fit if he knew I'd posted that. LOL He's in his twenties now.

Chris, keep reading...and reading...and reading. Anything you can get your hands on. All types of genre. It will help you in your education like you won't believe.

Hi everyone..I'm so glad to see I'm not the only Tolkien geek around!I just finished "Children of Hurin" and thought it was a wonderful,though tragic, story,and am currently reading "Unfinished Tales",which I'm almost through.I read "the Hobbit" when I was 8,but couldn't quite get through LOTR then.I took it up again about 10 years ago,in my late twenties,and ever since then I've been trying to read everything he ever wrote.What an amazing mind and imagination Mr.Tolkien had.

Keep in mind that creating the various tales were secondary to his day-job as an academic.

I immediately joined this group after noticing it. I've been a big Tolkien fan since reading his work in my early twenties. In fact, he is my most beloved author and has influenced me greatly in my own writing career. I look forward to having some interesting discussions about Professor Tolkien with you all.

Two new HOBBIT movies due for release soon. I wonder how they will compare to JRRT's tale? HOBBIT remains my favourite tale by JRRTT. LOTR series is too much "sword & sorcery" and militarist vs pacifist for me and not enough guile & humour.

Hi! I'm Denise, and I am a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Harry Potter. I've even written a book comparing Harry Potter to The Lord of the Rings and Narnia which has been reviewed here on ŷ������. It is called The Lord of the Hallows if you are interested, and it's available at

I'm going to MythCon 41 in Dallas this summer. This is the convention of the Mythopoeic Society, a group dedicated to the study of the works of Tolkien, Lewis, and Charles Williams. Is anyone else here going to that event?

Tolkien fans, please add me as a friend. I am new to this site and am trying to meet more people who share my interests.

First picked up ROTK in an airport bookstore to read en route to somewhere long forgotten ('73 or '74). About 2 chapters in, I was hooked and wished I hadn't started with the final installment. After returning home, I bought everything I could find concerning Tolkien including a couple of biographies. Years later, the trilogy is still my all time favorite 'book' and I have read it cover to cover many times. I also enjoyed the Silmarilion and have read it several times. The last new read for me was "The Children of Hurin" and it is sad, as are all the tales of the first and second ages.

Hi folks, just joined. I first read the hobbit at about 11, and been hooked ever since. everytime I read LOTR I enjoy it and find something new. Im also big fan of Unfinished tales, espcially narn i hin hurin & Aldarion & erendis

Just remember: Out there in some parallel universe, FRODO LIVES!

Hi, a die hard fan here, I have read the trilogy four times and all the other books.

Juanma.

Hi there, I'm just a Tolkien-obsessed reader. I've read the trilogy once (and I'm reading it again), The Silmarillion, and The Children of Hurin. What a fun group!

When I hear certain music, I am reminded of scenes in LOTR, because I was listening to that music when I read the trilogy ... 30 years ago (first or second times). I own 3 somewhat obscure LP's (you remember LP's ) that I will always associate with LOTR: Heavy Weather by Weather Report, Heads by Bob James, and Sky Blue by Passport. Very weird.

Hi, all. I first read The Hobbit when I was about 8 (1972!) and re-read and re-read it. Then got the deluxe boxed version of LOTR for Christmas 1978, I think. Have re-read that many times also plus many of the other works mentioned above.

I'm lucky enough to live in Lancashire and not far from Stoneyhurst College, where Tolkien stayed when visiting his son John, who was a pupil there. The surrounding area, the Forest of Bowland, is reputed to be the inspiration for the Shire, but then many places where he spent time make the same claim. It's interesting that Tolkien himself is becoming almost mythologised in the UK with many localities deriving a sense of history and worth from the association, rather like King Arthur and Robin Hood. Or, maybe it's just Tourist Board marketing!

Hi my name is Elizabeth. I live on a farm in IL, with my three siblings, two goats, a dog, and four cats and five mice not to count the numerous chickens and geese. I am homeschooled by my loving parents and two of my greatest interests are medical herbs and the medieval ages. I also enjoys reading, drawing, sewing, spinning, farm animals and playing the piano. I love my savior, Jesus Christ!!!

I've read The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, Tales from the Perilous Realm which includes Roverandom, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, On Fairy-Stories and Leaf by Niggle. And I've readThe Children of Húrin and The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún. I am currently reading The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One, The Silmarillion, The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two, and The Book of Lost Tales, Part One.

Hi, Elizabeth. That's a lot of Tolkien you've read :-)

Thanks Micheal.

Welcome Elizabeth. It's good to see a new generation of Tolkien readers. You will have many friends here, young and old alike.

:D Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

Angela wrote: "Hi everyone. I just found this group. I am a fairly new Tolkien fan, of about 7-8 years. I have read The Hobbit, the LOTR Trilogy, The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin, JRR Tolkien biography..."

I really very much enjoy Tolkien's kids-stories (Farmer Giles, &c.), as well as The Children of Húrin. Some of the new stuff his son has published is excellent. But my advice is just to enjoy the stuff you have read. I first read The Hobbit at six, and The Lord of the Rings at eight. No novel has ever so affected my life in so many ways as that one.

My Primary 5 teacher read The Hobbit to my class. I was hooked - I managed to get a copy of Bhakshi's Lord of the Rings and watched that - for a 10 year old who had never seen anything quite like it it was mindblowing - I still think that in some respects it is superior to the Peter Jackson films. I didn't manage to read LoR until I was in 2nd year at High School but when I did I read Two Towers and Return of the King in two days each - I just couldn't put them down.

It was years later that I read The Silmarillion - I still find that hard going even now in my mid 30s. I read David Days A Tolkien Bestiary after I read LoR and I found that a much easier way of filling out the whole mythology.

Welcome James. Yeah The Silmarillion is kinda hard to get your mind around. I really like it though cause it is a lot like Greek myths, which I really enjoy.

Hello, Hannah. The Hobbit is such a good book, which I'm due to read again myself quite soon. I first read it when I was age 9, 38 years ago!

Hi! I'm Connor, I've been a Tolkien fan for I guess five years. My dad read The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again to my sister and me when I was in second grade. I loved it. In fifth grade I read the Hobbit again. Then I've read The Lord of the Rings in fifth grade as well. I read them two more times. Once in sixth grade, and once in seventh grade. I also read The Silmarillion in seventh grade. That's a tough book for a seventh grader so I have to read that again sometime soon. I haven't read The Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion for three years now. I have read The Children of Hurin last year (in ninth grade) and I think I'll read Unfinished Tales after I read The Lord of the Rings again.

I was invited to join by a good friend of mine (Hi Gundula!) and I've been reading Tolkien since the early to mid-1980s (I don't recall exactly when). I've been re-reading The Lord of the Rings every year since the 90s and I usually re-read The Hobbit at the same time.

I've read The Hobbit (in various forms, I have a really nice version illustrated by Michael Hague), The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, most of the History of Middle-Earth series (I'm still trying to pick up various books), Unfinished Tales, Children of Húrin, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf, and Bilbo's Last Song. I have The Legend of Sigurd & Gundrún, but I haven't got around to reading it yet.

Hi, Tim. Welcome to the Group: nice to have another Tolkienite on board :-)

Hi - I'm another one directed here by a friend (Hi again, Gundula!). I think I discovered LotR around the age of 12 - I wish I could remember. I read it about once a year - it became my Christmas read for many years. I loved reading about Frodo and Sam fighting against all odds by the light of the Christmas tree. I joined a Tolkien message board and had the books open almost non-stop for over six years what with discussions, quizzies, annotating transcripts of the movies, writing parodies and on and on - till I burned out completely. It's been several years since I've read the books - but, happily, I recently read The Hobbit with The #GeekGirls Book Club (when I was tickled to find that I still knew most of the words to "Far over the Misty Mountains cold"), and, even more happily, The Comfort Reads Group will be doing a buddy read of LotR soon.

I've read and enjoyed, besides the trilogy and The Hobbit, the History of LotR (though not of M-E), Unfinished Tales, Farmer Giles and Leaf by Niggle and such. I'm ashamed to admit I've never read The Silmarillion - maybe this year; I have Children of Húrin, signed bookplate and all, but haven't gotten to it either.

Tolkien has very much changed my life; apart from the conflict of my affection for Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman versus my distaste for Peter Jackson, that's about it for me.

Hi, Tracey. Gundula said she was going to try and drum up some trade for us :-D Thanks for joining in.

Hi Dena - welcome to the Tolkien Addiction Support Group ;-)

If you check the poll currently at the bottom of the Group home page, you can vote for our next Group Read. The Silmarillion is presently the front runner, but The Children of Húrin could come through if enough people vote for it.

Hello, I'm Kathryn. I've fairly recently become obsessed with Tolkien and his works, especially Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but I recently found and bought The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in an op-shop, so I'm planning on reading them next. I love the films also, and I can't wait for The Hobbit to hit the pictures.

Hi Kathryn - welcome to the Fellowship.

I'm Stephanie. I'm a freelance book editor and before that was an English-lit academic. I didn't read Tolkien till my late 30s, when the last movie came out. I felt like I was making up for lost time after that. I've read the Hobbit (one of my least favourites), LOTR (currently rereading), the Sil, Unfinished Tales, Children of Hurin, various other stories and essays, and a good bit of criticism. On my still-to-do list: the first few volumes of material collected as the History of Middle-Earth, especially the earlier poetry. But that's been on my still-to-do list for a long time, so I don't imagine it'll get off of it any time soon.

Hi Stephanie. Glad to see you join the Group

If you want to get a start on that To Read pile, you might want to join the Group Challenge and set yourself a target for reading at least one new JRRT book in 2012. If not, I hope you enjoy being part of the Group, anyway :-)

Starting this one tonight, for a different site's reading! http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... Chosen because some people think it's not far off Shippey, and as a Tom Shippey fan, that seemed a good time to dip back into criticism.

Hi Tim and Tracey, I'm looking forward to a Tolkien group read!!

Dena wrote: "Kathryn wrote: "Hello, I'm Kathryn. I've fairly recently become obsessed with Tolkien and his works, especially Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but I recently found and bought The Silmarillion, U..."

Yeah, I thought I was lucky, too. It was under $10, which was brilliant. It's very old, and the cover's wrecked- someone has had to write the title in pen in order for it to be readable- but it's good. :)

Hello! I'm Amalie. I'm so glad I found this group. I absolutely love Tolkien! I've read several books but there are plenty more to read. Recently I read this The Magical Worlds of Lord of the Rings: The Amazing Myths, Legends and Facts Behind the Masterpiece by David Colbert. The cover of the book says " This book was not authorized, prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien..." Doesn't sound very promising, right? WRONG! Reading this you'll realize that David Colbert has obviously done his homework.

Glad to be here :)

Hi, Amalie: we're glad that you are here :-)

Hello, Tolkien fans. "As a matter of fact, I am a hobbit." I've been reading and rereading Tolkien since I was in Middle School in the mid to late 70s.

I loved LTRs and "The Hobbit" so much that I had already begun rereading them and wishing there were more when the "Silmarillion" came out in '77. I remember looking at that so many times, wanting to get into it and knowing it wasn't for me. But wanting more Tolkien.

Then about 15 or 10 years ago I started reading Tolkien Criticism and some of them warmed me up to the "Silmarillion".

Building stained glass is a hobby of mine. I listen to audio books while I do it because it is a long process and the books occupy my mind. I got an audio version on cassette through my library. It really turned me on. Before 100 pages I stopped working on the glass. I bought a copy of the book and listened to it while reading. When that was done I turned right back around and read it again. I think I've read Silmarillion about 6 times in the past 5 or 6 years.

That led me to "The History of Middle Earth" I am in the volumes where he discusses the writing of LTRs. I have also read "The Children of Hurin." My true favorite is "Beren and Luthien".

The book I haven't read is his long Germanic Poem.

So, I hope to have nice conversations with the group. Also, right now I only have 5 friends. I would like to have a few more.

Here's to Tolkien and good conversation.