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Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings
Happy Birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien
The German publishing firm of Rutten & Loening contacted Allen & Unwin in 1938 (the publishers of The Hobbit) and wanted to negotiate with them for a German translation of the book. But first and foremost, they wanted to know … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
19 Comments
The Books: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Daily Book Excerpt: Memoirs: Next book on the Memoir/Letters/Journals shelf is The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m not a Tolkien fanatic, although I love The Hobbit (it’s my favorite), so this book is rather tough-going for someone not up to … Continue reading
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Jessa Crispin has an interesting interview with Peter Boxall, editor of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I loved what Boxall said at the end: Having benefited from an extraordinary number of emails and letters as well as … Continue reading
Posted in Books, James Joyce
Tagged A Tale of Two Cities, A.S. Byatt, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Alice in Wonderland, Amongst Women, Animal Farm, Annie Proulx, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, At Swim-Two-Birds, Atonement, Cat's Eye, Catch-22, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, D.H. Lawrence, Don DeLillo, E.M. Forster, Edgar Allan Poe, Edna O'Brien, Emily Bronte, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Finnegans Wake, Flann O'Brien, Flannery O'Connor, Frankenstein, Franny and Zooey, George Eliot, George Orwell, Great Expectations, Gulliver's Travels, Handmaid's Tale, Herman Melville, House of Leaves, Hunter S. Thompson, Ian McEwan, In Cold Blood, J.D. Salinger, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Ellroy, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Jeanette Winterson, John Irving, John McGahern, John Steinbeck, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Heller, Kazuo Ishiguro, Leo Tolstoy, Lewis Carroll, Lord of the Rings, Margaret Atwood, Mark Danielewski, Mary Shelley, Master and Margarita, Middlemarch, Mikhail Bulgakov, Moby Dick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Notes From the Underground, Possession, Pride and Prejudice, Primo Levi, Sexing the Cherry, Stephen King, The Catcher In the Rye, The Country Girls, The Great Gatsby, The Hobbit, The Passion, The Shipping News, The Things They Carried, Thomas Mann, Tim O'Brien, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Ulysses, Underworld, Vladimir Nabokov, Wuthering Heights
9 Comments
Happy Birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien: “It is no bedtime story”
Today is the birthday of JRR Tolkien. He was born in South Africa on this day, in 1892. I love that picture – mainly because it was the author photo on the back of my dog-eared copy of The Hobbit … Continue reading
Happy birthday to The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring, which was published – on this day – in 1954 – as the sequel to The Hobbit, which appeared in 1937. The publisher apparently only printed 3,500 copies (o ye, of little faith!). It went … Continue reading
“Of course, The Lord of the Rings does not belong to me”
I post this excerpt from one of Tolkien’s letters for all my Tolkien-fan readers, and also specifically to annoy Patrick Prescott (who moved off Blogspot – Yeah!) Patrick has finally come to the conclusion that he is an “unwashed heathen”, … Continue reading Continue reading
Frodo, Free Will, More Tolkien Mania
The excerpt I posted, where Tolkien discusses “the failure of Frodo”, in the end, to complete his mission, generated a very interesting discussion. If you’re a Tolkien freak like myself. Bill McCabe commented: You’re right, but he also makes the … Continue reading
“The Failure of Frodo”
Tolkien responds to many letters from fans and reviewers about the failure of Frodo, in the end, to complete the Quest. I have a lot more to say on this – Tolkien’s discussion of Pity, and Mercy – and how … Continue reading
“I am not Gandalf…”
Tolkien wrote a draft to an unidentified reader, and in it he describes his affinity to Faramir. (Or should I say, his affinity “with” Faramir? Patrick, Grammar Guru, care to comment?)
“The sequel to the Hobbit”
“I have begun again on the sequel to the ‘Hobbit’ – The Lord of the Ring. It is now flowing along, and getting quite out of hand. It has reached about Chapter VII and progresses towards quite unforeseen goals. I … Continue reading