# Tolkien recommendations? (Yet another Tolkien thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** middle-earth\ **Created:** [November 30, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061 "2001-11-30T02:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/1 "2001-11-30T02:45:22Z")
Ok, of course I’ve read the trilogy and the Hobbit, but what other stuff of Tolkien’s should I read? I tried **The Silmarillion** years ago (the Rankin-Bass “Hobbit” special had just come out) and hated it. My tastes have presumably matured since then, but what other LotR stuff is out there? A couple of people have mentioned Tolkien’s letters, which sound interesting… Thanks! Fenris ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/2 "2001-11-30T03:42:52Z")
There’s \* Farmer Giles of Ham \* which usually comes along with another children’s type story (name??). Pretty good, but not of \* Hobbit \* or LOTR quality. I’ve tried several others, such as \* Unfinished Tales \* , but have not been happy with them. I did like \*Silmarillion \* , however. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/3 "2001-11-30T06:19:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > **I tried The Silmarillion years ago (the Rankin-Bass “Hobbit” special had just come out) and hated it. My tastes have presumably matured since then** Do give **The Silmarillion** another try. You’re older now, and I suspect the densely complex nature of **The Silmarillion** may have been what turned you off earlier. It was only on my attempt at it that I made it through, after I heard someone give me advice on how to to approach the book. It’s not a conventional narrative like LOTR, but rather more like the Norse sagas or biblical literature. Believe it or not, the advice worked for me, and **The Silmarillion** became the first book that I ever read where when I finished the last page, I _immediately_ went back to the first page and started all over again. Bliss. I actually like it more than **The Lord of the Rings**. ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/4 "2001-11-30T07:11:18Z")
It’s been many years since I’ve read Hobbit, LOTR and Silmarillion. My recollection is that the Hobbit comes off like the author had a really rich world to tell about, but didn’t yet have the writing chops for it. LOTR is written by a mature writer and would be a masterpiece for any author’s career. The Silmarillion is difficult to approach at first, but is an attempt to be as so epic as to dare to be Biblical and Chauceresque, without the inconsistencies. You decide whether JRR pulls it off, but it is stunning in its audacity for the scope of the attempt. I haven’t tried to read the many other volumes and lost tales edited by Chritopher Tolkien because I’ve always been under the impression that they were closer to exploitive notes rather than finished product, but that is an uninformed opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/5 "2001-11-30T12:06:32Z")
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil The Father Christmas Letters Mr Bliss Poems and Stories Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo Smith of Wootton Major Tree and Leaf Farmer Giles of Ham ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/6 "2001-11-30T12:10:05Z")
One that I enjoyed immensly was _Leaf by Niggle_ often published with the essay _On Faerie Stories_ in a book called _Tree and Leaf_, which is probably the most transparantly alagorical of Tolkien’s novels, although he would have denied that utterly… It begins: > [@](#): > > There was once a little man called Niggle, who had a long journey to make. He did not want to go, indeed the whole idea was distasteful to him; but he could not get out of it. He knew he would have to start sometime, but he did not hurry with his preparations. > Niggle was a painter. Not a very successful one, partly because he had so many other things to do. Most of these things he thought were a nuisance; but he did them fairly well, when he could not get out of them: which (in his opinion) was far too often. Niggle starts to paint a Tree, and this painting consumes his life, but is never finished because “the journey” has to be taken. But when the journey is ended, he finds that his Tree has come to life and is far more beautiful than he ever imagined. Here’s [an abstract](http://www.carleton.ca/esc/leaf.htm) of the story, and here’s [an exhaustive list](http://www.photovault.com/Link/mithrandir/booklist.html) of his published works and books about him or his works. Happy reading 🙂 Gp ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/7 "2001-11-30T12:21:03Z")
I have to admit that I’ve hated just about everything else by Tolkien. I found the Silmarillion boring (Except for the Ainulindale), I hated Leaf by Niggle, Smith of Wooton Major did nothing for me. I read The Tolkien Reader without joy. His translations of Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight, Sir Orfeo, and Pearl were dull (I have other editions of Sir Gawaine that I like much more). The only other thing of his I liked besides The Hobbit and LOTR is Farmer Giles of Ham, which is a parody of fantasy and chivalry works, with a lot of in-jokes. If you’re looking for more Tolkien, there’s one more LOTR-related work: **The Road Goes Ever On** , a Middle-Earth song book by Tolkien. Robert Foster, author of **A Guide to Middle earth** cites it as a reference source. I highly recommend **The Annotated Hobbit** , if you can find it. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/8 "2001-11-30T16:58:45Z")
Head over to [http://tolkien.slimy.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~steuard/booklist.pl](http://tolkien.slimy.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~steuard/booklist.pl) . Steuard Jensen has put together a script to offer all of Tolkien’s works in an order that would most interest you. Questions will need to answer is how important canonisity is to you, and what forms of writing you are most interested in (Naratives, Histories, Outlines, Essays, Poems etc.) For a more or less complete list of all published works including his translation work and other scholarly works check out [http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~bouvin/tolkien/booklist.html](http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~bouvin/tolkien/booklist.html) . My personal recomended order is: 1- The Hobbit 2- The Lord of the Rings 3- The Appendices and Prologue of The Lord of the Rings 4- Unfinished Tales 5- The Silmarillion 6- The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (ed. Humphrey Carpenter) 7- Morgoth’s Ring (HoME X) 8- The War of the Jewels (HoME XI) 9- J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (ed. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull) 10- The Peoples of Middle-earth (HoME XII) 11- The History of The Lord of the Rings (HoMe VI-IX) Things I have read but did not find all that interesting: 1- The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (Generally found as part of The Tolkien Reader) 2- The Book of Lost Tales, Parts I-II (HoMe I-II) 3- The Lays of Beleriand (HoMe III) 4- The Shaping of Middle-earth (HoMe IV) 5- The Lost Road (HoMe V) Things I have not read but are generally highly recomended: 1- Tolkien: The Authorized Biography (by Humphrey Carpenter) 2- “Osanwe-kenta: `Enquiry into the Communication of Thought’” Outside of the middle earth stuff Tolkien has also written a number of childrens stories and other short works. Many of these are in combo books like _Poems and Stories_. And some are nearly impossible to find. Here they are in my prefered order (The unnumbered ones I have never found): 1- Farmer Giles of Ham 2- Smith of Wooton Major 3- Roverandom 4- The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son 5- Tree and Leaf 6- The Adventures of Tom Bombadil Bilbo’s Last Song The Father Christmas Letters Mr. Bliss Oliphaunt (Same as Sam’s Poem in LotR but illustrated) The Tolkien Reader [Contains HBBS, TL, FGH, and ATB.] Poems and Stories [Contains ATB, HBBS, TL, FGH, and SWM.] Hope this helps ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/9 "2001-11-30T18:28:45Z")
> [@](#): > > (The unnumbered ones I have never found): I’ve found _Bilbo’s Last Song: At the Grey Havens_ and _The Father Christmas Letters_ as individual books, both in the Cleveland Public Library. FCL was entertaining, and I just about cried my eyes out at BLS. I’ve heard that Tolkien also did a translation of _Beowulf_, and I’d like to get my hands on it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/10 "2001-11-30T18:55:38Z")
> [@](#): > > . I’ve heard that Tolkien also did a translation of Beowulf, and I’d like to get my hands on it. I’m not sure he translated it. He wrote **Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics** , though. If he _did_ ever translate Beowulf, I don’t think I’d want to read it. After slogging through his translations of Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo, and The Homecoming of Beortnoth Beorthelm’s Son, I don’t think I could take any more of his translations. I kept hoping they’d get better, but they never did. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-recommendations-yet-another-tolkien-thread/96061/11 "2001-12-01T01:47:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > > > [@](#): > > > > (The unnumbered ones I have never found): > > I’ve found _Bilbo’s Last Song: At the Grey Havens_ and _The Father Christmas Letters_ as individual books, both in the Cleveland Public Library. Well admitedly I haven’t looked very hard for a couple of them. I simply don’t find myself all that interested in TFCL. I envy you Bilbo’s last song however. I haven’t found a library with it where I live. And my budget discourages me from bidding on it online. My only hope for much of Tolkien’s work are some used bookstores, and they have largely dried up in the last couple of years (dang movies 🙂 ).