Flora of Middle-Earth (Oxford University Press)

Any fan of  J.R.R.Tolkien knows that the man was a genius, and I think even that term does not do him justice. In addition to creating a whole world (Middle-earth), he also created a language, and comprehensive (yet sadly unfinished) history of this world. What people (myself included) might not know about Tolkien is that he loved plants. He even wrote in one of his letters, "I am (obviously) much in love with plants and above all trees, and always have been; and I find human maltreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment of animals." Reading this statement and just merely thinking about some of the passages of Lord of the Rings, it is clear to see all the plant life or flora in his works. There's Kingsfoil, pipe-weed, the white trees of Gondor, and of course who could forget Treebeard and the other Ents? In a recently published book, Flora of Middle Earth, father-son duo Walter S. Judd and Graham A. Judd set out explore and explain this interesting subject. The book is approximately 400 pages long and is divided into the following chapters:

1. Introduction: The Importance of Plants in J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium
2. Plant Communities of Middle-earth
3. The Diversity of Life, with a Focus on the Green Plants
4. Introduction to Plant Morphology: Learning the Language of Plant Descriptions
5. Identification of the Plants of Middle-earth
6. Telperion and Laurelin: The Two Trees of Valinor
7. The Plants of Middle Earth
8. A Note from the Illustrator

The opening chapters provide a brief lesson on the different climate zones in Middle-earth, what exactly is a plant, what are the parts of a plant, and a key to identifying the plants of Middle-earth. This is a lot of science and botany and might bog the average reader down if they don't share as great a love for plants as the authors and Tolkien. Chapter Six is a brief but amazingly interesting chapter to read as the Two Trees of Valinor are central to the mythology of Middle-earth. They are the origin of the Sun, the Moon, great Elvish wisdom, and the white trees of Gondor. Sadly, they were destroyed by Morgoth and Ungoliant. The meat (or I guess in tree terminology, sapwood) of this book is Chapter Seven. Within this massive chapter are roughly 100 different types of plants from Middle-earth, including unidentified plants, which are plants that are merely named in in the Legendarium but little or no other information is known about them. Each identified plant is given its own subsection in the chapter and contains the following information about each plant: an excerpt from Tolkien's works, etymology, distribution and ecology, economic uses, and description. Some plants have figures/illustrations associated with each, but not all of them.

This was a truly fascinating work to read. It opened my eyes to a love of Tolkien's that I didn't even know existed within him. This is also a very dense work to read as well. Unless you truly love plants, you are not going to breeze their every page and find yourself bogged down with facts and details sometimes. What I loved best about this book is some of the sections that blew my mind on their significance in Middle-earth, and I immediately went back and read them. This is a book I see myself visiting each time I read Tolkien, so that I can better understand a botanical layer of his work that until now I didn't even know was present!

This book was provided to me for free by Oxford University Press in exchange for an honest review.

Beren and Lúthien (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

In 1916, J.R.R. Tolkien returned from France and the Battle of Somme of the First World War. Three million men fought in this battle and over one million were injured or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. Knowing these statistics, it is safe to say that the battle impacted Tolkien's life. This is evidenced by the fact that he penned Beren and Lúthien, a tragic tale of an ill-fated love between a mortal man and immortal she-Elf. In fact, you can see elements of The Silmarillion and other First Age tales of Tolkien's in Beren and Lúthien. Unfortunately, for Tolkien and us, he never finished it. He constantly tweaked the work and revisited it, but it was never completed. The 2017 release of this title shows just that.

Like all of the Tolkien books that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has produced lately, the presentation value is top-notch! The book is a dust-jacketed hardcover, so it matches the formatting of the other books. Alan Lee does the illustrations for the book and after Pauline Baynes, he is my go-to Tolkien illustrator. As for the contents of the book, it is what you have come to expect from the recent Tolkien releases. This means that there is a lot of background, history, and revisions. A lot of this information and text can be found in You won't find a completed work, but instead you will find different attempts by Tolkien at completing this work. What I found interesting is that the literary style changed as well, as there are manuscripts that show this work in both poetry and prose format. Reading through the book was not only interesting because Tolkien's works are brilliant, but it is simply fascinating to enter the mind of a genius and see the evolution of a work. Looking at all the unfinished works that Tolkien left behind, it is clear that the man was a perfectionist, who was always trying to perfect his works and make them the best they could be. He reminds me of one of his characters named Niggle from Leaf by Niggle, which is another fine work of his you should read. Sadly for him (and more sadly for us), if he had given us a 75% effort and finished a work, it would probably still better than 99% of the other works out there. If you are someone who hasn't read the History of Middle Earth or are a Tolkien completionist, I recommend picking up a copy. If you are just a casual fan of his, then you'd be better served with other works of his.

This copy was provided to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review.

The Elder Edda (Penguin Classics)

The Elder Edda is the second book in the Penguin Classics series Legends from the Ancient North. This work, like the others in this series have two things in common. The author is anonymous, and the works inspired the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. This edition of the book begins with a twenty page introduction by the author, which tells us about the Icelandic history of the Codex Regius and the contents. There are also notes on spelling, pronunciation, and translation, which will be helpful to serious students of Norse literature. There are also several pages of further reading that will prove interesting to both the casual and serious reader.

The book is divided into three sections - The Mythological Poems of the Codex Regius, The Heroic Poems of the Codex Regius, and an appendix which has Some Eddic Poems Not Contained in the Codex Regius. The mythological poems are my favorite, as I'm a sucker for myths from most cultures. These poems cover characters like Odin, Loki, Grimnir, and Hymir. Some of the Heoric Poems have a mix of prose and poetry, and some read like a play with speaking parts for different characters. At the end of the book are approximately 100 pages of abbreviations, glossary, and most helpful notes on each poem. Overall, this was an interesting read and one I'd recommend if you are a fan of Norse literature/mythology like myself.

This book was provided to me for free by Penguin Classics in exchange for an honest review.

The Story of Kullervo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

The Story of Kullervo is the most recent release from the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien. It is considered one of his earliest works and was never published until very recently. The book is approximately 200 pages long, but the actual story is only 40 pages. The remainder of the book is a lengthy introduction, notes and commentary, two different essays on "The Kalevala, and an essay on Tolkien and "Kullervo" by the editor Verlyn Flieger.

The actual "Story of Kullervo" was one of Tolkien's darker tales. His uncle was evil and murdered his father, before Kullervo was born, which sounds a bit like Hamlet to me. To make matters worse, his older siblings are also wicked towards Kullervo and try and kill him as well. In typical hero fashion, Kullervo plans revenge, but before he can exact that revenge, he is sold off and again horribly mistreated. Unfortunately, Kullervo is no hero. The story doesn't finish, but we are left with notes on the conclusion of the story. In a nutshell, Kullervo becomes more evil than his uncle ever was. There is a lot of killing, and Kullervo finally takes his own life "and finds the death he sought for."

You can definitely see elements of Tolkien in this writing, but reading through the story itself, you can see why it was never finished and took so long to be published. The essays by Tolkien and Flieger are something that should be read before reading the actual story. It provides background and context that will make you appreciate the story more. So should you buy this book? If you are a hardcore Tolkien fan who wants to own everything of his, then you'll buy this book regardless of what I say. If you are merely a semi-casual fan, wait until the book is around $15 (like it currently is on Amazon), because the book is not worth the list price of $25. Overall, I am glad I own this book, and I recommend it with reservations, but I am left wondering how many more unfinished stories of Tolkien we are going to see after this one.

This book was provided to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings is a 650 page behemoth of the book, written by Philip and Carol Zaleski. There were many members of the Inklings, but this book chooses to focus only on four members of the Inklings - J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams. The prologue then explains the reasons for choosing these four. For starters, they were the most well-known and most original of authors. However, the authors also viewed them as compass points. Tolkien was a Catholic; Lewis was a "mere Christian;" Williams was an Anglican; and Barfield was an esotericist.

There are nineteen chapters in the book, and the first few chapters provide brief biographies of the above four men.  book begins with Tolkien. In addition to personal information on each author, we learn about their literary lives as well - what interested them, what influenced them, and their thought process. We also get a glimpse into how their lives intersected before and during the Inklings. What is most interesting is when the authors of this book took their works of the four men and examined them in greater detail. But this book doesn't just focus on the men and their works, it also focuses on their lives outside of this circle. We see mention of Edith Tolkien and their children and the joy Tolkien felt. We learn of C.S. Lewis finally finding happiness in marriage with Joy Davidman. This glimpses helped humanize these legends and show us that they are more than just brilliant minds, but loving hearts as well.

I find myself having a hard time writing a review for this book, and I believe it is due to the size of this book. I would compare it to trying to read the encyclopedia. There are many fascinating articles, but you will quickly feel overwhelmed with information. It also feels like it bounces around on topics as well. Instead of one massive book on the four authors, I would have preferred four smaller books for each individual. However, doing that, you run the risk of the book on Williams or Barfield never being published due to them being less popular than Lewis and Tolkien. Luckily, there is an index if you are looking for something specific. There are also copious amounts of footnotes and a very impressive bibliography, which I will re-visit to see if I want to read any other books on this subject. This is not the definitive book on the Inklings, but it is a very good starting point and one that you perhaps can use to guide you on what area of Inklings history you'd like to narrow in on.

This book was provided to me for free by Farrar, Straus and Giroux for free in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Shadow of Evil (InterVarsity Press)

Colin Duriez is a well-renowned expert on the writings of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their friendship. Therefore, when I saw he had a recent book out (Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Shadow of Evil) about the two of them and their writing, I knew I had to make time to read this book. The book begins by discussing World War I and World War II; how it affected C.S. Lewis, his family, and his friends. We learn about his time in service, the injuries he suffered, and the people close to him that died in war. This leads us to Chapter Two, which focuses solely on The Screwtape Letters. This work of Lewis was obviously the one that tackled the problem of devils most directly. It was also the book that troubled him the most when he was writing it. If you have ever read it, this is understandable, because he had to think like a demon which has to be one of the most unpleasant experiences ever.

Chapter Three of this book shifts the focus away from just C.S. Lewis to all of the Inklings. It begins with a list of all the publications and broadcasts of Inklings members who attended meetings during World War II. This list shows us how preoccupied they were with the war and the problem of evil. An interesting tidbit one reads in this chapter is that it actual refers to this time as the "golden age" for the Inklings. The reason for this was two-fold - Charles Williams joined the group and the war provided a type of "magic" that inspired their literary genius. Chapter Four speaks mainly about The Lord of the Rings, but it also touches briefly on horcruxes in the Harry Potter series. The rest of the book focuses primarily on C.S. Lewis works, with a brief reference to Tolkien's Leaf by Niggle. We see The Problem of Pain, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Cosmic Trilogy.

This was an interesting book for me, because it dealt with two of my favorite authors. I was hoping for a more even distribution between the two authors, but the book favors Lewis at a ratio of about 4:1. That complaint aside, it was a good read because it gave background and perspective on the two authors and and many of their works. Reading through this book, you can also tell that the author not only has a great knowledge of the two authors, but a great love for them as well. If you are a fan of either or both of these authors, this is a book that would be worth checking out.

This book was provided to me for free by InterVarsity Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Bandersnatch (Kent State University Press)

Any fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and/or C.S. Lewis knows about the Inklings, but for those who don't, the Inklings was a literary discussion group at the University of Oxford that was composed of such men as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and Charlies Williams (to name a few). They encouraged and inspired each other, and there was also some collaboration among the members when writing their fiction and fantasy tales. The book Bandersnatch offers an insider look at this exclusive group, the authors' collaborative efforts, and how their works were shaped and improved with these efforts.

The book begins with the author, Diana Pavlac Glyer, telling us about the love for Tolkien's writings she developed when she was in high school. It was then she also learned of C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, and her curiosity was at an all-time high. She wanted to know what these men talked about in their meetings, and so she embarked on this adventure, which turned more into a daily grind. It wasn't until years later that she learned that Tolkien had no intentions of writing anything else related to Middle Earth after he wrote The Hobbit. He eventually relented and wrote three chapters of a new Middle Earth story. C.S. Lewis read the chapters and enjoyed them, but he also provided critiques for them, which Tolkien took to heart. We are then provided with a comparison of the original text and the revised text. Frodo's name in the original text was actually Bingo. I don't think Bingo would have been as endearing a character name, so thankfully it was changed.

After this, we get brief glimpses at the members of the Inklings, Tolkien and Lewis in a debate on the English curriculum, their shared love of Norse mythology. However, the heart and soul of this book deals with the collaborations of these men and the numerous examples of original and revised texts. Using all these examples, the author drives home her point that great works are not created in a vacuum. Instead, it takes a joint effort of people reading your drafts, your works, and providing useful feedback. The burden is then on you to swallow your pride and realize that you don't know everything and you might be too close to your work to see some of its flaws. Reading through this book, I discovered lots of interesting revisions in the works of my favorite authors. It was like going back in time to read their notebooks. You get to see how genius develops, not on its own but with the help of others. This is a great book not just for Inklings fans, but for aspiring authors. It will open your eyes to the fact that if these great authors need help writing, so do you. Highly recommended!

This book was provided to me for free by Kent State University Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Wanderer: Elegies, Epics, Riddles (Penguin Classics)

Today, I am continuing with my monthly reviews of the series Legends from the Ancient North from Penguin Classics. Last month, I reviewed Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and this month I am reviewing The Wanderer: Elegies, Epics, and Riddles. I had never heard of this title before receiving it in the mail, so I was eager to dive in this book and see what it entailed.

The book begins with an introduction on Anglo-Saxon people and verse. There is also a brief lesson on how poetry has changed over the past thousand years. After that is "A Note on the Translation" and several prefaces. I always try to read notes on translations, because when reading a translation of something, you often wonder how accurate it actually is. That is why I enjoyed what the translator, Michael Alexander, wrote when he said, "I have never seen the point of translating verse into anything but verse. 'The harmony of prose' may be useful for a first impression, or for 'the story' of the narrative poem; and it may be that any translation is better than none. But it seems to me that the first aim in translating a living poem from a language which happens to be unknown into one's own language is to produce something with art in it., something which lives." After reading that, I knew the Mr. Alexander would provide us with the best translation he possibly could.

There are several types of poetry included in this book, such as elegies, heroic poems, gnomic verses, and riddles. Each section in the book contains an introduction on the type of poetry as well as an introduction on the specific poem. For example, in the heroic poems section, there is a selection from Beowulf. With some of the shorter poems, Mr. Alexander included the original text in Northumbrian. It was fascinating to see, but this bit might only be of interest to true students of Anglo-Saxon poetry. My favorite section of the book was the selection of riddles. I thought I was really good at riddles, but I was honestly stumped by most of these. Thankfully, there was a suggested answers section at the end of the book. I will provide you with an easy one to test your riddle skills:

The wave, over the wave, a weird thing I saw,
thorough-wrought, and wonderfully ornate:
a wonder on the wave - water become bone.

This was a fairly interesting read that contained many different types of poems. If you've never read Beowulf, this book provides enough of a selection to entice you to read more, which thankfully you can by the same editor in Legends from the Ancient North series. If you are a lover of poetry and riddles, then you will want to give this book a go. Also, if you are a lover of Tolkien and would like to see some of the works that inspired him, then you will want to read this too!

This book was provided to me for free by Penguin Classics in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Art of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

If you're an extreme Tolkien fan, like myself, probably already own several versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings both in paperback and hardcover, illustrated and not. Each edition has its strengths and weaknesses, but none is perfect on its own. Over the past three years, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has released two books of original Tolkien illustrations. Allow me to briefly tell you about each of them.

When reading through various editions of The Hobbit, which I own, I find myself puzzled by the lack of illustrations in a book of this nature. There's a scant few and a map or two, but not nearly enough to capture the beauty of Tolkien's words. When going through the hundreds of documents in Tolkien's estate, scores of illustrations were found and scanned to create the book The Art of the Hobbit. The book itself is 150 pages and hardcover, measuring in at 10" x 10". It's an odd-size for a shelf, but you'll probably not have it on the shelf much and find yourself flipping through it or displaying on the coffee table. The book contains over 100 original Tolkien sketches, illustrations, and maps.

Tolkien was not a trained artist by any means, but his artwork would make you think otherwise. Like, the words in his books, which went through numerous changes, his maps and illustrations did as well. The book does a nice job of capturing the evolution of his artwork, going from very crude sketches to beautiful masterpieces of pen and ink, sometimes even full color. Accompanying each illustration is text excerpts from The Hobbit and explanations of the illustration, the changes in the illustration (if there were multiple illustrations of the same scene), and commentary on why Tolkien chose to illustrate something a particular way. This is truly a beautiful book, but if I had to change one thing about it, it would be that some of the pages fold out. I'd rather there be no fold-out pages, but that is a minor gripe for such a treasure of a book.

The Art of The Lord of the Rings is the long-awaited companion volume to The Art of the Hobbit. The publisher kept the size of the hardcover the same (10" x 10"), which I always appreciate. There is nothing worse than having a book that belongs with another and them being different sizes! The length of this book is almost 250 pages, which is 100 pages more than The Art of the Hobbit. 250 pages is a generous plenty, but greedy Tolkien fan that I am I was hoping for close to 500 pages, since this is a trilogy after all! Also unlike its companion book, there are no fold-out pages, which I greatly appreciate, as I always felt like I was going to end up getting those pages even more folded up or worse ripping them.

Upon picking up this book, I was expecting many illustrations of Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn. Instead, I would say this book is more maps and runes/inscriptions than anything. That is not a complaint, merely an observation. There are images of castles and keeps and towers. But one notices that there are numerous illustrations of the inscription on the One Ring and so many maps and revisions of maps. At times, it feels like looking through a time lapsed atlas where you see the changes and evolutions of a specific area. Other times, it feels like you are flipping through a travel log and tracing the journey of the Fellowship. Pair all of these illustration with the masterful commentary by editors Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, and you have a book that makes the perfect gift for any serious Tolkien fan. Be sure to check out other books edited by them including J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator.

These books were provided to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for honest reviews. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

The Silmarillion and Tales from the Perilous Realm (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Being a book reviewer, you don't always get to take your time and read books for pleasure. Sometimes you are under a time constraint to get a review done. Other times publishers you faithfully work with send you a book that you don't really want to review, but you feel obligated to. Sometimes, there are just too many books and not enough time. There are some people who are more successful at slowing down and only reviewing one book a week, and I applaud them for that. I haven't been able to accomplish that, and it's probably because I'm so greedy in wanting ALL THE BOOKS! Anyways, I'm rambling, when all I really needed to say was, "Today, I am reviewing two books I really wanted to review." Without further ado, here are my reviews for today.

I own several copies of The Silmarillion, but one thing they were all lacking was illustrations. I know that it's a more adult tale than The Hobbit or even The Lord of the Rings, but sometimes when you're reading fiction, you just want some illustrations to accompany what you are reading. The only edition I have found so far was published in 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The illustrator is Ted Nasmith, who is known for his Tolkien-inspired paintings. What's impressive to know about him is that as a teenage Nasmith mailed Tolkien some pictures of his artwork, and Tolkien replied to him! This correspondence and honest critique of his artwork improved his work, which led to him being invited to work on the conceptual art for The Lord of the Rings movies and providing the artwork for the first ever illustrated edition of The Silmarillion.

For those unfamiliar with The Silmarillion, it is divided into five parts. The first part deals with creation of Eä, the second part talks about Valar and Maiar, the third part (the longest one) is historical events before and during the First Age, the fourth part takes place in the Second Age and primarily deals with the Fall of Númenor, and the last part talks about the Third Age and events that led to the events in The Lord of the Rings. I particularly love the Creation account, but I'm a sucker for tales like this in mythology. The illustrated edition contains "the revised and corrected second edition text;" a letter written by Tolkien himself, which explains his conception of the earlier Ages, and a fold-out map Beleriand. I personally think the map should not have been glued in the book, but instead tucked in a sleeve so you could look at it easier, but alas.

So if you already own an edition of The Silmarillion, why should you get this one? For starters, it's a hardcover edition. If this is a book you plan to devote some time to and read over and over, you want a hardcover, so that it will hold up better. The other reason you should get this book is because it's illustrated! There are about 50 color paintings/illustrations in here by Ted Nasmith, and they will captivate you! I found myself studying those as much as I studied the text, and I kept wishing there had been more. So if you are a casual Tolkien fan who wants to know more or an avid Tolkien fan who wants a lasting edition of one of his tougher works, I highly recommend the illustrated version of The Silmarillion!

Tales from the Perilous Realm is like owning a set of some of Tolkien's lesser known works in a single volume. In this hardcover are his book of poems entitled The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and his four novellas Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, Smith of Wootton Major, and Roverandom. Also included in this book is also a speech Tolkien gave entitled On Fairy-stories. The illustrations are done by Alan Lee, who has illustrated other Tolkien works, including The Lord of the Rings and The Children of Húrin.

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil contains several poems about Tom, several poems found in The Lord of the Rings, and other poems about fairy tales and whatnot. Farmer Giles of Ham is a fun tale about a farmer battling a dragon named Chrysophylax. Leaf by Niggle is about an artist named Niggle in a society that doesn't appreciate art. He is also a perfectionist, so he never completes the grand masterpiece he set out to do. Smith of Wootton Major was a fairy story meant merely to serve as a preface to George MacDonald's story The Golden Key, but instead became a standalone story of its own. Lastly, Roverandom is a story about a dog who is turned into a toy and goes on many adventures including a trip to the moon.

Each tales is beautiful in its own right and shows the reader that there is more to Tolkien than hobbits, elves, and dwarfs. So why should you buy this edition of Tales from the Perilous Realm? The main selling point I see for this book is convenience and affordability. At $28, you get five of Tolkien's under-appreciated, but exceptionally great works. It also means you only have to carry around one book, instead of five. The illustrations, for me, are not a huge selling point in this book. Alan Lee is a fine illustrator, but he is not my favorite Tolkien illustrator - Pauline Baynes. Therefore, I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This books were provided to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for honest reviews. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

The Hobbit: Illustrated Edition (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

As my son grows older, I find myself gravitating to older children's books that are illustrated. We have the complete collection of the Wizard of Oz illustrated and have recently acquired the complete Chronicles of Narnia, which i will be reviewing next week. Recently. I have been looking into illustrated Tolkien titles. There are two primary illustrators for his work - Pauline Baynes (who also illustrated Narnia) and Alan Lee. In late 2013, however, Jemima Catlin joined the list of illustrators with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's publication of The Hobbit: Illustrated Edition.

The Hobbit: Illustrated Edition does not require a review of the story, as it is a familiar tale, which we have all read, seen the movie, or both. (If you've only seen the movies, I do implore you to read the book.) Instead, I will give you a brief description of this edition of the book. To begin with, it is what one would call a gift edition. It is a thick hardcover with approximately 400 pages and measuring 7 inches by 9.2 inches. The pages are thick and glossy pages, which I greatly appreciate, because there is nothing worse than being able to see the words/pictures of a previous page through your current page. The font is nice and readable, about 12 point font. The illustrations are mostly 1/5 to 1/4 of the page size, with about a handful of full page ones, and the frequency of the illustrations are about every other page to every third page.

The illustration style can be described as colored pencil sketch-like quality. I would describe Ms. Catlin's interpretations of the words into pictures as very literal. For example, on page 102, it reads, "He turned now and saw Gollum's eyes like small green lamps coming up the slope." That's exactly what you see are Gollum with green lights coming out of his eyes like flashlights. You should check out Ms. Catlin's personal website to see some of her illustrations to get an idea if you like her style. Overall, I was pleased with the book and know the pictures will help the story come alive for my child. If you are looking for a birthday gift for the Tolkien lover in your family, this would make a great choice.

This book was provided to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Tolkien's Sacramental Vision and The Hobbit Party (Angelico Press and Ignatius Press)

Despite the insistence of many atheist/agnostic Middle Earth fans, Tolkien's works are bursting at the seams with religious, more precisely, Catholic themes and values. To try and ignore or dismiss the Catholicism that is found in his works is an insult to Tolkien and a sign of ignorance on the reader's part. In Craig Bernthal's work Tolkien's Sacramental Vision, he examines different scenes, objects, and characters in Tolkien's works (mainly The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) under the light of Catholic Sacramentality.

The book begins by explaining what exactly a Catholic novelist is, and then defends Tolkien's place as one. Other topics discussed include the creation story in The Silmarillion; Baptism and the character of Frodo; Penance and Reconciliation; and Galadriel and her gifts, to name a few topics. I learned a lot of interesting things, which I missed in my readings of The Lord of the Rings. For example, I learned that Boromir took Faramir's place at the Council of Elrond. Perhaps, if Faramir had gone like he was supposed to things would have turned out differently. My favorite section of the book discussed Leaf by Niggle. I could definitely relate to Niggle in many ways including time-wasting and the need for perfection to a fault. This brief section in the book led me to reading this work, and hopefully becoming less of a "niggler."

Overall, this was a very fascinating book and one I would highly recommend to any Catholic or Christian who loves Tolkien. It opened my eyes to many nuances in Tolkien's works and made me appreciate The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings on a whole new level. If I had more time, I would break out my copies of the two works and read through them again with this book by my side. Unfortunately, that is not feasible for me at this time, but it is something I plan/hope to do in the future. Five stars and cannot recommend this book more highly.

When you hear the title for The Hobbit Party, you might think the word party is referring to a gala of sorts, like I did. In actuality the title is a play on politics, like the Republican or Democratic Party. While most authors/commentators on Tolkien's work tend to focus on the religious themes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the authors, Jonathan Witt and Jay Richards, chose to focus on how the political environment of his day shaped his writings and the political and economic themes we find in his writings if we look closely.

Some of the interesting topics discussed include just war, free market/capitalism, and big government. The most interesting chapter to me however was the last one which touched on the topics of love and death. The authors begins this chapter by stating that "Death and the desire for deathlessness was Tolkien's central theme of The Lord of the Rings. We are then given a litany of examples, including the obvious One Ring and Gandalf's death and resurrection; as well as less obvious example of the White Tree of Gondor. Despite all the mention of death, Tolkien however had the right perspective on death. He saw it as a gift, and not a curse. This may sound confusing at first, because death is a consequence of the Fall, but without death we would continue to live on and sin and never reach the ultimate reward of Heaven.

Overall, this book was an interesting read. While it is hard to argue that these political and economical messages/themes are in Tolkien's work, I question whether it is worth reading this much into the works of Tolkien. Sometimes you can over-analyze a work that you risk killing it. Just my two cents. If you are a fan of Tolkien and politics, then this is the perfect book for you. If politics aren't your cup of tea, then you're probably better off avoiding this book. I will end by saying that the book is worth checking out for the End Notes section alone. It contains a great deal of interesting/edifying works that I plan to read in the future.

These books were provided to me for free by Angelico Press and Carmel Communications, respectively, in exchange for honest reviews. If you find these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

Farmer Giles of Ham (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Farmer Giles of Ham is a novella written by J.R.R. Tolkien that takes place in England during the time of giants and dragons. Aegidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola de Hammo or Giles of Ham (in the vulgar tongue) is the protagonist of this short tale. He is married and has a dog, named Garm, whom he generally mistreats. If this man doesn't sound like your typical hero, you would be correct. However, Garm likes to roam around and on these outings, he discovered a giant and a dragon (on different occasions). He ran back to his master for help, and Ham reluctantly takes action only when necessary. In this mini-tale, the story of the giant is a mere footnote, a build-up to his encounter with the dragon Chrysophylax Dives. The whole encounter with Chrysophylax is comical. We don't see a ferocious dragon like Smaug, but instead a dragon who uses his wits as much as his size and power. That's all I'll say for the plot of this story.

The 50th Anniversary edition of this book is a treat for Tolkien lovers. For starters, it contains original illustrations by Pauline Baynes. She has illustrated for other Tolkien titles as well as The Chronicles of Narnia. There is also a copy of the original manuscript and some notes on a possible sequel. The original manuscript was of some interest, but the sequel was disappointing in the lack of pages that were written. It really makes you wonder how much abandoned or unwritten stories were floating around in Mr. Tolkien's head during his lifetime. My only major gripe was the text quality of this book. I'm not sure if it was my copy or the intended text effect the publisher was going for, but a lot of my words were faded and hard to read. Overall, I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars. I'm happy to own it, but for several more dollars, I think a better investment would be Tales from the Perilous Realm.

This book was provided to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Over Hill and Under Hill (The Hobbit Chapter 4)

There hasn't been much activity on these posts lately. So I'm debating keeping this going, or replacing it with an occasional review of a children's book. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 4 again focuses on the difficult journey and Bilbo reminiscing about his home and the Shire. How far on our journey/adventure with God must we travel before we stop looking back to the past? Will we always be looking back to the past? I've read/heard somewhere that there are no plateaus on the path to Heaven. You are either making progress towards Heaven, or your slipping down to Hell. As my readers are well aware, it takes a lot more effort and time to climb upwards than it does to slip downwards. All the progress you have made for months or years could be wiped away in a day with the wrong decisions. So let us aim to always be vigilant, trust in the Lord for guidance, and constantly strive to be moving upwards.

I could not find anything Catholic or spiritual in the description of the thunderstorm. I just found it fascinating on a mythological level. The description of the stone-giants playing a game of hurling rocks truly made my imagination come to life.

In order to escape the thunderstorm, our adventurers send out a 2 man scout party of Fili and Kili to find them a drier place. They come back, a little too quickly, and find an absolutely wonderful dry cave with enough room for them and their horses. This reminds me of when Moses sent scout teams into the land of Canaan. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who returned with good news. Unfortunately, Fili and Kili did not investigate their cave well, and it turned out to be the front porch for goblin headquarters and led to our adventurers capture.

The description of the goblins spoke to me the most. "They make no beautiful things, but they make many clever ones...Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well, or get other people to make to their design, prisoners and slaves that have to work till they die for want of air and light." I believe the goblins at Tolkien's time represented Nazi Germany, but you could argue they represent the darkest part of all of us. Is this a cause of our original sin?

I would lastly like to talk about the two swords, "Orcrist" and "Glamdring the Foe-hammer." They are simply known to the goblins as Biter and Beater. I would compare these to the Bible and the Rosary. I think I would refer to the Bible as Beater, because the Goblin's hated it worse than Biter, and because of the term Bible-beaters. It is important to note that when Gandalf and Thorin were being chased by goblins and turned to fight, the goblins were afraid of Biter and Beater not Gandalf and Thorin. This is how the demons feel about the Bible and the Rosary. They are not afraid of the people who use these tools, but the tools themselves, as they are the tools God has given us to fend off demons!

So what did you think of Chapter Four in The Hobbit? Read along with me, and comment at the bottom. Also, tune in two weeks for my reflections on Chapter Five, unless y'all tell me y'all are done reading about The Hobbit!

A special thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who was generous enough to provide me with the 75th Anniversary Pocket Edition of The Hobbit.

A Short Rest (The Hobbit Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 is entitled "A Short Rest." I'd like to name it a "A Short Chapter" as there wasn't much in this chapter. It felt like one of those chapters that was there to progress the plot and nothing more. The chapter begins with our adventurers in a bit of somber spirits. Even though the weather had improved (which can definitely change your attitude when traveling), "they did not sing or tell stories that day...nor the next day, nor the day after that." Reality has set in for them, and they now realize this adventure will not be as easy as they once thought. This happens in our Christian life as well. We start off on fire and full of zeal, but eventually Satan comes along, and we get scared. The road starts to look dark, and longer than we thought it would be. We must remember though that we have the True Light as our guide!

"O!" said Bilbo, and just at that moment he felt more fared than he ever remembered feeling before. He was thinking once again of his comfortable chair before the fire in his favourite sitting-room in his hobbit-hole, and of the kettle singing. Not for the last time!" I'm not sure how y'all are but every now and then I think about my old life before my conversion. I think about how much "simpler" things were and about how it was so much "easier" to live in sin than follow God. This is a lie from the father of lies, Satan! You might think your life is "simpler" or "easier," but you will always be empty and hollow until you find rest in the One your heart was made for, God!

I particularly liked the path imagery. The description of how small it is, makes me think of Jesus speaking in Matthew 7:13. Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. Gandalf appears almost saintly here as their guide. If not a saint, he could certainly be likened to an elder, who guides Christians on their way to Heaven. It makes me think of the saying, "No one gets to Heaven on their own." We all need some guidance and a helping hand. If we could get to Heaven on our own, we wouldn't need the Church. We could just all be spiritual but not religious and worship God in our backyard.

I must admit the silliness of the elves just aggravated me. Did anyone else feel this way or did I miss something? Maybe it's supposed to symbolize their innocence, but it just annoyed me. The last part that was interesting to me was Elrond's viewing of the map. He knew that this would not turn out well when gold, dwarves, and dragons were involved. This, not surprisingly, reminds me of 1 Timothy 6:10 where St. Paul talks about the love of money being the root of all evil. If your eyes are strictly on gold and nothing else, then your mind and heart become poisoned. Unfortunately, the poison is not contained only to you but can destroy others around you as well.

So what did you think of Chapter Three in The Hobbit? Read along with me, and comment at the bottom. Also, tune in two weeks for my reflections on Chapter Four!

A special thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who was generous enough to provide me with the 75th Anniversary Pocket Edition of The Hobbit.

Roast Mutton (The Hobbit Chapter 2)

Reading and discussing Chapter Two of The Hobbit was a bit tough for me. I've had a lot on my mind, so I'm wondering if I missed some things, or the chapter didn't speak to me as much as Chapter One. I will press on though!

When we last left our young hobbit, Bilbo was going to bed after a long night of entertaining dwarves and trying to avoid an adventure. Upon waking he sees a mess in the kitchen and faces the reality that last night wasn't some awful dream, and that he had an awful lot of cleaning to do. I think we've all had mornings like that. However, if we look at it from a spiritual perspective, then it's as if Bilbo is saying surely God didn't really want me drop everything and follow Him. I mean who will take care of all the daily things that need done if I don't?

Enter Gandalf, who has grown weary of Bilbo's excuses. After directing Bilbo to the letter on his mantle, and before Bilbo can come up with more excuses, Gandalf scurried him off. Some people choose to see Gandalf as a God or Christ figure when reading Tolkien? If you choose to see him as one, do you think this was a violation of Bilbo's free will? Yes, Bilbo still had the ability to say "No," but it doesn't seem like he had the willpower to do so.

The journey then begins. At first Bilbo is enjoying the adventure and thinking to himself that it's not as bad as he thought it would be. Of course that is because he was still in "hobbit-lands" with his creature comforts of tobacco, pocket handkerchiefs, and plenty of food. It is only when he was in an unrecognized land, the weather got worse, and they lost a great deal of supplies that Bilbo started to regret his decision. This particular passage spoke most to me. When God first calls us on an adventure, we're not generally going to have hardships to begin with. If we did, most people would immediately change their mind and abandon the adventure. However, as we continue on the adventure, things will get tougher, and we must ultimately decide to continue to follow.

Lastly, I would like to talk ever so briefly about the trolls. It seems a shame to devote so little attention to one of the iconic scenes in The Hobbit, but time is running short for me. What I noticed mainly is that Bilbo makes some key errors in approaching the trolls. He did a fine job spying on them, but that is where it should have ended. Instead, he decided to try his luck at robbing them and failed miserably. Young Christians make this mistake when encountering Satan. We either are ashamed to ask for help or too proud. Both are grave errors and can be disastrous, even deadly.

So what did you think of Chapter Two in The Hobbit? Read along with me, and comment at the bottom. Also, tune in two weeks for my reflections on Chapter Three!

A special thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who was generous enough to provide me with the 75th Anniversary Pocket Edition of The Hobbit.

An Unexpected Party (The Hobbit Chapter 1)

Welcome to my first every other Wednesday installment where I provide my spiritual reflections on The Hobbit. Before I start, I would like to put some disclaimers out. These are my personal reflections. They are not the textbook analysis of what each chapter means, but instead how certain sections struck me or made me feel. This will also not be a thorough reflection on every section of every chapter. I will address sections that spoke to me. I have to admit I was nervous starting these posts. I was afraid that I would read a whole chapter of The Hobbit and have no more than five words to say about it. Thankfully, with Chapter 1 at least, that was not the case.

The mere description of Bilbo's hobbit-hole was enough to make me pause and reflect on my own "hobbit-hole." Like Bilbo, my family is blessed to live in a beautiful house complete with "panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs." We also have "bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining rooms." However, do I have too much? If God said to me, sell all of this and your house, how would I respond? Would it be a struggle for me like the rich young man in Mark 10:17-31?

Then, after a brief description of Bilbo's parents (and hobbits in general), an unexpected visitor arrives. We know this visitor as Gandalf, and in this particular scene he seems to be a Christ-figure. Bilbo is very hospitable to the stranger, much more than I would have been, but that quickly changes when Gandalf invites him to go on an adventure. What would I have said or done had I been in Bilbo's shoes? Would I have accepted his invitation to adventure? Perhaps, a better question...What do I say to God when He asks me to go on an adventure with Him? Am I willing to step out of my comfort zone and follow Him? Would I have been so willing to drop my nets on the shore like Peter, Andrew, James and John in Mark 1:16-20?

Bilbo, clever hobbit that he is, points Gandalf elsewhere in hopes of being rid of him. "You might try over The Hill or across The Water." This reminds me of Moses and the Burning Bush in Exodus 3 and 4. God gave Moses a job to do (or an adventure to go on if you'd like to look at it that way), but Moses kept coming up with excuses for why he couldn't and in Exodus 4:13 said, "If you please, my Lord, send someone else!" How often am I like Moses or Bilbo in turning down adventures out of fear and not wanting to put myself on the line?

Lastly, Biblo tells Gandalf, "Sorry I don't want any adventures, thank you. Not today. Good morning! But please come to tea - anytime you like! Why not tomorrow? Come tomorrow! Good-bye!" I couldn't think of a Scripture reference for this, but it reminds me of the thought of putting God in a neat little box. We want God in our lives, just like Bilbo on some level wants Gandalf in his life. However, we want God in our lives on our terms. We want to say, "This is God. I understand Him to be X, and never Y. He's here when I need Him, and when I don't I put him away on a shelf until the next time I need Him." God does not work like that though, so don't even try it!

So what did you think of Chapter One in The Hobbit? Read along with me, and comment at the bottom. Also, tune in two weeks for my reflections on Chapter Two!

A special thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who was generous enough to provide me with the 75th Anniversary Pocket Edition of The Hobbit.

Catholic Courses: The Hobbit: Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure

Today, I am reviewing the Catholic Courses' product The Hobbit - Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure. If you recall, last month I reviewed The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings - The Theological Vision in Tolkien's Fiction. If you're wondering why I started with the one on "The Lord of the Rings" first, it's because it has two introductory lessons covering J.R.R. Tolkien's biography and his writing style. These are covered again in the course on "The Hobbit," but not to the same level of detail.

If you're like me and read "The Lord of the Rings" before you read "The Hobbit," you were probably a bit disappointed by "The Hobbit."  Alongside the action-packed trilogy, "The Hobbit" might seem rather lackluster by comparison. However, this tale serves as more than a precursor to the grand epic of "The Lord of the Rings." It is in-fact a coming of age story of the young Bilbo Baggins. Joseph Pearce also points out that Biblo's journey has many parallels with a person's journey throughout life. He further illustrates these points by addressing the ideas that every life is a pilgrimage and that the impossibility of growth without grace.

One topic that caught my interest in this Catholic Course was the juxtapositions Mr. Pearce made between Thorin Oakenshield and Aragorn. Both of them are kings. However, as kings they are vastly different. Aragorn is seen as a true and just king who can be seen as a Christ-figure. Thorin, on the other hand, is an easily corrupted king who values gold and treasures over people throughout his life. Another part of this course I found fascinating was the discussion on the dragon symbology, Smaug, and dragon sickness. It is no surprise that dragons represent evil, demons, and devils. This was true in early Christian iconography and can be seen clearly in the icon of St. George to your left. Mr. Pearce makes the astute observation that we all must either fight our dragons or become one.

Perhaps, the biggest lesson I took away from the course had to do with materialism. We can see this most clearly through the dragon Smaug, who had no use for gold but could tell you the exact amount in his possession, down to the ounce, and Thorin Oakenshield, who had such a great love of gold that he didn't want to share the gold with the people in Laketown whom he rightfully owed. Both Smaug and Thorin allowed their love of gold to consume them.  This underscores the message of "where your treasure is, there your heart is." While my heart doesn't value gold, I can see how some of my other possessions (my books) can be a stumbling block for me if I let them.  It is important for us as Catholics to keep our heart as close to God as possible.

If you're looking to gain a better appreciation for "The Hobbit" and the Catholic messages within it, this Catholic Course will be a good starting point. You can then follow it up with The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings - The Theological Vision in Tolkien's Fiction if you haven't studied it already. If you don't have time for an eight lecture course, Mr. Pearce also wrote a book on the subject called, Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning in The Hobbit. There are also other great courses that cover Dante's Divine Comedy or William Shakespeare if you are interested in literature, so be sure to check them out as well. For a brief introduction of the course, see the video below.

Catholic Courses: The Hidden Meaning of "The Lord of the Rings"

The world is once again buzzing with thoughts of Tolkien and hobbits thanks to Peter Jackson's "trilogy" on "The Hobbit." I am conflicted with the movies. I am glad that they exist as they will hopefully encourage people to actually read the books associated with Middle Earth. However, I am disappointed with the gross inaccuracies in the films. Also, don't get me started on the money-grab attempt of turning "The Hobbit" into three movies.

What a lot of people don't realize is that Tolkien's works are distinctly Catholic. Joseph Pearce, a Tolkien expert (though I imagine my aunt could give him a run for his money), has two Catholic Courses on Tolkien. The one I am reviewing today is called The Hidden Meaning of the Lord of the Rings - The Theological Vision in Tolkien's Fiction. I will review The Hobbit - Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure in August.

The first two lectures (Disc One) don't immediately dive into "The Lord of the Rings," but instead discuss the who, what, when, where, and why of Tolkien. I was slightly disappointed at first, because I knew there was a limited number of lectures, and I wanted to dive right into the book discussion. Looking back on it though, it makes sense to discuss the author first. It's hard to completely understand an author's works if you don't understand both the author's point of view and the context within which he was writing. It was also interesting to learn about his involvement in C.S. Lewis' conversion to Christianity; unfortunately, Mr .Lewis didn't choose Catholicism.

Lecture Three was by far my favorite lecture, as Mr. Pearce discusses the meaning of the One Ring. Spoiler Alert: The One Ring symbolizes sin. He also talks about how the One Ring was destroyed on March 25th. This is significant, because this is the Feast of the Annunciation. The day Jesus became human was not the day He was born, but it was the day He was conceived. March 25th is also traditionally given for the day that Jesus died, and that is why Mr. Tolkien chose this date to have the ring destroyed.

Another topic addressed was the Everyman figures of the Hobbits, Gollum, Boromir, and Faramir. In this lecture he shows ways we can see ourselves in these characters. He also criticizes Peter Jackson for completely getting the character of Faramir wrong in the movies. Lecture Six discusses who the Christ-figure is in The Lord of the Rings. My wife and I disagree. She says Gandalf. I say Aragorn. However, we can both be right, because The Lord of the Rings isn't a strict allegory like The Chronicles of Narnia, which only has Aslan as the Christ-figure. I would disagree with Mr. Pearce that Frodo is a type of Christ-figure, though, as he is too flawed. I am especially pleased that Mr. Pearce took the time to address some of the overlooked characters, i.e., Tom Bombadil. He got excluded from the movies, and that was a shame!

This was a well thought out course, and I can't wait to begin The Hobbit - Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventure. Mr. Pearce did a fantastic job of showing just how Catholic The Lord of the Rings actually is. Whether you're a homeschooling parent looking for a way to help your kids understand Tolkien better or a nerd like me who just loves Tolkien and his many works, this is a study for you!