Unpublished Tolkien book to be released in May

[indy4 155]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_en_ot/books_tolkien

[King Mark 3,631]

there must be a reason it was never published before

[JoeinAR 1,949]

gag

ditto what KM said.

[John Crichton 4]

Eh, it's not Middle Earth related. Pass.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

Am I the only one who never cared about Tolkien's writing, Middle Earth or no? (Then again, I did like The Hobbit.) I would much rather have some previously unreleased Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stuff.

[indy4 155]

I'm not a big fan, but I know that some on this MB are.

[ST-321 4]

Children of Hurin was a big disappointment to me as most of the material was already available elsewhere. I'll pass on this.

[John Crichton 4]

Children of Hurin was a big disappointment to me as most of the material was already available elsewhere.

It's nice to have a better edited version, though. And the new Alan Lee illustrations are almost worth the price of the book, to me at least.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

They should just publish an Alan Lee pop-up book.

[Quintus 5,399]

I've read The Hobbit, LotR and The Silmarillion and that is enough Tolkien for me.

[Wojo 2,453]

That's more than enough for the average shmuck.

[ChuckM 1]

...The Silmarillion...

I've tried that one about three times now, and I just can't seem to get through it.

I love the Middle Earth creation story at the beginning, and everyone who has read it fully tells me that at about half-way to two-thirds into the book it gets really good, but the stuff leading up to that point is just so incredibly boring that I haven't been able to make it there yet.

[Quintus 5,399]

...The Silmarillion...

I've tried that one about three times now, and I just can't seem to get through it.

Trust me, you're not alone. I REALLY struggled with it. The beginning is the hardest, but get past it and a pretty good narrative becomes apparent. A case of the further one gets, the better it becomes.

There are some utter GEMS, later on.

[Wojo 2,453]

Yes. I tried to read it before I even touched The Hobbit, and it was impossible. I didn't get the whole rewriting the book of Genesis bit that the very first chapter of The Sil tells, to discuss the creation of Arda in the first place. It's a very dry book, that reads like a history book about a history you don't fully "get."

But when the Feanor and Finwe story picks up speed, how their descendants are sworn by oath to recover the stolen stuff from Morgoth, and the whole part about Gondolin...that's when The Sil becomes more emotionally stirring than any part of LOTR itself ever was.