books to read and books not to read

[Forkbeard]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I wouldn't immediately advice to avoid the Bestiary by David Day altogether. In effect all books not written by Tolkien himself have to be read with some caution, for while only Tolkien knew his own mind and stories best, as is said even he made mistakes in remembering the vast tales and details. And so perhaps the Bestiary's main point of interest should not be the correct detail of the text, but rather the art in it.

The Bestiary was my very first encounter with Tolkien's work and filled me much with wonder, both by art and text. Even while it wasn't until many years afterwards that I read the Hobbit and LoTR that I made the connextion about which world the Bestiary was, it still holds a special place for me. It even inspired me and served as a reference for my graduation piece about dragons in saterday art school.

True, much of my argument is sentimental but I wouldn't let the number of filled gaps determine the worth of the book. For it still holds a lot of information and it did have the first complete map of Arda I ever saw (regardless of the wrong shape of Númenor in it.)

I would certainly recommend The Atlas to Middle Earth by Karen Fonstad, which is a gorgeous book. I haven't encountered any errors yet, but I haven't inspected the book to such a degree. In any case, it does provide lovely visuals (yes, art, here I go again) to places, battles and whatnot.

Well, if you must look at Day, look only at the pictures!!!!!!! But if you're going to do that, frankly even there I think Day have been surpassed by Hammaond and Scull's Tolkien art book, Fonstad, and a number of artists who have taken on Tolkien subjects. But I know what you mean, I still have a fondness for the Hildebrands' Tolkien works, but I know a lot of people who roundly criticize them (and they did get a lot of details wrong).