Book recommendations/survey?

[ged]

Hi all,

I'm aware that this question is asked again and again... but I just didn't find the information I need, there are just too many places to look.

I read LOTR, the Silmarillion, and now I'm about to read Unfinished Tales. Sometime I'll also read the Hobbit, but currently I'm more interested in more ancient background information. I'm fascinated by the feeling of a whole world where Tolkien appears to be more a chronologist than its inventor. It is like in real history - you can pick out a period you're interested in and read essays, stories or historical speculations about it (even including contradictions), it gives a tremendous non-linearity to it: there's no need to read the parts in a specifc order. The only such "universe" I know about probably is Asimovs foundation trilogy (plus its additional novels), which fascinated me in a similar way.

It seems that there are about 12 more books by Tolkien about ME, am I correct? And the first two ones are the 2 Lost-Tales collections (which I actually plan to read ofter Unfinished Tales)? I wonder if there's a place listing the principal contents of these "background collections" (as far as I know they are all in the style of story/essay-collections) so I could find out which of them I'm interested in most. Or would you recommend a specific order to read them? Unfortunately I can't go to a shop and look into them, I'd have to order them (I'm living in Switzerland - here you don't find these books in stock). Great would be a survey what stories/essays are found in these books.

Thanks for your help!

Ged

[emplynx]

Amazon.com has info on them.

[Ñólendil]

The books in those 12 books you mentioned are collectively known as The History of Middle-earth and were published by Christopher Tolkien. They are not an "internal" history about the world, but an "external" history, a history of J. R. R. Tolkien's work. All of them of course have narrative writings in them. I think the books you'll be most interested in -- because they are all about the same world glimpsed in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings -- will be The History of the Silmarillion books and The Peoples of Middle-earth. The History of the Silmarillion is Volumes X and XI; Morgoth's Ring and War of the Jewels, respectively. The Peoples of Middle-earth is the XIIth and last volume in the series.

But there are yet other books. There are two more books published by J. R. R. Tolkien during his lifetime you may not be aware of: The Road Goes Ever On and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. The former is a song book with musical notation by Donald Swann to go with many of the songs in the Lord of the Rings, but in the back are very valuable notes and commentaries from Tolkien himself. The Road Goes Ever On is however out of print. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil can still be bought: on its own or in that collection of writings called The Tolkien Reader. It is a collection of songs and poems, supposedly made by Hobbits for their children. The first one is called "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and that is why the book is called so, most of them are not about Tom.

There's also The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, a book with (naturally) many of the letters Tolkien wrote in his life. Valuable info. is in there. And there's J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator, a look at his artwork. Only place you'll find the sigils of Fingolfin and Finarfin, though there's a lot else to find in there.

Of course there are a lot of other Tolkien books, but none about his famous world.

[Handmaiden of Yavanna]

I highly sugest the Lays of Beleriand. Best book ever!!! It has the complete Lay of Lethian, (The epic poem about Beren and Luthien) among other really good writings. It's my favorite of the histories of Middle Earth.

[olsonm]

Welcome H of Y!