Unfinished Tales (book review)

The History :When Tolkien died in September 1973, his son Christopher inherited all of his late fathers literary responsibility. That meant sorting through box file after box file of notes and stories, most of which were never intended to be published, but existed for the sole enjoyment of the author. The scale of the legend of Arda, Middle Earth's history is due to the countless hours John Ronald spent in his study building and creating that world. He would not only build the tales but also draw on maps & calendars (some of which date as far back as the first world war) and dates, lunar patterns, and languages.
The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales are part of those stories. The Ages of the world are filled with death, wars of the Gods in the East and the rise of the Elves, Men, Dwarfish folk, and many creatures that would fill Middle Earth as we know it today.
Tolkien did intend to finish the work but as old age happened he found the task rather difficult.Christopher said his dad was still making revisions and re-writing one month before his death. Though Tolkien had major success with the Lord of the Rings I somehow feel,that he would of felt like he hadn't proven himself yet until he got the Silmarillion published. After Edith died in 1971, Tolkien moved into a smaller flat provided by Oxford. Writing became less frequent. In his younger days he could of been seen writing until 2am. Because of  his declining health Tolkien had to leave it all to his Literary heir to finish on his behalf.

The Book Review:

Unfinished Tales is in 4 parts.


The first part :is dated rather early in Middle Earth. Two tales are given here. Of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin. And Narn I Hin Hurin ( Children of Hurin). Both tales are linked by blood, but both stories are different from one another,The Children of Hurin is a tragic tale of a family cursed by the Dark Lord Morgoth. The Father Hurin is seated on a chair unable to die and must watch from afar as his family is brought to ruin. His son, Turin, grows up to be feared by his enemies and separated from his sister and mother at a young age is raised with the Elven folk until he is betrayed by one of them. He runs away and teams up with a group of thieves in the woods. Meets a Dwarf named Mim, and eventually moves to a village and marries a woman (Unknown to both they are brother and sister, she had her mind washed by a Dragon of Morgoth named Glaurung) and eventually slays the great lizard but at the price of losing his life.

The 2nd part: is dedicated to Numenor and what little was ever written about the Island and its people. The second chapter deals with Aldarion and Erendis, a story of a prince of Numenor in love with the sea. He was the first Numenorian to make settlements on the shores of Middle Earth.

And the history of Galadriel and Celeborn. How they came to meet, moved from the undying lands to Middle Earth and how they gained Lothlorien and the making of the rings of power.

The 3rd part: This was the best part of the book. It gave allot of insight on some behind the scenes of the Hobbit story and what happened between the hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.

Cirion and Eorl and the friendship of Gondor and Rohan...Good, but really dry. I kept wondering off while reading this.
Quest for Erebor was really good. Allot of how Gandalf got involved with Thorin Oakenshield's quest to regain the throne of Erebor and defeat Smaug. And how he chose Bilbo to be the thief is in this section. It gives answers to some questions from the Hobbit.

The Hunt for the Ring Another insightful look at how Aragorn captured Gollum and how Gollum's release from Sauron was all part of Sauron's plan.Until Aragorn brought him to the Elves.
The battles of the fords of Isen  Another behind the scenes of what was going on in Rohan while Saruman declared war on the West fold.

Part four: The Druedain the ancient people, called "wild men" in Lotr, and what info there is to know of them.
The Istari is about the Order of the Wizards. How they came from across the sea by the Valar to aid Middle Earth at the first signs of Sauron's return. Allot is written on Saruman's hatred of Gandalf. And about the two "blue" wizards who disapeared in the east, Radaghast became enamored with birds and beasts and didn't take any cares in the war of the rings.
The Panantiri , is about the lost seeing stones. And how they played a major part in the war of the ring.

This book isn't a easy read. Much like the Silamrillion its got dry sections that make you want to skip entire sections at a time. I would recommend it though for any fans of Tolkien who wish to know more about the history of Middle Earth.

THE HOBBIT

HISTORY OF THE BOOK:

The early 1930’s was a wonderful time in history. The Mickey Mouse comic strip made its first appearance. Hostess Twinkies are invented. 3M markets Scotch tape and somewhere in Oxford England one fateful Saturday afternoon Professor J.R.R Tolkien is marking exam papers.
This wouldn’t be of any relevance to his literary career until he got bored of the days work and found a blank page on one of his student’s exams. This fateful day would set Tolkien’s imagination in motion and would eventually make him the most read author of all time.
“It was quite laborious” Tolkien said “There was a blank page. Glorious! Nothing to read! I think I gave an extra mark for it” Tolkien stated in a BBC interview later in life.
Being rather bored he wrote on the page: In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit
What was a Hobbit? He pursued that question and made a tale of it for his children. And by late 1932 he had written the manuscript and handed out several copy’s to friend. One of which was C.S Lewis.
In 1936 Stanley Unwin gave the manuscript to his10 year old son (Rayner Unwin) to read and review. The book was published on 21 September 1937.
1,5oo prints were made and soon the demand became greater when the book received critical acclaim and praises. Though high in demand, there was a paper rationing due to the war until 1949. Tolkien revised the hobbit before the release of The Lord of the Rings (1948) to fit the Hobbit into the world of Middle-Earth.

THE REVIEW: April 17 2010

Re-reading The Hobbit has been a bit of a challenge. Between the new born baby’s feeding times, naps, and running around accomplishing house work and other duties it hasn’t been easy. I found my self reading @ 3 am when my daughter wouldn’t sleep. But that is part of the project isn’t it?
Bilbo reflects many of us in a way. Not wanting to be bothered with anyone’s problems and quite content to stay home. In comfort of his food, drink, and pipe smoking. When a Wizard chooses him for a special mission involving a Dragon, Dwarves, thievery, epic battles involving 5 armies the little Hobbit finds it hard to say no. Be it that Hobbits in nature are polite and don’t like to offend even if it means saying no to a crazy suicide mission. Not saying that he didn’t try to back out of it. Gandalf chooses him to play the role of a burglar. To help steal the treasure back from a violent and murdering Dragon.
Bilbo was scrutinized constantly by the Dwarves who believed Gandalf to have made a great error in judgment of the little creature. But the Hobbit would time and time again prove his worth (and luck) to the Dwarves and eventually gain a great deal of respect.
They set out from his home in Hobbiton set in the west of Middle-Earth to venture to the East to the Lonely Mountain and quickly ran into Trolls, Elves from the house of Elrond and Giants throwing rocks. The story picks up in momentum when the group get caught by Goblins in the misty mountains. Bilbo get separated from the gang and eventually finds a ring. Insignificant at first, the ring goes on to play a giant role in the book (and is the reason for The Lord of the Rings) when Bilbo finds out that it makes him invisible

This ring gets him out of trouble too many times to count.
After a separation from Gandalf, on the doorstep of Mirkwood, the Dwarves and the hobbit end up starving, tired and almost killed by spiders in the depths of the forest. Then when looking for help, end up being prisoners of the Elf king.
With the help of the hobbit (again) they escape their captors and made a rough arrival to Lake Town. They got fed and harbored for a fortnight.
They set on their way to the Lonely Mountain. After spending days looking for a way in Bilbo ends up playing a verbal tag game with the worm under the mountain. The dragon goes on a Rampage and scorches the mountain side. Eats the ponies, and takes vengeance on the city of Lake Town where he gets killed by a archer named Bard.
Feeling they are entitled to the share of the treasure the men of Lake Town make their way to the mountain asking for 1/12 of the loot. Thorin refuses.
Here the story takes a turn. Bilbo takes the Arkenstone ( Thorins treasured Gem) and gives it to Bard in secret as a bargaining tool. When he reveals to Thorin curses him and kicks him out of the Mountains keep. The Dwarves cousin & his army shows up. Battle is about to ensue. Just then as it is about to all go down, Gandalf see’s the army of the Goblins marching toward them. A massive battle takes place, and for the first time in the whole book, the dwarfs go to war and show their strength.
Thorin get mortally wounded in the battle. Bilbo got knocked out by a stone. Beor shows up in bear form and lays a massive whooping on the Goblins.
Bilbo departs from the mountain with a handsome load of treasure. Gandalf escorts him back to his home in the Shire.
Gandalf would return 50+ years later at Bilbo’s One Hundredth and eleventh birthday in the Lord of the Rings.


If you would like to read the hobbit you can get it here:

The Tolkien Project

Seeing the movie Julie & Julia got me thinking. I should do something like that but in my element. So here it is :I am planning to read all of professor J.R.R Tolkien's work this year. Though it might be wishful thinking seeing as I am a slow reader, I now have a baby to take care of, and Tolkien library is quite a challenge.
But a challenge worth taking. I have been a fanatic ringer for the last decade and I would like to say that I have read everything he has ever written.

I am currently re-reading the Hobbit. I will venture to either Lotr and move on from there.
My Tolkien Book case is huge. I have all the collected works and books on every Tolkien aspects so I wont be caught unknowing.

I should say that I don't quite know how it'll all go down. I'll keep posting up my reviews as I am reading the books.

Now that my family has started, I want to read Tolkien to my kids. To show them the world I am fond of.

To be continued....

The Tolkien Factor

I have been a fan of professor J.R.R Tolkien for years. In fact my Tolkien collection speaks for its self. Over 80 books by Tolkien, or about him or his life work.

I am currently re-reading the Hobbit then The Lord Of The Rings. I try to do this once a year, but have not done so within that last two years so I feel that I have to in 2010.
The relevance of his work or the 'appeal' is that of massive intellect and creativeness. No other author in history has ever come close to the genius of Tolkien. Being creative my self ( No where near his creativeness) and a musician really does help to get into the work. I think anyone with a vivid imagination can get it.

Perhaps its the overwhelming amount of detail and scale of the work its self. Not only did he create Middle Earth but he knew every part of it. The land scape, the wild life, the plants and even what birds nested in any particular region.

When reading the LOTR's you get a huge back story on the world itself. You get a sense that every statue and pillar has a story of its own and that there is always something Tolkien knows about a certain part of the story that he isn't sharing with us.

I am looking forward to reading the Hobbit to my kids. Mostly for the voices I'll be making while reading it.

By far, I am a fan for life. Call it the geek factor in me, I call it the Tolkien Factor.

I want to think that with the new movies from Peter Jackson & Guilemo DelToro will bring the late professor back into the popular spot light. Mainly so new books can come out and I can add to my collection. Finding new books I don't have in used book stores is really hard now. I bought Tolkien Books from Quebec City to Seattle Washington.

I will post more about this subject at times.