Month: November 2012

T.A. Shippey – J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

Posted 29 November 2012 in book friday archive /0 Comments

  Author: T.A. Shippey
Title: J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
Date read: 10 November to 25 November
Published: 2000
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 347 pages
Genre: Non-fiction
Why I picked it up: Interested in Tolkien
Rating: 4 stars
Buy:  IndieBound Chapters | Check your local bookstore!

I set this post up to be a ‘full’ blog post, but I really don’t have too much to say on this book! I did enjoy it;  I found much of the book to have a fresh perspective, particularly as I haven’t read too much analysis of Tolkien’s work (primarily just The History of the Hobbit). For example, the passage about Baggins as bourgeois and the comparison between that word and burglar, and the description of the ‘modern business’ aspects of Bilbo and the dwarves’ deal, provided a perspective on those aspects of the stories I never really considered before. I also enjoyed the afterwards of the book, in which Shippey considers Tolkien’s imitators but also considers what they don’t imitate, such as language-building and the interlacing storylines. it’s easy to pick out what gets most often imitated (such as races) but I had never thought about imitators in terms of what they don’t imitate, and I think that’s a great thing to think about because it goes to show just how unique and skilled Tolkien was.

I did find the segment ‘The Ironies of Interlace’ about LotR very interesting. Because I had seen the movies before the books, I was familiar with the general plot and wasn’t too surprised my any of the major events while reading the books. However, Shippey examines how the different threads of the story are carefully interlaced and presented to the reader, so that, for example, the reader does not know if Frodo and Sam are alright when reading about Aragorn and co. approaching Mordor. There are even more subtle examples of this careful intertwining, where the characters do not know something but the reader does or one timeline is five days behind another timeline. I’m not doing a very good job at describing this, but Shippey does a great job at explaining this and how there is likely no author today who could pull off such grand scheming. I thought it interesting to consider – what would it have been like to read the books and not know how the plot went? It’s unfortunate that I missed that opportunity, but they still make for a great read! 😛

All in all, a good little read, especially for someone like me, who has enjoyed Tolkien’s works and wants to learn more.


George Orwell – Down and Out In Paris and London

14 November 2012 / book friday archive / 2 Comments
George Orwell – Down and Out In Paris and London

  Author: George Orwell Title: Down and Out In Paris and LondonDate read: 30 October to 6 November Published: January 1933 Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Limited Length: 213 pages Genre: Fiction/semi-autobiography/social commentary Why I picked it up: Interested in Orwell’s […]

Kat Rosenthal – Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone

11 November 2012 / book friday archive / 0 Comments
Kat Rosenthal – Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone

  Author: Kat Rosenthal Title: Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone Date read: 22 October to 27 October Published: July 2012 Publisher: Dutton Juvenile Length: 279 pages Genre: Mystery?Horror?Creepy…/young adult Why I picked it up: Can’t really remember – something to […]

Lemony Snicket – Who Could That Be at This Hour?

6 November 2012 / book friday archive / 0 Comments
Lemony Snicket – Who Could That Be at This Hour?

  Author: Lemony Snicket Title: Who Could That Be At This Hour?Series: All the Wrong Questions Date read: 23 October to 24 OctoberPublished: October 2012 Publisher: Little, Brown Length: 261 pages Genre: Noir/children’s literature Why I picked it up: Fan of […]

Catherynne M. Valente – The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

1 November 2012 / book friday archive / 0 Comments
Catherynne M. Valente – The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

Author: Catherynne M. Valente Title: The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There Date read: 9 October to 13 October Published: October 2012 Publisher: Feiwel and Friends Length: 272 pages Genre: Fantasy, fairy tale Why I picked it […]