More new Tolkien books I've discovered!

Just what my poor budget needed - New Tolkien books (or at least new-to-me) to dream about buying. Yes, I've found a couple more books I'd love to add to my collection. First off is the newer of the two books:

I hadn't known that Verlyn Flieger was publishing another collection of her essays on Tolkien last month, but what a nice surprise!

There Would Always Be A Fairy Tale: More Essays On Tolkien
Verlyn Flieger
Kent State University Press
Copyright Date: December 2017
978-1606353080

The amazon.com product description:

Devoted to Tolkien, the teller of tales and co-creator of the myths they brush against, these essays focus on his lifelong interest in and engagement with fairy stories, the special world that he called faërie, a world they both create and inhabit, and with the elements that make that world the special place it is. They cover a range of subjects, from The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings and their place within the legendarium he called the Silmarillion to shorter works like “The Story of Kullervo” and “Smith of Wootton Major.”
From the pen of eminent Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger, the individual essays in this collection were written over a span of twenty years, each written to fit the parameters of a conference, an anthology, or both. They are revised slightly from their original versions to eliminate repetition and bring them up to date. Grouped loosely by theme, they present an unpatterned mosaic, depicting topics from myth to truth, from social manners to moral behavior, from textual history to the micro particles of Middle-earth.
Together these essays present a complete picture of a man as complicated as the books that bear his name―an independent and unorthodox thinker who was both a believer and a doubter able to maintain conflicting ideas in tension, a teller of tales both romantic and bitter, hopeful and pessimistic, in equal parts tragic and comedic. A man whose work does not seek for right or wrong answers so much as a way to accommodate both; a man of antitheses.
Scholars of fantasy literature generally and of Tolkien particularly will find much of value in this insightful collection by a seasoned explorer of Tolkien’s world of faërie.

Verlyn Flieger has been a noted name in Tolkien scholarship for quite a few years now, having edited a number of editions of Tolkien's shorter works including On Fairy Stories, Smith of Wootton Major and The Story of Kullervo, as well as publishing quite a selection of books on Tolkien and his writings, including Splintered Light, Green Suns and Faerie, and Interrupted Music, most of which I have to admit I have yet to read (although all of the books listed here are in my collection).

The other book is the expensive one - but one I'd love to have nonetheless:

A Companion to J.R.R. Tolkien
Ed. Stuart D. Lee
Copyright: 2014
978-0470659823

The amazon.com product description:

This is a complete resource for scholars and students of Tolkien, as well as avid fans, with coverage of his life, work, dominant themes, influences, and the critical reaction to his writing.

• An in-depth examination of Tolkien’s entire work by a cadre of top scholars

• Provides up-to-date discussion and analysis of Tolkien’s scholarly and literary works, including his latest posthumous book, The Fall of Arthur, as well as addressing contemporary adaptations, including the new Hobbit films

• Investigates various themes across his body of work, such as mythmaking, medieval languages, nature, war, religion, and the defeat of evil

• Discusses the impact of his work on art, film, music, gaming, and subsequent generations of fantasy writers

Looking through the table of contents on this one is like going through a "who's who" of Tolkien scholarship. There are chapters by John Garth, Tom Shippey, John Rateliff, Verlyn Flieger, Mark Atherton, and Dimitra Fimi among many others.

I think I'm going to class this one as "expensive, but worth the cost - eventually".

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - October 24, 2016

Well! I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this meme is still going strong. I've been a participant since the days it was hosted over at J Kaye's Book Blog, and then on Book Journey. Now It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted at Book Date.

The idea of It's Monday! What Are You Reading is to share the books you read last week and also what you are currently reading. I've discovered the hard way that it's a dangerous meme for your TBR piles as frequently I end up adding books to my wishlist thanks to the intriguing descriptions and reviews that others share.

Anyway, last week I read or at least finished two books:

The first was Voyager by Diana Gabaldon.

The amazon.com product description:

From the author of the breathtaking bestsellers Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, the extraordinary saga continues.

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her...the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland... and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite—or forever doom—her timeless love.

An excerpt from my review:

Detailed and at times a bit gruesome, Voyager grabs you by all your senses and sweeps you along in unexpected directions. This was a bit of a transition book, closing off the Culloden storyline which filled the previous two books and carrying the characters into new adventures, as well as introducing us to new characters along with the return of some unexpected characters from the previous books. There are also some new hints as to how time travel and the stones work.

The other book I read last week was  Donato Giancola's Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth.

The amazon.com product description:

From the brush of Donato Giancola, one of the world's most recognized and lauded fantasy artists, comes a book filled with new illustrations that apply his legendary Renaissance craftsmanship to J. R. R. Tolkien's fantastic Middle-Earth. Dramatic lighting and deft draftsmanship reminiscent of master painters like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vermeer explain Donato's popularity with millions of fans, as well as the numerous Hugo and Chesley Awards he has received. This long-awaited, moving, and beautiful voyage through Middle-Earth — a must-have for eager genre readers everywhere — offers a refreshingly new exploration of literature's most beloved fantasy realm. From Helm's Deep to Mount Doom, Donato takes readers on a colorful tour filled with warriors, wizards, dragons, and dwarfs. Throughout he exhibits his astonishing technical virtuosity with every scene he brings to life, while also demonstrating the delight and wonder familiar to all true devotees of Middle-Earth.

An excerpt from my review:

Interestingly, I found on going through his book that my favorite style of image are the pencil crayon and chalk illustrations on toned paper. They remind me of both the Degas sketches I've seen and also of an exhibit I once saw of Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches. Ever since then, I've been rather partial to that style of art.

This was a very quick book for straight reading - I picked it out for a few reasons, including just that. Other reasons included wanting a real change of pace from solid novels and also wanting to capitalize on the flurry of Tolkien-related items going out on social media thanks to the upcoming new books. Regardless of my reasons for actually reading this book (which had been sitting on my TBR lists for the last five years, I'm really glad that I did.

The books that I'm currently reading are:

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

The amazon.com product description:

It began in Scotland, at an ancient stone circle.  There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past--or the grave.  Claire Randall survived the extraordinary passage, not once buy twice.  Her first trip swept her into the arms of Jamie Fraser, an eighteenth-century Scot whose love for her became legend--a tale of tragic passion that ended with her return to the present to bear his child.  Her second journey, two decades later, brought them together again in frontier America.  But Claire had left someone behind in the twentieth century.  Their daughter Brianna...

Now, Brianna has made a disturbing discovery that sends her to the stone circle and a terrifying leap into the unknown.  In search of her mother and the father she has never met, she is risking her own future to try to change history...and to save their lives.  But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past...or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong...

This is the sequel to Voyager, which I finished reading last week. I have to admit that I have no idea of how long it's going to take me to finish reading this one, but I'm looking forward to the journey.

The second book I'm currently reading is one that again has been on my TBR list for a couple of years now. However, despite the fact that I'm finding it to be absolutely fascinating reading, I'm thinking that it may get put down yet again so I can focus on Drums of Autumn.

There And Back Again: J.R.R. Tolkien and the Origins Of The Hobbit by Mark Atherton

The amazon.com product description:

*Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.* The prophetic words of Galadriel, addressed to Frodo as he prepared to travel from Lothlórien to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, are just as pertinent to J.R.R. Tolkien’s own fiction. For decades, hobbits and the other fantastical creatures of Middle-earth have captured the imaginations of a fiercely loyal tribe of readers, all enhanced by the immense success of Peter Jackson’s films: first The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and now his newest movie, The Hobbit. But for all Tolkien’s global fame and the familiarity of modern culture with Gandalf, Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam, the sources of the great mythmaker’s own myth-making have been neglected.

Mark Atherton here explores the chief influences on Tolkien’s work: his boyhood in the West Midlands; the landscapes and seascapes which shaped his mythologies; his experiences in World War I; his interest in Scandinavian myth; his friendships, especially with the other Oxford-based Inklings; and the relevance of his themes, especially ecological ones, to the present day.

I'm only part-way through the first chapter and finding this to be fascinating going. So far, the author has been comparing The Hobbit and Roverandom to each other and also to other children's literature of the time.Then there are the extra details on things I'd already been somewhat familiar with: that the names of the Dwarves of The Hobbit came from Scandinavian literature, but I hadn't known that those names had meanings, or what the meanings were.

Honestly, this is a book where I feel like I need to have a notepad and pencil out - and a lot of quiet time to absorb what I'm reading.