honestpuck writes
"I find it surprising that with the current popularity of the The Lord
of The Rings movies and subsequent rise in sales of the trilogy and
The Hobbit that so few bookshops stock more of the Professor's other
works. Fortunately this volume makes it easier. It puts four of his works in one, Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom
Bombadil Leaf By Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major." The first and fourth of these I've read elsewhere (and enjoyed), so I'm glad to learn of the other two. Read on for honestpuck's capsule description of each.
Tales From The Perilous Realm
author
J.R.R. Tolkein
pages
192
publisher
Harper Collins
rating
9
reviewer
Tony Williams
ISBN
0261103431
summary
Excellent short stories and poetry from a master story-tellet
Farmer Giles of Ham
This is a marvelous tale of a reluctant, and accidental, hero and a dragon who doesn't quite live up to the stereotype. The style is a little old fashioned, making it seem more like the fairy tales of your childhood than even The Hobbit, with a dry sense of humour. That said, it also seems to be the hardest for a child to enjoy (my sample size is only two, however), though personally I liked it when I first read it and enjoy it still.. It is the longest of the four works and by far the earliest written and published, 1949.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures is a collection of 16 assorted poems, most are either partially quoted or referred to in The Lord Of The Rings. The poems are a mixed bag, ranging from the short and amusing "Oliphaunt" through to the more adult and wistful "The Last Ship" that closes the collection. All are enjoyable for the adult reader, some enjoyable for children.
Iâ(TM)ve never really liked Tolkienâ(TM)s verse when he tries to be serious, in this collection I only really like "Oliphaunt."
Leaf By Niggle
The shortest of the three stories, in this one Niggle, whose dreams far
outweigh his talent, sets out to paint the perfect tree and is caught up
in his own variation of the Pygmalion myth (though it is a tree that comes to life.) It is a marvelously written tale that unfolds
beautifully.
Smith of Wootton Major
My favourite of them all, a tale in which Smith voyages to the land of the faeries via a magical cake. Another story that revolves around the
dreams and fantasies in a life. This one is a perfect fairy tale and perfect for reading aloud to a small person, full of magic and charm and
whimsy it brings to mind everything I loved about The Hobbit.
Conclusion
While the three tales and 16 poems all have their differences there is
certainly a distinctive style across them all. Just a little
old-fashioned, a little formal - in fact almost exactly how you'd expect
an Oxford Professor to write fiction. This volume is worth reading, and
an enjoyable read but does not quite have the magnificence of language
in The Lord of The Rings nor the wonderful light touch of well-crafted
children's tale in The Hobbit. They are good short pieces, that sort of excellence is hard to craft into such short works.
Anyone who enjoyed The Hobbit will find this a wonderful volume. Tolkein
always talked of writing both The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings as a
way of creating truly English myth and fairy tales (he felt that Arthur
was too much a tale borrowed from the French). While both of those 'grew
in the telling,' this small volume gives us three marvelous (and English
in feel) fairy tales and some good poetry. A must for all Tolkein fans.
Tales from the Perilous Realm is harder to find than Tolkein's better-known works, but is available from online merchants including
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Sorry, just watched the DVD again, didn't see him. Anything other than the movie just isn't canon. :P
First post, in Elvish.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
Think of a Jesus Christ figure prancing through the woods with golden curls who defeats his enemies through song... then you have Tom Bombadill. Truly, a king among middle earth men. :D
My favourite of them all, a tale in which Smith voyages to the land of the faeries via a magical cake.
That happened to me at the office Christmas party! Someone tooks photos and then put them up on the notice board. It was really embarassing.
I used to get a huge kick out of telling my two sons that I was reading from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I was really just holding the book and telling them old "I Dream of Jeanie" episodes.
--------
trillian42's dad
Best Windows Freeware
Mmmm... Brownies...
Maybe if some of his other works were made into TV series...
Yeah, I can just see it now. "Survivor: Middle Earth"
"Repeat after me: T O L K I E N, not Tolkein
S I L M A R I L L I O N, not Silmarillian"
10. Who's that guy Fordo Prefect?
9. Tolkien got Golem from Yiddish myth, right?
8. Stan Lee should sue: Tolkein got "Sauron" from the X-Men Savage Land comics.
7. Captain Kirk battled Aragorn on Star Trek.
5. What's that bad wizard and the guy with the eye? I never get the two straight: Sarmon and Souron? Souromon and Sauromon? Whatever.
4. If you call me with a technical support question about your Tolkien Ring network, I WILL hang up on you.
3. Brie: cheese or town?
2. Fangorn is that horror movie magazine!
1. "Teleporno". Well, this one is correct: it is a real name in the Tolkien works. This is the one that should be wrong!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Yeah, and the best part is that by the time you're finished, they're old enough to drive!
j/k - I've got 3 kids under 15 months, and can't wait to read to them....
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
I found Silmarillion to be a really heavy read. I could never sit still very long to read it. I solved this by leaving it on the back of the toilet, now I'm making good progress on it. Slow and steady wins the race.
" found Silmarillion to be a really heavy read. I could never sit still very long to read it. I solved this by leaving it on the back of the toilet, now I'm making good progress on it"
Are you making progress by reading the pages, or using them when the TP is out?
---------------
Clerk to George in Seinfeld: "Yeah, and here it is: You get your toilet book out of here, and I won't jump over this counter and punch you in the brain!"
The titles of these books remind me of the Monty Python bookstore skit... No, "Rarnaby Budge" by Charles Dikkens. That's Dikkens with two Ks, the well-known Dutch author. Do you have "Leaf By Niggle" by ....
That's okay, how about "Smith of Wootton Major" by ....
Dr. Rick
- "It's such a fine line between clever and stupid" (Nigel Tufnel)
- Zort! (Pinky)
The bad guys don't want to do away with good, they're just looking for unlimited power and control over good (much like the RIAA).
That, and cheap labor for their smelters.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
Try getting out more. Date some girls.
-1 torog (i.e. "troll")