Book review links

Page 1: The Peoples of Middle-earth. (The History of Middle-earth XII) - Ed. Christopher Tolkien.
Page 2: J.R.R. Tolkien (Series: Writers and their Work) - Charles Moseley
Page 2: J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator - Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
Page 3: Tolkien's Legendarium - Essays On The History Of Middle-Earth - Ed. Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter.
Page 3: JRR Tolkien Reads Excerpts from The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring'
Page 3: The JRR Tolkien Audio Collection Caedmon Audio (Harper Audio) (USA)
Page 4: A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien 's Road to Faërie - Verlyn Flieger
Page 5: The Letters of JRR Tolkien - Carpenter - NEW INDEX
Page 5: Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode JRR Tolkien Ed. A. Bliss
Page 6: Defending Middle-Earth - Tolkien: Myth & Modernity - Patrick Curry
Page 6: Tolkien: Man and Myth. A Literary Life - Joseph Pearce
Page 7: The Illustrated edition of The Hobbit
Page 8: The Uncharted Realms of Tolkien by Alex Lewis and Elizabeth Currie
Page 9: Women among the Inklings: gender, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams by Candice Frederick and Sam McBride.
Page 10: Tolkien's Ring by David Day
Page 11: Hobbits Elves and Wizards: Exploring the Wonders and Worlds of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. by Michael N. Stanton
Page 12: J.R.R. TOLKIEN by Michael Coren
Page 13: Meditations on Middle-earth Edited by Karen Haber
Page 14: The History of Middle-earth Index

 

In the following pages are reviews of many of the more recent books about (and occasionally by) Tolkien. The reviews tend towards depth; we cannot absolutely guarantee readability (of the reviews; you will have to make up your own mind about the books). The books are currently in no special order, but they will be listed on this page.

Many of these reviews have appeared previously in Amon Hen, Mallorn or another publication as listed.

All the books reviewed here are either available in a current edition, or are sufficiently important that it is worth looking for a second hand copy. Mostly the former.

See also the page Some Critical Works ("good books") for short reviews of other useful volumes including The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays and The Road to Middle-earth.

Finding books

In-print books can be bought from large bookshops or mail order suppliers like Tolkien Society Trading, Amazon, BOL, etc., or ordered from smaller bookshops if they have a books in print reference to trace the publisher and ISBN. Don't rely on ISBNs when ordering - they are often wrong. Get the bookseller to look it up if they aren't sure. Caution: with older books or those from small publishers, some large Internet dealers have a bad habit of flagging books as "out of print" when they cannot get a copy right away, although the book may be available a few weeks later. Keep looking. Contact the publisher if possible. For out of print books, try second hand book dealers or auction sites. There is a list of specialist dealers in Europe on our links page. We don't know any specialists in the USA but there are lots of more general fantasy/SF/genre dealers who may have what you are looking for.

Fastest delivery by mail order: usually the big Internet sites. Best prices: compare carefully. Internet dealers often give discounts off the list price but check out the post and packing costs before ordering. Best in-shop stocks of in-print Tolkien titles in USA in our limited experience so far: Borders Books.