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quoththegirl's review against another edition
3.0
A rather random collection of essays be famous authors (mainly science fiction and fantasy) who love Tolkien. Some of them are a bit repetitive (there are really only so many ways you can say that Tolkien was a genius and inspired everyone), but many of the essays are entertaining purely for the writer's particular style. I especially loved this quote by Esther M. Friesner: “I am a writer. I have received money for doing this on several occasions, so the odds are that I will continue on this unfortunate course until someone catches wise. (If you don’t want a writer to come back, don’t feed him. This is a good, practical rule, and applies to cats as well. Writers are a lot like cats in this and many other respects, except for the part about being able to wash ourselves all over with our tongues. Dang.)”
onceandfuturelaura's review against another edition
3.0
Readible, with the exception of the Orson Scott Card contribution. With apologies to another reviewer, who said it SO much better than I'm going to:
" Orson Scott Card seizes the opportunity to get up on his big stupid hobby horse about how modernism is dumb. “Modernists treat everything as allegory,” he growls, harrumphing and popping his monocle. Then he makes up some imaginary straw-man argument in which a modernist read allegorically, and then rips that apart like tissue. Well done, Mr Card! You win a gold star for being deliberately obtuse about modernism, and then sounding like a grumpy old jackass on top of that." -- (Ceridewin, taken without permission, full review available at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68120971)
I stopped reading Card's review when he said that "Ulysses can be taught. Tolkien can only be read" or something like that. I get that Tolkien didn't like allegory. That doesn't mean that his books aren't worth a deep read. As someone who's become a big fan of Dr. Cory Olson, the Tolkien Professor's, podcast, it makes me grumpy. http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/wp/. It's one of those things my husband and I listen to together. Like Smodcast.
It's largely a collection of "how I came to Tolkien" stories, which got a little tiresome. Le Guin's contribution on metrics was awesome, and Pratchett's discussion of the book's "cult" status is hilarious.
" Orson Scott Card seizes the opportunity to get up on his big stupid hobby horse about how modernism is dumb. “Modernists treat everything as allegory,” he growls, harrumphing and popping his monocle. Then he makes up some imaginary straw-man argument in which a modernist read allegorically, and then rips that apart like tissue. Well done, Mr Card! You win a gold star for being deliberately obtuse about modernism, and then sounding like a grumpy old jackass on top of that." -- (Ceridewin, taken without permission, full review available at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68120971)
I stopped reading Card's review when he said that "Ulysses can be taught. Tolkien can only be read" or something like that. I get that Tolkien didn't like allegory. That doesn't mean that his books aren't worth a deep read. As someone who's become a big fan of Dr. Cory Olson, the Tolkien Professor's, podcast, it makes me grumpy. http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/wp/. It's one of those things my husband and I listen to together. Like Smodcast.
It's largely a collection of "how I came to Tolkien" stories, which got a little tiresome. Le Guin's contribution on metrics was awesome, and Pratchett's discussion of the book's "cult" status is hilarious.
imrereads's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This was so fascinating! One of my favourite genres are author memoirs, and while this isn't that, it feels related to it. 16 authors (and a pair of illustrators) write about their relationship to Tolkien and his literary works, in particular the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Now, I'm someone who grew up on the films, and didn't read the Hobbit until I was an adult (and I still haven't read LotR!), but it was so interesting to see how all these people found themselves falling in love with that world and how it — for many of them — ultimately influensed them to become authors themselves.
I'd recommend reading this if you like Tolkiens work or if you enjoy reading about authors talking about their influences.
I'd recommend reading this if you like Tolkiens work or if you enjoy reading about authors talking about their influences.
buchdrache's review against another edition
3.0
Das hier ist eine Sammlung von Essays verschiedener Autoren rund um Tolkien. Viele berichten dabei vor allem von ihren Erlebnissen mit Tolkien: wie sie auf ihn kamen und wie er sie geprägt hat. Das ist ganz nett zu lesen, während man dasitzt, geflissentlich nickt und sich denkt: »Darin erkenne ich mich wieder.« Allerdings auch ein wenig obsolet, weil das hier wahrscheinlich ohnehin nur diejenigen lesen werden, die selbst Tolkien mögen. Interessanter sind dagegen jedoch die Autoren, die den sachlicheren Ansatz wählen und verschiedene Aspekte Tolkiens beleuchten. Besonders hervorgetan hat sich da Ursula K. Le Guin, die Tolkiens Sprache untersucht, besonders im Hinblick auf Metrum (ich wusste nicht einmal, dass es Sinn macht, auch Prosa nach einem Metrum zu untersuchen!) und die Bedeutung von Richtungen. Auf jeden Fall ausgesprochen lehrreich! Auch Terry Pratchett und Douglas A. Anderson haben mir sehr gefallen. Außerdem gibt es einige Zeichnungen John Howes, einem der bedeutsamsten Tolkien-Illustratoren, den ich selbst sehr schätze. Natürlich waren diese Zeichnungen einfach wundervoll!
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