Pastor – Coach – Reader – Cook
What is there to say about these books that has not already been said? I suppose everyone who loves this story has their own personal story of how they discovered them. My story is actually rather regretful. I think it was 5th or 6th grade when I first picked up the Hobbit and I gave…
Continue reading ➞ #2 – The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (My 100 Favorite Books)
This book was Tolkien's life's work. It was not released until after his death, put together by his son Christopher. I call it the Old Testament of Middle Earth. While it is not as exciting as the Hobbit, or even as fast-paced as Lord of the Rings (which is itself a bit slow at times)…
Continue reading ➞ #10 – The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien (My 100 Favorite Books)
One night my wife looked over at me sitting on the couch and asked, "are you seriously reading that book?" The book was the Letters of JRR Tolkien. She could not understand why anyone would want to read hundreds of pages of someone's personal letters. Admittedly, it is rather odd. This book is certainly not…
Continue reading ➞ Feeding My Tolkien Obsession with Two Books
I read Game of Thrones back before it was cool. Back then when people saw you reading a 1000 page tome with pictures of dragons and swords on the front, they probably thought you were just a nerd. Now its hip and mainstream. I've watched the first three seasons of the TV show and am…
Most of my earliest reading on my own was novels. After reading a lot of John Grisham and Michael Crichton, I started to get into sci-fi and fantasy. I read more Star Wars novels than I care to remember. Eventually I got into The Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones (before it was cool).…
Continue reading ➞ Eucatastrophe – Tolkien’s On Fairy Stories
The Tolkien Reader is a great little book for fans of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings who want to get a taste of stories he wrote that take place outside of Middle Earth. One such story, Farmer Giles of Ham, is entertaining and funny, introducing us to a simple Farmer who through various…
Continue reading ➞ The Tolkien Reader and Unfinished Tales (Review)
I have read and reread Tolkien's classic The Hobbit many times. It is a fantastic story and a wonderful introduction into Tolkien's Middle Earth. A few years ago I discovered the podcast of The Tolkien Professor, Corey Olsen. I have listened to many of his podcasts since then and it feels as if you are…
Continue reading ➞ Exploring JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit by Corey Olsen (Review)
An island university disappears after a science experiment goes wrong. It reappears in an alternate universe and the residents of the island must learn to live in their new world as hopes of return diminish. This is the premise in Peter Kazmier's story, The Halcyon Dislocation. If you enjoy Tolkien, Lewis and other good fantasy,…
Any book that combines a discussion of Raymond Kurzweil's theory of the coming singularity with analysis of the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien is probably going to be a good read. Matthew Dickerson's The Mind and The Machine: What it Means to Be Human and Why it Matters does not disappoint. Dickerson's basic question in the…
I am going to reflect on a few of my favorite books from 2011. But note that these are books I read in 2011, not necessarily ones that were new in 2011 . Katniss Everdeen and Lisbeth Salander Both of these powerful female characters star in extremely popular trilogies: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and…
Continue reading ➞ Favorite Books I Read This Year – Fiction
David Hershey 