Of Reading Ut and HoME

[Duguay]

A question about the HoME series

Can anyone tell me if there is a topic forum that discusses the significance of each book in the History of Middle Earth series? Also, another question that is not quite related. I have Unfinished Tales, and I've only read snippets of it. But the text looks a lot like some of the HoME books (numbered notes at the end of each section, different font sizes to separate the story from commentaries). My question is: why is the Unfinished Tales not a part of the HoME series?

 

[jallan]

It should almost be called HoME 0, as a kind of beginning of the series.

Christopher Tolkien edited it before he decided to produce the HoME series. It mostly, but not altogether, contains material that is congruent with the published Silmarillion and writings published his his father's lifetime, and in some cases Christopher Tolkien has slightly edited the material into more finished form and replace manuscript versions of names with the names in the previously published texts.

This Christopher Tolkien does not do in the HoME series.

 

[redline2200]

The HOME books............

Can anyone tell me how many History of Middle-Earth books there are? I heard there was 12, but I am not exactly sure. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[FoolOfATook]

There are officially 12 books in the History Of Middle Earth:
1. The Book Of Lost Tales
2. The Book Of Lost Tales Volume II
3. The Lays Of Beleriand
4. The Shaping Of Middle-earth
5. The Lost Road and Other Writings
6. The Return Of The Shadow
7. The Treason Of Isengard
8. The War Of The Ring
9. Sauron Defeated
10. Morgoth's Ring
11. The War Of The Jewels
12. The Peoples Of Middle-earth

However, Houghton Mifflin, for their paperback editions of the History Of The Lord Of The Rings (Volumes 6-9) printed a book titled "The End Of The Third Age", which is the first part of Sauron Defeated. So, there are officially 12 volumes, but there are thirteen books, if you follow.

One could also consider Unfinished Tales to be a sort of "unofficial" part of the HoME, since it follows the same form that Christopher Tolkien used in the HoME series, but it was published before the HoME series began, and was never "retconned" in.

 

[redline2200]

I follow perfectly, thanks.

 

[GuardianRanger]

I've also seen a 13th book listed....an index. I've only seen this in "boxed sets."

 

[FoolOfATook]

From what I understand, there is an index to the complete HoMe, but it's only available in the UK right now. I do know that I haven't seen it at any of the bookstores that I haunt.

 

[Bombadillo]

is home worth reading?... it sounds a bit boring... twelve books with (as i believe) mostly the same stories as in the sil and lotr...

(you can just pm me about this, as not to spoil this thread)

 

[Niniel]

I saw the Index to HoME in our bookshop. But I really want to know if it's worth reading before I buy any HoMe books, since they're at least 20 euros each (which is also 20 dollars), so that would be like 250 euros for all of them, and I can't afford that.

 

[Inderjit S]

You don't have to buy them in bulk. Buying one every few months would be pretty cost effective.

 

[FoolOfATook]

Niniel,
You'd obviously know more about Dutch bookstores than I would, but I can say that over here in the states, most, if not all, of the HoMe is available in paperbacks that cost around $8. Maybe there are similiarly priced editions in Europe?

 

[Niniel]

I'm afraid not. Books (and CD's, and DVD's) are ridiculously expensive in the Netherlands, compared to almost every other country. Maybe I should try buying them from Amazon or Ebay, that might be cheaper. Anyway, I'm first going to read the Letters of Tolkien, which I bought yesterday. Yay! And after that I'll think about HoME.

 

[Feänor]

Is is just me, or is the hardcover edition of 'The book of lost tales, part II' no longer in print? All I've seen is the Houghton Mifflin 1984 hardcover going for $100-200 used.

 

[morello13]

i have the red hardcover book of last tales form library right now no sure how old it is, if i can 200 bucks for i should just steal it and sell it on ebay

 

[FoolOfATook]

I'm first going to read the Letters of Tolkien, which I bought yesterday. Yay

Letters is a book that I fall in love with more and more every time I pick it up. I know that I enjoy it more than all of HoMe, except for the History of LOTR and parts of Peoples of Middle-earth and Morgoth's Ring. His letters to the Nazi officials about publishing the Hobbit in Germany should settle once and for all and accusations that Tolkien was racist. His letters to his children reveal just how deeply he loved them and cared for them. His letters about religion show a man who had thought deeply about his faith, exploring it while never doubting it. It's truly an amazing book, and I'm not sure if I could ever thank Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien enough for giving it to us.

 

[Niniel]

I completely agree with you FoaT! I've only gotten to letter 60 or so, but I enjoy them thoroughly! There are lots of very interesting ideas about the early concepts of LOTR. It's also interesting to see how JRRT struggled with writing LOTR; at first he thought he wouldn't have enough stuff to write a sequel to the Hobbit, since he had used all his ideas for the Hobbit. And then slowly you can see LOTR growing.... his publishers got rather desperate I believe. And what he writes about war does rather much apply to the current situation in the world, which makes it very interesting. I'll go on reading the rest of the letters, I love them!

 

[pgt]

Thanks for the list - I'm going to keep that one and use it to drop hints around Birthdays and other convenient times.

Do the books have to read 'in order'?

Anymore my interests have evolved to focus specifically on the events of LotR, men and the 3rd age (and perhaps earlier like Numenor's rise and fall). Dwarves and Hobbits as well.

Which books would you suggest staring with to focus on those areas of interest? I'm guessing Vol 6-12?

thanks,
-T

PS: Is the Atlas of Middle Earth a good companion to all of these books? Any 'other' companions worth considering too?

 

[Beleg]

Humm, truth be told HOME series is really, really hard to find here. Hardcovers are not avvalable, to get paperback i need to travel 1000 miles + they are real expensive, and second hand copies are also difficult to come by.
The best way is to haunt a person who has the books and then photocopy them.
Some people feel letter's are boring but sometimes they are as interesting as the story. Its like reading someone's Journal and it tells us more about the person and the reasoning behind his writing etc, etc.

 

[Inderjit S]

Anymore my interests have evolved to focus specifically on the events of LotR, men and the 3rd age (and perhaps earlier like Numenor's rise and fall). Dwarves and Hobbits as well.

For Numenor, see-HoME 5.

For LoTR and the Third Age see-HoME 6-9, For the develoment of LoTR, plus information on Numenor in the 'Notion Club Papers' in HoME 9 and HoME 12 for information on Hobbit geneaolgies (I found it very, very dull) and an essay called 'Of Dwarves and Men' about early Dwarven movement/history.

 

[Melko Belcha]

Unfinished Tales contains alot of late writing from Tolkien about the Second and Third Age, plus two great stories from the First.
I & II - The Book of Lost Tales pt. 1 & 2 in the earliest writings that eventualy became The Simarillion.
III - The Lays of Beleriand contains Tolkiens unfinished poems for the story of Turin and Beren and Luthien. A truely amazing read.
IV - The Shaping of Middle-earth contains the only full version of The Silmarillion plus the first map.
V- The Lost Road and other writings. The Lost Road is a story Tolkien never completed but gave rise to the tale of Numenor. The book also contains all his writing on the Sil up until LOTR is started.
VI, VII, & VIII - The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard, and The War of the Ring all deal with the writing of LOTR.
IX - Sauron Defeated. The first half finishes LOTR plus the original last chapter. The second half contains The Notion Club Papers and the later Fall of Numenor.
X & XI - Morgoth's Ring and The War of the Jewels is all the later writings of the Sil from after LOTR till his death. My personal favorites.
XII - The Peoples of Middle-earth deals with the appendix's of LOTR plus a few other later writings like the sequel to LOTR.