What 📔book are you reading right now?

[Ent]

I'm going through LOTR again, reading chapter by chapter, then bringing Hammond & Scull's work alongside.

(Effectively, reading it as though it's an "Annotated LOTR" similar to the "Annotated Hobbit", though Hammond & Scull have their annotations in an entirely separate book.)

That is, I'm reading those when I'm not 'chasing other background' from all the exciting reading etc. here and a couple other places I peek into daily.

 

[Olorgando]

...
(Effectively, reading it as though it's an "Annotated LOTR" similar to the "Annotated Hobbit", though Hammond & Scull have their annotations in an entirely separate book.)
...

With the latter book, do you mean their 2005 "The Lord of the Rings - A Reader's Companion" - authors given in the order Hammond & Scull -, while you're using their "The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide"- authors given in the order Scull & Hammond -, with volumes "Chronology" and "Reader's Guide" (in the 2006 two-volume version; there's an expanded three-volume second edition from 2017, about which I'm assuming the "Reader's Guide" was expanded to two volumes)?

 

[Ent]

With the latter book, do you mean their 2005 "The Lord of the Rings - A Reader's Companion" - authors given in the order Hammond & Scull -, while you're using their "The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide"- authors given in the order Scull & Hammond -, with volumes "Chronology" and "Reader's Guide" (in the 2006 two-volume version; there's an expanded three-volume second edition from 2017, about which I'm assuming the "Reader's Guide" was expanded to two volumes)?

Yes, "all of the above" so to speak.
I'm using the 2005 "LOTR: A Reader's Companion" chapter by chapter, as I read through LOTR again.
I also have the 3 volume "Chronology" and "Reader's Guide" (2 vols) - Revised and Expanded Edition (Scull and Hammond) on my desk.

I didn't bother with the 2016 2-vol edition as my understanding is the 3-vol expands that 2-vol entirely - so I didn't see a value in having that one. (Unless I'm missing something.)

The 2005 is nice to 'bring alongside' chapter by chapter as I devour LOTR and it jointly in my recliner.
The 3-vol is a bit too cumbersome for that, so I'm reserving it for a follow-up reading.

 

[Olorgando]

Yes, "all of the above" so to speak.
I'm using the 2005 "LOTR: A Reader's Companion" chapter by chapter, as I read through LOTR again.
I also have the 3 volume "Chronology" and "Reader's Guide" (2 vols) - Revised and Expanded Edition (Scull and Hammond) on my desk.

Funny thing is, it was in that 2012 German translation of Anderson's Annotated Hobbit that I picked up the trail of the Hammond & Scull books of 2005 and 2006. Another indication that the 2012 German translation was an expanded version of Anderson's 2002 second edition (Anderson may have contributed to the 2012 German translation).
I'm all but certain that you're not missing anything from my 2006 one-volume "Reader's Guide" compared to your 2017 two-volume edition. When I read about the 2017 expanded edition, I scratched my head about what of interest to me could have cropped up in the intervening 11 years for me to buy the two-volume "Reader's Guide" (there was certainly nothing new for "Chronology") - and arrived at the conclusion "hardly anything". At least for the 2006 edition, it was possible to buy each volume separately ...

 

[Copia]

Currently reading The Silmarillion!

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Currently reading The Stand by Stephen King. Last book that I read was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It was really good, reminded me a lot of the old scifi books I've read like Arthur C. Clarke, etc.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

The Stand by Stephen King.

That's the last one of his I ever read.

With good reason. 🙄

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

That's the last one of his I ever read.

With good reason. 🙄

Didn't like it?

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

All Tolkien. I am reading LOTR and The Silmarillion again specifically-- (In answer to the thread's title)

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Didn't like it?

You could say that.

But don't let me spoil it for you. 😄

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

You could say that.

But don't let me spoil it for you. 😄

Hmm... Are these fantasy books, or just... books?

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

He writes horror, scifi and other stuff. This one I think is about a post apocalyptic world when a disease hits.

 

[Ealdwyn]

I've felt the urge to return to the classic of romantic chivalry: Ivanhoe

 

[Ent]

All Tolkien. I am reading LOTR and The Silmarillion again specifically-- (In answer to the thread's title)

Same. I'm bringing Hammond and Scull's "A Readers Companion" commentary book alongside LoTR chapter by chapter. But I"m kind of tabling it in favor of a deep dive through SIL now, to get caught up with some things I'm less familiar with...(by far).

 

[Radaghast]

A translation of The Rig Veda by Wendy O'Flaherty. Even the translations need translations

 

[Starbrow]

I'm reading The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, a recommendation from my son.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I read Inkheart, before passing it on to my nephews.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Same. I'm bringing Hammond and Scull's "A Readers Companion" commentary book alongside LoTR chapter by chapter. But I"m kind of tabling it in favor of a deep dive through SIL now, to get caught up with some things I'm less familiar with...(by far).

Sounds very deep and thorough.

Hasty you are most certainly not.

 

[Rivendell_librarian]

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I read this a good while ago but while I remembered a story of action I read it now as a novel of ideas: ideas that seem as relevant as ever these days. Culture reduced to mindless TV shows shown on huge wall sized TVs while the threat of nuclear war is ignored. There are also some prescient comments relevant to school violence. The public let the comic books survive, trade journals and 3D sex magazines of course!

In the Truffaut film the mysterious young girl Clarisse survives and reappears towards the end. Apparently, Bradbury approved of this change and I tend to agree as she plays an important part and it seems odd to just have her mysteriously bumped off by the authorities. I haven't watched the film though.

I really enjoyed this book this time round as I now appreciate it as a novel of ideas. Though short the characters are well drawn - not always true in SF.

 

[Lithóniel]

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I read this a good while ago but while I remembered a story of action I read it now as a novel of ideas: ideas that seem as relevant as ever these days. Culture reduced to mindless TV shows shown on huge wall sized TVs while the threat of nuclear war is ignored. There are also some prescient comments relevant to school violence. The public let the comic books survive, trade journals and 3D sex magazines of course!

In the Truffaut film the mysterious young girl Clarisse survives and reappears towards the end. Apparently, Bradbury approved of this change and I tend to agree as she plays an important part and it seems odd to just have her mysteriously bumped off by the authorities. I haven't watched the film though.

I really enjoyed this book this time round as I now appreciate it as a novel of ideas. Though short the characters are well drawn - not always true in SF.

Yes I read part of this book in Literature class this past year. It was quite interesting. We didn’t have time to finish it though.