'Ring-Wraiths;' finally I get it.

Although I don't normally read biographies, I recently found myself taking Brian Fisher's advice and picking one up. (Granted, I didn't have time to finish this one for over a year!) The book is Tolkien; the Authorized Biography, by Humphrey Carpenter. I found it in a pile of free books at a garage sale and almost passed over it but the picture on the cover of Tolkien smoking a pipe was too neat to pass up.

Tolkien (The book but apparently also the man himself) is slow-developing but interesting. Simply stated, he was an obscure Oxford Professor (specifically a Philologist) desiring to entertain his children with creative, mythical stories and at least one of those stories (especially the Hobbit tetralogy) was polished for publication.  Tolkien's obsessive-compulsive nature would not allow him to ever really consider a story to be "complete;" going so far as to research moon phases and measuring precise distances on maps to ensure that every detail was in order.

Prior to writing the Hobbit series, Tolkien had already developed the cultures found in his stories (elvish, hobbit, etc.) from languages he had created as a hobby. He felt as if the languages he invented obligated a certain culture as both representative and explanatory for them. Tolkien was a simple man living in a simple, suburban home. His creativity and imagination were however, clearly less than common. Coupling those with an obsessive focus on detail allowed him to compose (after over 20 years) a terrific novel as possibly his life's work.

If you're a fan of Hobbits and looking for more background information (in light of the new movie?) then I would encourage you to pick this book up used. If you're not pursuing an understanding of Tolkien's literary philosophy on character names or insights into the lifestyle of an author/professor, I would encourage you to pass on this one.  2 out of 5 harry hobbit feet.

AMY