Tom Shippey: The Road to Middle Earth--how J R R Tolkien created a new mythology

I mentioned this one earlier. I've been trying to read it for nearly six months; no fault of the author, I just have not had time to concentrate, and it's a book that needed concentration.

It sometimes seems that Tolkien has been done to death, and every reader I know brings his own ideas and perspectives, which is, to my mind, as it should be. One of the aspects of this book that made it interesting to me was the philological tack he took toward Tolkien's writings. In his afterword, the author points out that, while he published in the hope of widening the scope of criticism on Tolkien's works, in recent years the opposite has happened. Many readers and critics can't tell the difference between Old English, Old Norse, or Icelandic, and don't think that the difference matters; whereas to Tolkien, an eintire story can hinge on the origins of a word. As the author traced through some of the permutations that various parts of Tolkien's writings went through, including the changes he chose to make in various languages, one has a better sense of how deeply Tolkien was involved with the creation of Middle-Earth. It did not spring, full-grown, from his head, but rather was created in stages and evolved through those stages as well.

Next up, I will give myself over to the pleasures of Jane Austen in the several back issues of Persuasions that are sitting before me, an issue of Archaeology that will accompany me on a tropical vacation (okay, not everyone imagines the palm trees, white sand beaches, a hammock, cool tropical drink, and the latest news from the world of bone-diggers, but to each his own.)

I'm also trolling for some new romance series to exercise with, but nothing has caught my eye lately.

I may also be looking for a book on how to persuade cats to get along with each other...or perhaps I'll have to write one! With six cats currently in residence, we don't have nearly enough window sills or laps to keep everyone happy!