[Grasshopper]

I started it several months ago. Made it about 70 pages, got into something else, started again, very slowly, and finally got going. Lately, I've been reading less scifi/fantasy and reading other things. That kind of made it hard to read the Silmarillion.
But the last week or so, I made myself comprehend some the inner parts and I finally got into a rhythm. Today at work, it was very slow and I had to stay 9 hours, so I finished the last third of the book today. It also picked up towards the end with some more familiar territory so that made it easier. I was also pretty stupid and never noticed the glossary in the back. <sigh>
All in all, it was a great trove of information regarding Middle Earth and filled in many gaps for someone that had only experienced the books and the movies. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Now to the other books...

[Evil Agent]

It really is amazing. I've only read it twice, years ago, but I'm gonna give it another go soon. I got a nifty hardcover edition illustrated by Ted Nasmith...

Regarding Ted Nasmith, I always think that he must have been SO hurt when they got John Howe and Alan Lee to work on the movie, and not him! :)

[Calandra]

Hey, guess what - despite all of my previous bitching - I finished it!!! And Evil Agent - you were right, it was well worth it.

Yeah, it was difficult and hard to get into, but I'll tell you, there is no other fantasy author out there that can capture the magic of language and imagery like Tolkein can. This reaffirmed it for me.

However, I wish that he had written another "book" that covered the period from the fall of Numenor to the start of the ring stories. He covers some of it at the end of the Silmarillion and some of it in the ROTK appendix, but I for one would be interested in knowing a lot more about the period between Elendil/Gilgalad and Gandalf/Aragorn/Frodo/etc.

[Iskaral Pust]

'Tis a masterpiece.

[Evil Agent]

YAY FOR CALANDRA!

I knew you could do it, babe. :)

[Tomsk]

Glad you enjoyed it! Calandra- try Unfinished Tales, it has quite a bit of detail from that period, but as you can guess it is unfinished- there are notes after each section that you have to refer to as you are reading. Its quite good though, one bit about the hunt for the ring makes the Nazgul seem terrifying- much more so than the films made them.

Unifinished tales is quite detailed, its for people who really like Middle Earth. It worth a read though.

I have to re-read the Silmarillion some time. It is so epic and amazing!

[Soon Lee]

There are some real gems in 'Unfinished Tales' for the Tolkien geek - Glaurung the Dragon, a description of the Numenoreans and the influence of Sauron on its Fall, how the One Ring betrayed Isildur, how Rohan and Gondor came to be allies and my favourite, a recounting of 'The Quest of Erebor' Galdalf's version of events in 'The Hobbit. There is also stuff about the Palantiri and the Istari (Wizards).

It's very much fragments assembled by Christopher Tolkien and so are drafts of bits and pieces. Even so, there is some brilliant writing there.

[Evil Agent]

My favorite part of Unfinished Tales was the much more detailed version of Tuor, and his meeting with Ulmo, and all that followed.

[Grasshopper]

Very interesting stuff!! I'm gonna go get copies of these pretty soon.....although it could be a while....cuz I just started reading The Wheel of Time books....for the first time.

Bah! I can multitask...

[Tomsk]

Evil Agent- why do you think that stuff about Tuor was missed out of the Silmarillion? It would have fitted in really well, and would have made Gondolin very impressive, but it was left out. Why did Christopher Tolkien do that?