Now I’m imagining a scale from Brian Herbert to Chris Tolkein, and figuring out where to put Rose Wilder and Goro Miyazaki.
Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight books (three right now, fourth due later this year I think) are some of his best writing. Really good stuff.
Tales of Earthsea was not good, Up on Poppy Hill was pretty decent. Nothing approaching his father’s work, but not a complete disaster at least (lol Brian Herbert).
Dang, this sucks. Though obviously he lived a long full life.
As he was a living link to both Tolkien and World War II, it comforted me to know he was still with us.
His work editing his father’s manuscripts has been pretty heroic. If you gotta live in a great man’s shadow, this is a good way to do it.
I didn’t read The Silmarillion until I was…41? And I’m sorry I waited, as it’s great. Genuine mythology rather than fantasy.
You’re a champion Clay. It must be amazing for your girls!
RIP Chris. I adored LOTR and The Hobbit so I really should check out some of the other books like The Silmarillion. I remember him visiting my uni back in… 2002/3, I think, to talk about his maps and he was very complimentary about my graphic design and animation.
He also edited (i.e. rescued from oblivion) his father’s translation of Beowulf, which is a fascinating read, especially the notes.
Your grudge was always misguided, as Christopher Tolkien (and the Tolkien estate) NEVER had the rights to the Hobbit movie - those were sold by JRR Tolkien in the 60s.
The only involvement of family/estate was they caused a brief delay in the making of the Hobbit movies (after the release of the LotR movies) by suing New Line which had only paid them $24,000 for the Estate’s 7.5% gross profit entitlement to the LotR movies (more complicated, but that’s the gist). The estate ended up taking only about 30M and dismissing the suit, which was generous of it, if anything (given nature of entities, unclear if there were additional related payments post-Hobbit).
Clearly the infamous Hollywood bookkeeping still exists.
I would’ve liked to see the expression on the Judge’s face though when the movie company tried to justify 24 grand.
My thoughts exactly.
Good on you!
When I was 5 years old, my mom was frustrated that I seemed to be basically bored with books aimed at my age group as bedtime stories. And she’d noticed that what I really loved were stories from this amazing collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
So my oldest brother, who was living at home while attending seminary, suggested The Hobbit as a possibility. And so over the course of many months, Mom read The Hobbit to me, a chapter at a time. And then the next year, she did the same with the Lord Of The Rings. It’s one of my most cherished memories of my childhood, and something I’ll forever be eternally grateful for her having managed to do.
I think your girls will feel the same way as they grow older. You’re awesome!
(Also I remember arguing with my mom too, that Gandalf couldn’t possibly be dead. And mom refusing to turn ahead a few chapters to see, saying we’d just have to keep following the story and see what happens.)
Yeowww how long did that take?
A chapter a night?
Man that is awesome.
No-one read shit to me as a kid, I read it to myself hahaah :S.
That sounds amazing. I also love that your mum didn’t skip ahead! I remember being beguiled by Grimms’ Fairy Tales as a kid when my mum read them to me and my brother. I’ve never found the version that we had that had these amazing pencil sketches accompanying each story.
I read the Hobbit to my daughters when they were young. I thought LOTR would be a little much. They also saw the animated version, which we still own.
I read most of the hobbit to my daughter when she was 3. (She is still 3 for a while longer.) She didn’t follow much and sometimes fell asleep (which was my goal) and I skipped over some violent bits. But it’s a start.
Thanks for relaying that story, triggercut! I’m having a blast reading it to them, though sometimes I feel that my throat is going to dry out and stop working. We just got some new fish for Blythe’s fishtanks and the girls decided to name them Merry and Pippin. :)
I remember my mom having to resort to throat lozenges at times, and also having to always have a glass of water handy. :)
Damn this sucks. He managed to get a lot of his father’s notes/works out that really fleshed out middle earth. He kept a tight lease on silly stuff that could have happened. The IP (if I can even say that over a time this old) is still steady.
God only knows what will happen now.
Most of us recall remembering reading those books and wondering what it would be like to actually be there. Let’s hope he rests in peace for the next 100 years.
Brian Herbert did NOT do the same.
Haven’t read any of Brian Herbert’s stuff, LOL. Not that desperate yet.
Don’t. The Herbert/Anderson stuff just pisses all over the Dune legacy.