Complete recs & TBR of works by & about JRR Tolkien
#ReadingList: fantasy, literary analysis, translations, academic texts, letters, biography, & more
“The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.” — from THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
I have been reading Tolkien since I was thirteen years old & my love & appreciation for his writing & his world has only increased over the years. (Read more about why I love Tolkien’s writing here.)
Here is a compilation of all of the books by & about Tolkien that I’ve either read or would one day like to read:
By the Professor himself…
The Middle-earth Legendarium:
THE HOBBIT (1937) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM (1997)
Smith of Wootton Major (1967) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1954)
BILBO’S LAST SONG, illustrated by Pauline Baynes (2012)
THE SILMARILLION (published posthumously in 1977) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
UNFINISHED TALES, edited by Christopher Tolkien (1980) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
BEREN AND LÚTHIEN, edited by Christopher Tolkien (2017) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN, edited by Christopher Tolkien (2007) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THE FALL OF GONDOLIN, edited by Christopher Tolkien (2018) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THE FALL OF NÚMENOR, edited by Brian Sibley (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH: Vol. I-XII + Index, edited by Christopher Tolkien (1983-1996)
First five volumes:
Next four volumes:
Last three volumes + Index:
“Then Manwë asked, where was Olórin? And Olórin, who was clad in grey, and having just entered from a journey had seated himself at the edge of the council, asked what Manwë would have of him. Manwë replied that he wished Olórin to go as the third messenger to Middle-earth... But Olórin declared that he was too weak for such a task, and that he feared Sauron. Then Manwë said that that was all the more reason why he should go…” — from UNFINISHED TALES
Other fictions, poetry, art, & fairy tales:
TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM (1997)
Roverandom (1925) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Leaf by Niggle (1945)
Farmer Giles of Ham (1949) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Smith of Wootton Major (1967) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
LETTERS FROM FATHER CHRISTMAS (1920-1943) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Academic texts & translations:
TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM (1997)
On Fairy Stories (1939)
BEOWULF: A TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, PEARL, & SIR ORFEO, three medieval poems translated from Middle English
THE BATTLE OF MALDON: Together with the Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, edited by Peter Grybauskas
Letters:
“…the last-comer was named among the Elves Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgrim, for he dwelt in no place, and gathered to himself neither wealth nor followers, but ever went to and fro in the Westlands from Gondor to Angmar, and from Lindon to Lórien, befriending all folk in times of need. Warm and eager was his spirit (and it was enhanced by the ring Narya), for he was the Enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours and wastes with the fire that kindles, and succours in wanhope and distress; but his joy, and his swift wrath, were veiled in garments grey as ash, so that only those that knew him well glimpsed the flame that was within.” — from UNFINISHED TALES
Books about the Professor & his work…
About Tolkien’s writing:
THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT by John D Rateliff (2007)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: A READER’S COMPANION, by Christina Scull & Wayne Hammond (2005) ★ ★ ★ ★ .5
THE ROAD TO MIDDLE-EARTH by Tom Shippey (2003)
THE LANGUAGES OF TOLKIEN’S MIDDLE-EARTH: A Complete Guide to All Fourteen of the Languages Tolkien Invented, by Atanielle Annyn Rowland (1980)
FLORA OF MIDDLE-EARTH: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium, by Walter S Judd & Graham A Judd (2017)
PERILOUS AND FAIR: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Janet Brennan Croft & Leslie A. Donovan (2015)
ADAPTING TOLKIEN: Peter Roe Series XX, edited by Will Sherwood (2021)
THE SCIENCE OF MIDDLE-EARTH: A New Understanding of Tolkien and His World, edited by Jean-Sébastien Steyer, Loïc Mangin, & Roland Lehoucq, illustrated by Arnaud Rafaelian, & translated (from the original French) by Tina Kover (2022)
Biographical:
TOLKIEN: MAKER OF MIDDLE-EARTH, edited by Catherine McIlwaine (2018)
a companion to the exhibition at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford in 2018 & at the Morgan Library in New York in 2019—bringing together the largest collection of original Tolkien material ever assembled in a single volume
JRR TOLKIEN: A BIOGRAPHY by Humphrey Carpenter (1977)
the “authorized” biography
JRR TOLKIEN: AUTHOR OF THE CENTURY by Tom Shippey (2002)
A SECRET VICE: Tolkien on Invented Languages, edited by Dimitra Fimi & Andrew Higgins (2019)
“At the first [the Red Ring of Fire] had been entrusted to Círdan, Lord of the Havens; but he had surrendered it to Mithrandir, for he knew whence he came and whither at last he would return. ‘Take now this Ring,’ he said; ‘for thy labours and thy cares will be heavy, but in all it will support thee and defend thee from weariness. For this is the Ring of Fire, and herewith, maybe, thou shalt rekindle hearts to the valour of old in a world that grows chill. But as for me, my heart is with the Sea, and I will dwell by the grey shores, guarding the havens until the last ship sails. There I shall await thee.’” — from THE SILMARILLION
