Special thanks to @allegramarisol for recommending to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien!

"Not all who wander are lost"

- J.R.R. Tolkien

Thank you for tuning in for this week's discussion!

We will be talking about the epic fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) who wrote, most notably, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its prequel The Hobbit.

Fun Fact: The Lord of the Rings wasn't written to be a trilogy but was instead broken down into three books (and later 3 movies) because of the length and fear it would not sell in its entirety.

J.R.R. Tolkien was an English Literature professor at Pembroke College and Merton College (both in Oxford). Creating tales about middle earth and formulating his own language (Elvish), he decided to create a story to fit his fantasy world, and thus Lord of the Rings was born.

Discussion Questions:

If you've read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, did you read The Hobbit first?

Since all four books have been converted into movies, if you've seen the movies, was there anything that was too different from the books in your opinion?

What modern writers would you say could compare to J.R.R. Tolkien? Why do you think so?

We welcome any discussion surrounding J.R.R. Tolkien and any of his works.

Resources:

Tolkien Society