Triangle Tolkienists

Saturday, March 8, 2025 – 7:00pm – virtual

Instead of a traditional book club, this month I would like to invite everyone to read a Tolkien non-fiction book of your choosing. Any non-fiction book about Tolkien works – it can be biography, literary criticism, essays, or any other angle. It can be about the legendarium, his academic writing, his miscellaneous stories, the man himself, or even just about his influence – whatever most interests you. During our meeting, we’ll each share some information that we learned from our book.

We’ll meet virtually via Discord. This is the one book club meeting where we use microphones (and cameras, if you like!). Last year, some people prepared PowerPoints, others read from notes, and others just talked about their books. While each person presents their book, everyone else sends comments and questions in the chat.

It’s perfectly okay if multiple people read the same book – everyone will take away something different from their selection. And hopefully we’ll read some of these books together someday anyway!

Finally – don’t take this too seriously. It’s meant to be fun! The goal is to spread out our attention so we can cover a lot of ground, explore things that interest us personally, and have a stimulating discussion together. Nobody needs to be an expert in their chosen book, and no prior knowledge is expected of you.

Please let us know what book you’ll be reading here.

If you need some inspiration when planning your presentation, here are some questions to consider. Take or leave as many of them as you wish.

• What was the subject of your book? Who wrote it and what are their credentials?
• Did you already know anything about this subject before you started, or was this topic new for you? If you’ve read other books on this subject, how did this one compare?
• What parts of the book did you find most interesting?
• What sources does the book use? Have you/we read any of them?
• Do you have any favorite quotes from the book – something you found particularly illuminating, significant, moving, funny, or otherwise memorable?
• If the author is making arguments, are they convincing?
• Do you have any criticisms of the conclusions drawn by the author or the way the book is written?
• Did the book inspire you to do more research on this subject? Do you have any questions you want to ask the author?
• Does reading this book change the way you understand/interpret/appreciate any parts of Tolkien’s writing?

Here are the selections from last year:

• The Map of Wilderland by Amber Lehning (Kaley)
• A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and A Great War by Joseph Loconte (Nicole, Bri)
• The Making of Middle-earth by Christopher Snyder (McKenzie)
• Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring by Thomas Hillman (Amber)
• The Science of Middle-Earth by Henry Gee (Vendela)
• Pagan Saints in Middle-earth by Claudio Testi (Eleanor)
• Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth (Gary)
• The Gallant Edith Bratt by Nancy Bunting and Seamus Hamill-Keays (Fred)
• Tolkien’s Overture by John Carswell (Fred)
• Tolkien: A Biography by Michael White (Fred)
• Master of Middle-Earth by Paul Kocher (Fred)