Author · 1892–1973

J.R.R. Tolkien

English writer and philologist, professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford.

2: briefs
11:00: average
22 min: in total

On books.briefs2

10:00

The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien · 1937

Tolkien's 1937 prequel to The Lord of the Rings, in three hundred pages of a simpler world. The brief follows Bilbo from his armchair to the dragon's hoard, then explains why LOTR fans often miss what makes this book work on its own.

12:00

The Lord of the Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien · 1954

Tolkien's trilogy (1954-55) established the modern fantasy epic. The brief covers the quest's architecture, the languages he invented to hold it, and why the appendices might outweigh the text.