Monthly Archives: December 2016

“Tolkien Transactions” at the Tolkien Society (Friday Feature)

Resources for Tolkienites are legion these days, but key among them is the Tolkien Society. Besides a Tolkien biography, there is also an event page with CFPs and conference announcements, as well as publications like Mallorn and Amon Hen. Membership gives a … Continue reading

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2016: A Year of Reading

This time last year I had a sense of the kind of season that 2016 would be, but I did not know the how deeply the experiences of bereavement, family responsibility, and overwork would impact me. While my work has … Continue reading

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2016: My Year in Books: The Infographic

The house elves at Goodreads have produced a little infographic to capture my year in book reading. I love data, and I love when clever people create clever algorithms to capture trends in visual form. I’ll post my full, super … Continue reading

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“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry

There are few of them left: the kind of used bookstore with old, over-stuffed wooden shelves, literate staff, and stacks of volumes crowding the aisles. This is the kind of used bookstore that plays the Canadian Broadcasting Company in the … Continue reading

Posted in Memorable Quotes | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Christmas With J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father Christmas Letters

What a find! At a yard sale a good friend scored a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Father Christmas Letters and she was good enough to give it to me. Published by his daughter-in-law in 1976 on the 3rd anniversary of Tolkien’s … Continue reading

Posted in Letters, Memorable Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 49 Comments