Today is J.R.R Tolkien’s 125th birthday! He is resting now, but the rest of us are celebrating, including a toast at 9pm tonight. It appears that Audible has joined in. Recently the audiobooks for some of Tolkien’s lesser known fiction have been released, which might be a nice way to fall back into these old stories.

But today, the Audiobook Daily Deal is Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is on sale for $2.95 USD, until midnight.

The Hobbit is one of the most widely read and best-loved books of the 20th century. Now Corey Olsen takes listeners deep within the text to uncover its secrets and delights.
Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is a fun, thoughtful, and insightful companion volume, designed to bring a thorough and original new reading of this great work to a general audience. Professor Olsen takes listeners on an in-depth journey through The Hobbit, chapter by chapter, revealing the stories within the story: the dark desires of dwarves and the sublime laughter of elves, the nature of evil and its hopelessness, the mystery of divine providence and human choice, and, most of all, the transformation within the life of Bilbo Baggins.
Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is a book that will make The Hobbit come alive for you as never before.

Hopefully this link will work, though I’m not sure if the sale is on for non-American clients. This is a book by the Tolkien Prof that I am definitely adding to my list.

Also, make sure to check out the Mythgard Institute class on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf with Dr. Tom Shippey. The class is free (though a $20 donation is requested), and runs 3 Thursdays beginning Jan 12th at 4:00-5:30pm EST. Upcoming Signum University classes on Tolkien and Lewis–as well as some other dandy topics–are open for registration this week.