From: "count_zero" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Im new be gentle Lines: 17 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Message-ID: Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 21:17:21 -0000 NNTP-Posting-Host: 62.252.237.12 X-Complaints-To: abuse@ntlworld.com X-Trace: news2-win.server.ntlworld.com 976223400 62.252.237.12 (Thu, 07 Dec 2000 21:10:00 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 21:10:00 GMT Organization: ntlworld News Service Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!enews.sgi.com!news.idt.net!feeder.qis.net!btnet-peer!btnet-peer0!btnet!news5-gui.server.ntli.net!ntli.net!news2-win.server.ntlworld.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:30293 Hi people, I read Tolkien (Hobbit and LotR) i am wanting to move on and up into some of the other books but there are so many now is there any that i need to read first? Also I am intneding to start running MERP and was wondering if any of you wonderus people new of any really good web sources either for history of third age middle earth or maps of that time. Thanks in advance for the many replys I hope to get. See you at the Last Homely House. B. ###### From: David Sulger Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Im new be gentle Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 00:52:12 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Lines: 30 Message-ID: <90pbbr$dok$1@nnrp1.deja.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 4.54.55.27 X-Article-Creation-Date: Fri Dec 08 00:52:12 2000 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows 98) X-Http-Proxy: 1.1 x58.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 4.54.55.27 X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDorius Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!fu-berlin.de!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp2.deja.com!nnrp1.deja.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:30301 In article , "count_zero" wrote: > > I read Tolkien (Hobbit and LotR) i am wanting to move on and up into > some of the other books but there are so many now is there any that i > need to read first? There are no books that you actually "need to read". However, if you're hungry for more, I recommend either the Silmarillion or the Unfinished Tales next. The Silm primarily covers the First Age, but does outline the entire backstory of LotR. UT, OTOH, is a collection of stories and essays from the first three ages of ME. > Also I am intneding to start running MERP and was wondering if any of > you wonderus people new of any really good web sources either for > history of third age middle earth or maps of that time. > I don't really think there are a lot of MERP enthusiasts here. In fact, a lot of people seem to dislike the game for some reason or other (primarily the non-canonical content introduced by ICE). I'm not concerned one way or other, but be advised that MERP sourcebooks are generally not accepted here as sourses of information about ME. --Dave Send e-mail to ds50.geo at yahoo.com Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. ###### Reply-To: "Conrad Dunkerson" From: "Conrad Dunkerson" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien References: Subject: Re: Im new be gentle Lines: 30 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Message-ID: Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 01:25:03 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 12.78.71.18 X-Complaints-To: abuse@worldnet.att.net X-Trace: bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net 976238703 12.78.71.18 (Fri, 08 Dec 2000 01:25:03 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 01:25:03 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news-fra1.dfn.de!news0.de.colt.net!blackbush.xlink.net!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!skynet.be!europa.netcrusader.net!204.127.161.3!wn3feed!worldnet.att.net!135.173.83.71!wnfilter1!worldnet-localpost!bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:30320 "count_zero" wrote in message news:I0TX5.1640$tR1.28489@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com... > I read Tolkien (Hobbit and LotR) i am wanting to move on and up > into some of the other books but there are so many now is there > any that i need to read first? There is a list of the contents of various other books available at; http://home.uchicago.edu/~sbjensen/Tolkien/BookList.html > Also I am intneding to start running MERP and was wondering if > any of you wonderus people new of any really good web sources > either for history of third age middle earth or maps of that > time. Actually, I would recommend the tale of years in the appendices of Return of the King for info on Third Age history. Likewise, the map in Fellowship of the Ring is the most 'canonical'. For sources beyond these I'd suggest Unfinished Tales for history and Karen Wynn Fonstadt's 'Atlas of Middle-Earth' for detailed maps. A good source for general information (including historical and geographical) is; http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/ ###### From: Andrew McMurry Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Im new be gentle Date: 08 Dec 2000 12:30:05 +0100 Organization: University of Oslo, Norway Lines: 14 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: sadir.uio.no X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.7 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.tele.dk!195.54.122.107!newsfeed1.bredband.com!bredband!uio.no!nntp.uio.no!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:30349 "count_zero" writes: > Also I am intneding to start running MERP and was wondering if any of you > wonderus people new of any really good web sources either for history of > third age middle earth or maps of that time. Most of the what Tolkien wrote about the third age that is not in the Hobbit, LotR or the LotR Appendices is in Unfinished Tales. For MERP information look at http://otherhands.com/ and links therefrom. You might find suitable information there. Andrew ###### From: brahms@mindspring.com (Stan Brown) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Im new be gentle Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 12:56:16 -0500 Organization: Oak Road Systems Lines: 17 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 3f.35.6f.8c X-Server-Date: 8 Dec 2000 17:55:20 GMT X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.10 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.mindspring.net.MISMATCH!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:30290 [cc'd to previous poster for speed; please follow up in newsgroup] count_zero wrote in rec.arts.books.tolkien: >I read Tolkien (Hobbit and LotR) i am wanting to move on and up into some of >the other books but there are so many now is there any that i need to read >first? The FAQ contains a pointer to Steuard's booklist, which answers your question as well as anyone can. -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA http://oakroadsystems.com Tolkien FAQs: http://home.uchicago.edu/~sbjensen/Tolkien/ Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm more FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/tech/faqget.htm ###### From: Menelvagor Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Im new be gentle Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2000 00:48:44 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Lines: 52 Message-ID: <90rvha$g5v$1@nnrp1.deja.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 136.242.228.148 X-Article-Creation-Date: Sat Dec 09 00:48:44 2000 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows NT 5.0) X-Http-Proxy: 1.1 x68.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 136.242.228.148 X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDgoldarn Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.tele.dk!171.64.14.106!newsfeed.stanford.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp2.deja.com!nnrp1.deja.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:30299 In article , "count_zero" wrote: > Hi people, > Welcome! > I read Tolkien (Hobbit and LotR) i am wanting to move on and up into some of > the other books but there are so many now is there any that i need to read > first? > As they say, Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales are probably best to start with. Silmarillion is mostly concerned with the First Age and contains: Ainulindale, about the Creation and the beginnings of evil; Valaquenta, about the protective spirits called the Valar; Quenta Silmarillion, mostly about the history of the Elves in the First Age and their wars with Morgoth, the first Dark Lord (but also including the stories of Beren and Lúthien, and of Túrin Turambar, which are arguably the best part of the book); Akallabęth, the Downfall of Númenor; and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. The style of this work is quite a bit different from that of most of The Lord of the Rings. Unfinished Tales has a number of incomplete stories from the First, Second, and Third Ages, including essays on the Palantíre, the Istari (wizards), and the Wild Men (in Book V of LOTR). Lots of interesting stuff here, including some background to the Hobbit, and quite a bit about Númenor. In addition to these works, there's also a long series called the History of Middle-earth, which has a lot of very interesting information mixed with some less interesting stuff, but it's not so readable as the other works, being rather scholarly in character. It's essentially Christopoher Tolkien's attempt to edit all his father's writings about Middle-earth, but certain types of writings are left out (there isn't much linguistic stuff, for example, though there is some). It's rather dry, so I wouldn't read it right away. Parts of it are fascinating, though. -- Count Menelvagor the Slayer of Killerbytes, Editor of Sauron's Dairy, and Lord High Enervator of the Empire of Psot, Balrog Dragon Baritone, etc., etc., and All That Other Struff Balrog sum; Balrogani nihil alienum a me puto. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. ###### From: "count_zero" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien References: Subject: Re: Im new be gentle Lines: 13 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Message-ID: <0RSY5.3555$ma1.86745@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com> Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 21:54:04 -0000 NNTP-Posting-Host: 62.252.241.85 X-Complaints-To: abuse@ntlworld.com X-Trace: news2-win.server.ntlworld.com 976484796 62.252.241.85 (Sun, 10 Dec 2000 21:46:36 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 21:46:36 GMT Organization: ntlworld News Service Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!news.tesion.net!news.belwue.de!news.uni-ulm.de!rz.uni-karlsruhe.de!schlund.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!newspeer.clara.net!news.clara.net!news5-gui.server.ntli.net!ntli.net!news2-win.server.ntlworld.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:30427 Thanks to all of you for your various nugets (is that spelled right i thunk not ;) of information i do have Unfinished Tales and Sil. so i am now going to try and read them and see what i can glean. Later People See you at the Last Homely House. B.