J.R.R. Tolkien discussion

Got my copy of it on order. Can't wait to get started! Thanks for the suggestion Anne Marie!

I enjoyed reading Toward The Gleam by T.M. Doran. It is a clever, clearly written book. I would just like to thank Anne Marie for suggesting it as a Group Read. I would never have known that the book existed, if it were not for her. I will not say anything here about the plot or the characters of the story, so I will not spoil things for other members of this group who may want to read it. T.M. Doran writes his story in limpid prose. He is very good at writing conversations between his characters, which is fortunate, because there is at least one lengthy conversation in each chapter. He also likes to describe the meals and snacks his characters share together. I have no idea what it would be like to read his story if I had not read The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings and the biography of J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter and the one by Michael White. As I have done, my reading of them added an extra dimension to my reading of Toward the Gleam, making it more interesting to me, and, at times, more moving. While I was reading the tale of John Hill and his quest, I was reminded of something William Blake once said about some of the people he came to know in his life who he eventually came to consider as not friends, but people who opposed him. Spiritual enemies, he called them. On his travels, John Hill meets people who he thinks can help him solve the mystery of what he has found only for them to be revealed in the end as his spiritual enemies. T.M. Doran likes mystery novels, and that is what he has written. Toward The Gleam is a very serious book, about high matters. On one level, it can be enjoyed, simply, as a mystery, a thriller, tense with an air of paranoia and threat. It is, however, much more than that. I encourage all members of this group to read it before the end of December. Readers of it will enjoy it most if they have read at least one biography of J.R.R. Tolkien and, of course, his own books. The Silmarillion, in particular the short work called Akallabeth, near its end, concerned with the history of Numenor, is the book most relevant to the plot of Toward the Gleam. The Lord of the Rings plays its part in the plot, too.

Thanks Phil. I agree with what you have written about toward the gleam. It is an enjoyable read, pregnant with meaning for people familiar with Tolkien's world. I love the compassion with which relationships unfold in the story - and particularly the characterisation of Gilbert Keith. Beautiful.

I just started on this one yesterday. Only got through the first chapter, so I don't have any real opinion yet. I will say that it's intriguing from the get-go, though.

It has been about a year since I reread "Toward The Gleam" and took place in an author directed discussion group.
It has a really sweet presence in my memory.
It is a special book and it gives proper homage to one of the true timeless great ones and has passages that are masterful on and of its own. I won't give spoilers out but for the opening WWI scenes are among the segments I am speaking of. Although I do not intend to read it for the 3rd time yet, it will be interesting to see what is written about it.

I'm about halfway through. I am enjoying it, but so far it seems to me to have the wistfulness of Tolkien without the excitement or joy. It does have a different sort of excitement, of the paranoia/thriller variety.

I am looking forward to reading "Toward the Gleam" No one has mentioned Tolkien's "On Fairy Tales." It revealed to me much of J.R.R.'s philosophy and the things and books he took joy in.

Finished it, glad to have read it--I had never heard about it before this book club, so thanks. Very clever basic idea to the book.

I've been a bit busy and haven't had much time, but I'm still working on this one. I'm really intrigued with it so far and I'm really enjoying all of the nods to Tolkien's life throughout the book. Excellent choice, Anne Marie.

I won't be reading along as I'm amid a couple of big tomes.However, Moderator, thank you for this book mention. I read the web page on it and have it on my wish list. Seems a very good read!

Just got my second Interlibrary Loan Copy of this so I can finally finish it up. Been on pins and needles waiting for it to arrive!

Just wanted to check-in again on this one as I finished the book yesterday. Fascinating book, I really loved how things ramped up for the climax and thought that the final scenes were fantastic. I also really liked the closure that the author gave in the final couple of chapters. Fun book for any Tolkien fan!

Thanks for introducing us to this Anne Marie!

I have finally gotten around to reading "The Notion Club Papers", and it seems to me that they must have been part of what inspired Doran to write "Toward the Gleam." (I hope I'm not saying something everyone already knows; I don't see it mentioned in this chat line.) in Notion Club, Tolkien began a fiction in which members of a club like the Inklings discover the fall of Numenor as real history (maybe!), although their means of discovery is very different from the means in Toward the Gleam. Even the tone of the two books feels similar to me.