Tim Sullivan > Recent Status Updates

I was expecting just a short read, but this is a _fascinating_ book. It’s in fashion to oversimplify Tolkien’s skills — either as a mystical demigod genius, or as a blundering academic who accidentally inherited Timeless Themes™ from his dusty books. But when you show Tolkien’s deliberate methods of synthesizing existing material, it’s easy to see how deeply he understood what literature does.

Volume 1 of 4 finished.

I can already tell this is going to be one of the best books I'll ever read.

It's painted on a mind-bogglingly grand scope. The machinations of the powerful are played out over decades. I think that's a theme that is both timeless and excruciatingly hard to depict.

It's full of those charming little mythical episodes that make characters larger than life, iconic, almost like a holy book.