This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number two post was: The Best (and Worst) Books for Tolkien Biography

Prior to the release of Tolkien, the biopic of the author earlier this year, I took some time to make a list of biographical reading for anyone who would want to have some background about Tolkien before going to the film. I prefaced the list by sharing why I put it together:

I have seen several news stories along the lines of “books to read before seeing Tolkien” around the internet recently. While I applaud news outlets for encouraging reading tied to movies, several of these posts, though certainly not all, recommend reading Tolkien’s fantasy works instead of reading works about Tolkien.

This is one blog post where I would highly recommend reading the comments! Several scholars and critics have added their opinions on the works I have listed, and it makes the post even more useful!

Be sure to look at the list if you want the best resources available for Tolkien biography!

A special note: Thank you for following my blog and making it such a wonderful community! As you have probably heard by now, there are some big changes in store for the website, and I am so excited to share them with you! If you haven’t already, please take a minute to look at the brand new Tolkien Experience Podcast, or to revisit the original Tolkien Experience Project (which is still taking submissions)!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number two post was: Last-Minute Tips For Making Hobbit Day Memorable!

This was a very fun post to write! I sat down and thought through several ideas drawn from festive scenes in the books, and also put together some of my favorite passages to include!

You can try greeting each other using this simple formula from The Hobbit!

Greeter: _[Greeter’s name]_, at your service!

Respondent: __[Respondent’s name]__, at yours and your family’s.

Be sure to go read the whole post to find great ideas for your next Tolkien gathering!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number three post was: An Open Letter to Christopher Tolkien on His 95th Birthday

Christopher Tolkien turned ninety-five on November 21 of this year. Since it was a birthday of special magnificence, I took the opportunity to write him an open letter.

I would like to say happy birthday and sincerely thank you for all you have done to shape our understanding of your father’s work, of fantasy writing, of the creative process, and of Old English texts.

Be sure to go see the post to read the whole letter!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number four post was: Letters From Father Christmas Reading Plan

My wife and I read through Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas each year, taking it in turns to read a letter or two each day! I put together this post in 2018 to just put together the schedule we usually follow and a few thoughts on the text!

The post has become a hit both holiday seasons since I posted it!

Be sure to go see the whole post for the schedule!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number five post was: LotRFI Pt.43–The Battle of The Pelennor Fields

This was the most popular post from my First Impressions series this year! For those who haven’t followed the blog, this series was an attempt to reconstruct my early reading of The Lord of the Rings by writing a short blog post about each chapter.

In this post, I was able to reflect on how the battle scenes were different from any of my prior reading:

The scale of the violence was a significant change from my prior reading experience. This means that two elements were very different for me to adjust to. The first is how the story told of the battles, especially Pelennor Fields, from multiple perspectives. This is a trick that Tolkien uses to show more of the battle, and it was a new approach to me. Also, the ebb and flow of the battle was also unique.

I tried to contextualize this response to the story in relation to my other readings as a young reader.

Be sure to go see the whole post if you haven’t already!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number six post was: LotRFI Pt60–The Last Word

This was the second-most popular post from my First Impressions series this year! For those who haven’t followed the blog, this series was an attempt to reconstruct my early reading of The Lord of the Rings by writing a short blog post about each chapter.

I am not all that surprised that the final installment of the project received a lot of attention. That is what you hope for, really. I had to use this post to confess my extreme dislike of the ending when I first read The Lord of the Rings.

I was incredulous and underwhelmed. After such a lengthy and grueling journey, in which I had left so many characters and experiences behind, I expected, nay deserved, more! I was flabbergasted that this was the end to such an epic quest.

This is something I tend not to share very often because people become very defensive about the end of the story.

Be sure to go see the whole post if you haven’t already!

I would love for you to comment about your own experience with the ending!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number seven post was: Marcel Aubron-Bülles’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (45)

This was the most popular entry from the Tolkien Experience Project this year!

Marcel’s wonderful answer to the question “Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?” really stuck out to me, probably because it shows our shared interest. Marcel says:

Yes, certainly – in the sense of a wider range of approaches to Tolkien’s life and works. It is obvious that theology, medievalist studies and any linguistic efforts are at the forefront of scholarly work in terms of JRRT. However, there are many other fields of interest which can shed light on many still undiscovered aspects of Tolkien’s imagination.

I am particularly interested in the reception of Tolkien’s works in the public eye and the fandom they have spawned, its past, present and future. As I have been a Tolkien activist and volunteer for 25+ years now (and a ‘fan’ myself for more than thirty) I am very much looking forward to be part of this outstanding group of people everywhere in the world, whatever the individual focus may be.

Be sure to go read the whole post for the rest of Marcel’s wonderful comments if you haven’t already!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number eight post was: Shawn E. Marchese’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (27)

This was the second-most popular entry from the Tolkien Experience Project this year!

In this entry, I loved it when Shawn talked about his favorite part of Tolkien’s work! Shawn said:

I’m quite fond of the myth of Eärendil, as anyone who’s heard me talk about The Silmarillion for more than about seven minutes probably knows. Maybe it’s because Eärendil’s name was the start of it all for Tolkien, when he read that famous line of Old English poetry: “Eala earendel engla beorhtast.” Maybe it’s because of Eärendil’s central position in the legendarium, a nexus point between the Elder Days and the later stories. Maybe I just think flying star-boats are cool (who doesn’t?). But I think the real reason is because the myth of Eärendil allows me to connect the stories in the legendarium to my own life. Every time I see the evening star in the sky (I rarely wake up early enough to see it when it appears in the east as the morning star), I feel hope and wonder, as I imagine the people in Middle-earth did when they first saw the Star of High Hope rise in the sky. I feel a part of the story, and I sense my own birthright to the lessons it offers us.

And there’s so much there to learn: The importance of language and story, and their effect on how we view the world. The appreciation of nature. The need for enchantment and Faërie in our lives. The strength, hope, wisdom — and sometimes defiance — of Tolkien’s characters. And that’s what really keeps me coming back, more than the languages and history. It’s the strength of Éowyn, the wisdom of Faramir, the warmth of Gandalf, the insight of Samwise; the valor of Tuor, the loyalty of Beleg, the love of Beren and Lúthien, that makes me want to read it all again and again.

Be sure to go see the whole post and read the rest of Shawn’s wonderful comments if you haven’t already!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number nine post was: LotRFI Pt.39–Sam’s “Meta” Moments

This was the third-most popular post from my First Impressions series this year! For those who haven’t followed the blog, this series was an attempt to reconstruct my early reading of The Lord of the Rings by writing a short blog post about each chapter.

In this post, I talked about how Sam’s ability to connect his life experience with the stories he had heard as a child were very meaningful to me:

I wanted to believe that these stories were real, that they mattered. This vision of how a story could impact the life of the listener/reader was very inspiring to me.

It was a great chance to reflect on my personal experience as a young reader of Tolkien!

Be sure to go see the whole post if you haven’t already!

This holiday season, I am closing out the year with a countdown of my top ten posts of the year!

For 2019, the number ten post was: Alan Sisto’s Experience–Tolkien Experience Project (28)

This was the third-most popular entry from the Tolkien Experience Project this year!

Probably my favorite part of Alan’s entry was his answer to the question “What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?” Alan answered:

To be honest, I’m not sure I can narrow it down to just one. I’ve had an incredibly wonderful time (so far!) in walking through the legendarium for The Prancing Pony Podcast — I’ve learned so much, and it’s brought me closer connections to the Tolkien community than I ever would have imagined. And then there was the four or five year ‘drought’ where I didn’t read Tolkien (out of lack of time, not lack of interest), and the first time reading the books after that was like a desert wanderer stumbling upon the sweetest water.

But if I have to pick just one ‘fondest experience’, it would have been in the summer of 2001 — a few months before Peter Jackson’s film adaptations would come to theaters around the world. My wife had never read The Lord of the Rings but had shown some interest in the movie trailers and previews that we’d seen. I suggested she read the books before the films released so that she could experience them properly; her response was for us to read them together. So I bought a second set of paperbacks (my Ballantine set was nearing 20 years old, and was held together by tape and a very inadequate spell of binding) and we read together. Not just ‘together’ in the sense that we would each read a chapter every couple of days and stay mostly on track, no… by ‘together’, I mean we would find time and I would read aloud from the books while she followed along in her copy. Not only was it the first time I’d read the entirety of The Lord of the Rings aloud (an experience I highly recommend to anyone!), but I got to experience the story as a first-time reader vicariously through my wife. That first-time experience is something that, by definition, we can only experience once… but watching someone else have that first-time experience comes close, and is definitely my fondest experience of Tolkien’s work.

Be sure to go see the whole post and read Alan’s wonderful comments if you haven’t already!