Tolkien’s “Beowulf” Bought by Harper Collins

 

In a world rights deal, the Tolkien Estate has signed with HarperCollins to publish for the first time Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is truly exciting news! Not only do we get Tolkien's translation of Beowulf and commentary by J.R.R. Tolkien but it will also include "Sellic Spell", an unpublished short story by J.R.R. Tolkien, re-creating the (lost) folk-tale underlying the Norse Hrólfs saga kraka and Tolkien's prose work that was to serve as the background for Beowulf. The original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Library and will now be published for the very first time.
This is the first book by J.R.R. Tolkien since the internationally bestselling The Fall of Arthur. Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary will be published by HarperCollins on 22nd May 2014 and in the United States by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

-     http://www.tolkienbeowulf.com/

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Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien: Books ISBN: 0007590075 ISBN-13: 9780007590070

 

Related articles

• Tolkien's translation of Beowulf coming out this spring (medievalists.net)
• JRR Tolkien's translation of Beowulf: bring on the monsters (theguardian.com)
• A bit about J.R.R Tolkien - Costume SuperCenter (costumesupercenter.com)
• Hwæt! Tolkien's Beowulf Coming in May (tor.com)

Helen Oyeyemi - Favourite Books

‘I can say which books have had a significant impact on the way I read (I’d love for them to have an effect on what I write too, but that only seems to happen very slowly, if at all). From the early days, “Little Women” and “Alice in Wonderland.” As a teenager, Poe’s short stories; Sheridan Le Fanu’s “In a Glass Darkly” (which contains “Green Tea” and “The Familiar,” two stories full of some of the most troubling stuff concerning categories of sensory perception I’ve ever read); Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf”; Zbigniew Herbert’s droll and quietly devastating book of poems “Mr. Cogito”; and Gustav Meyrink’s “The Golem.” I was very struck — still am — by the angle “The Golem” takes on monstrosity. More recently, Dezso Kosztolanyi’s “Anna Edes”; Kelly Link’s “Stranger Things Happen”; Barbara Comyns’s “The Vet’s Daughter”; Aimee Bender’s “The Girl in the Flammable Skirt”; and Jesse Ball’s “Samedi the Deafness.”’

-  Helen Oyeyemi on which novels have impacted her most as a writer.

Book Review - Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines

When vampires start disappearing all over the world, they suspect the obvious - the Porters, an order created 500 years ago by Johannes Gutenberg to preserve the secrecy of magic in books, have broken the treaty and were abducting vampires. However, the Porters feel it is the vampires breaking the truce as recent reports confirm that the night-dwellers have been murdering members of the order.On an afternoon in a library, Isaac Vainio, a Porter and an off-field Libriomancer, successfully fights off some vampires with help of an old acquaintance, a dryad called Lena Greenwood. Lena informs Isaac of recent events concerning the Porters and vampires as well as the disappearance of Doctor Zak, a well known doctor among the Porters.

Issac and Lena start out to rescue Dr Zak as well as discover what could have caused vampires to attack the Porters. The search took them through forests, abandoned warehouses, and the very heart of the vampire empire.

Their adventure eventually leads to Charles Hubert, a man with libriomancy powers who is out to get revenge for the death of his brother as well as being used by a power unknown to most. What happens when Isaac and Charles meets will have a far-reaching consequence in the magic world.

Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris 1) is an unusual book, a kind of book every book lover wished they wrote. The book's world building rules appears simple, but in truth is slightly complicated. What the author did well was stick with most of the rules he created. Because of this, the characters seem real, unique, evolving without changing the core of who they are, making the story stay with you long after you have dropped the book.

The beginning is slow but its gets better if you stick with it. There is all round action to keep you entertained though I do not understand the love triangle thingy among Isaac, Lena, and the doctor. Controversial? Yes. But quite uncomfortable and I daresay a departure from what was supposed to be the true nature of the dryad (to please their owners) as set in the earlier parts of the book by the author.

Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris 1) eBook: Jim C. Hines: Kindle Store

ASIN: B00DIK7STK

What I'm Reading Now - Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines

I am presently reading the Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines. The UK mass market edition was available for sale for the first time across bookstores last week (7th March, 2014).



The book has a nice concept where the "hero" draws out weapons from books. I am enthusiastic about discovering what the author is going to do with this idea and how strictly he'll adhere to the rules he has set.