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Miscellaneous The Tolkien Fan's Medieval Reader compiled by Turgon $14.95 / Cold Spring Press / 2004 Have you ever wanted to read up on the yarns that became the legends and philosophy that form the bedrock of our culture? Search no more; The Tolkien Fan's Medieval Reader is for you. While best-known for writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, this book by JRR Tolkien features the medieval prose from which Tolkien taught his students at Oxford: Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Mabinogion. Unfortunately, the stories are not dated other than in the most generic sense, so one is never quite certain when the literature was written. The sporadic grammatical slips, erroneous sentence breaks, and the occasional typo is disappointing. On the positive side, each section begins with a short introduction to the literature's period, which is helpful when trying to unravel the complex sentence structure of Old English. It also provides insight into why Tolkien was keen on any of the given stories. For instance, the Kalevala- which has its own sage and kindly wizard-gave the professor a love for Finnish lore, which eventually became the basis for one of his Elvish languages. One can also find names such as Gandalf, Thorin, Gloin, and Durin in the Old Norse collection The Prose Edda. If you are a fan of Tolkien's fiction, then you will uncover many "ah-ha" moments as you uncover clues to Tolkien's inspiration. However, if you are simply looking for a well-rounded sampling of medieval literature, then you are also sure to appreciate this fine book. —Kevin M. Williams

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