A New Book BY JRR Tolkien!

Do NOT get excited. Tolkien has had virtually every drib and drab he ever penned published in multi-volume sets by his son Christopher. All well and good, though as anyone who has gone from "The Lord of the Rings" to "The Silmarillion" and on to "Unfinished Tales" and the 12 volume History of Middle earth will attest, all this scholarly work helped Tolkien lay the groundwork for his masterpiece but it does NOTY make for good reading. Christopher Tolkien says he's been working on a complete version of the epic tale "The Children of Hurin" for 30 years and I'm sure he's poured his heart into it, but this will not in any way serve as some sort of satisfying addendum to LOTR. At best, it will be a far more serious, dry tale that fans can scarf up before heading back to the LOTR. Again. And truly, one of the reasons that book is so lasting is because it so completely creates the sense of a world with a deep and epic past, complex present and sad future. Hints of lore and fragments of poems and references to epic tales in passing are convincing because Tolkien took the time to work it all out. You just don't want to read that stuff. Trust me.