Library Classics... 'Characters from Tolkien' – David Day.

I'm at that point of the week where I'm about halfway through my latest read ('The Living Dead' by George Romero and Daniel Kraus) and there's nothing on Prime, or my DVD shelf, that I want to watch right now. So, how does a chap keep to a half-hearted promise to post something every day? Well, I was shifting bits of furniture around my flat the other day (easier than it sounds, my flat is tiny so all you have to do is give said furniture a little nudge and it's pretty much where you want it to be...) and I found 'The Characters of Tolkien' in a pile of books that were waiting to go back on a shelf. And that's what happens when you run out of things to post about, you come across an old favourite and post about that instead ;o)

I loved 'The Hobbit', as a kid, but it was 'The Lord of the Rings' that really blew my mind and I spent a large chunk of my childhood just hanging out in Middle Earth and experiencing it in the way that only a wide-eyed kid can. You know what I mean ;o)

I finished a re-read (another one) and realised that was it, the story had come to an end and there was nothing to follow it. 'The Silmarillion' was on a shelf somewhere but looked a little daunting at the time so I left it alone. I tried reading 'The Book of Lost Tales' (Christopher Tolkien taking us through his father's writing process) which was interesting enough but not at all what I was after. I wanted to get back into Middle Earth and live it again, I didn't want to wait while the world sprang into being around me.

And then one day, a copy of 'A Tolkien Bestiary' found it's way into our house. That's what 'Characters from Tolkien' was called, back in the day, and I'll be honest, I much prefer this title. Just that one word made the book become something that Gandalf might have come across while he was going through the libraries of Gondor, rather than just a regular book. Not that it was just a regular book... What we got was a list of all the living bits of Middle Earth (with their history) and also a potted history of that world, told through a series of gorgeously drawn pictures that young me would just sit and stare at. My copy of 'The Lord of the Rings' wasn't illustrated (my copy of 'The Hobbit' was but I think Tolkien was a much better writer than illustrator, just saying...) so this was the first time I really got to look at the wider world of Middle Earth. Especially the bits drawn by Ian Miller. If you haven't come across his fantasy art before, I highly recommend you go and check it out. Miller is on fire here with his Ents and Orcs, in particular, really highlighting how Middle Earth really isn't all Hobbits and pipe smoking. It can be a hard and dangerous land as well.

I've got nothing against 'The Silmarillion' (well, apart from all the creation stuff which I generally yawn my way through) but I would say that I learnt more, about the History of Middle Earth, by reading 'A Tolkien Bestiary'. While Day is clearly taking his material directly from the source, his approach feels a lot more accessible to a casual Tolkien fan, like myself, who is after more of an overview rather than all the detail. And it's all arranged alphabetically which is even better for the casual (and lazy) Tolkien fan who just wants to find out one thing, straight away, rather plod through the whole story (which is great but, you know what I mean...)

So when I saw 'Characters from Tolkien' in the British Heart Foundation shop (a few months ago), I was a little sad about the name change but there was no question about it coming home with me. It's still a book to flick through and reaccaquaint myself with Middle Earth, whether it's learning about the Laiquendi (an Elvish People who never made the journey back to the Undying Lands) or just sitting and watching the Fall of Gondolin play out in front of me. It's also a happy childhood memory and very likely one of those formative books that have made me the reader I am today. I've got a lot to thank 'Characters from Tolkien' for (although it will always be 'A Tolkien Bestiary as far as I'm concerned)...