But way back at the beginning of the year, I was still on top of things, so for Week 7 (a book with a non-human character), I picked J.R.R. Tolkien's Roverandom. It's a book I read for the first time a couple of years ago and so decided fitted the bill perfectly for that week, plus I was due a reread as well.
It's a story inspired by one of Tolkien's sons losing a much loved
toy dog during a trip to the beach. To help console the little boy, Tolkien told
him all about the fantastic adventures that the toy dog, Roverandom, got up to
after he left. And those stories are collected together into
Roverandom, following his journeys into space and the depths of the
sea.
My edition is lovely and pocket-sized, perfect for popping in a
bag for reading on the go. That said, it's not a long read. I could almost have
read it in sitting, if I didn't have any distractions. As it was, I started it
one night and finished it the next morning.
This copy has an introduction at the beginning plus a whole host
of notes at the end. I can't help but wonder if the story might have changed and
been expanded, had Tolkien not set it aside to write another story about
Hobbits. I can see links between this and some of the stories in the early books
in The Histories of Middle-earth and you can see how he was playing
with elements of things he intended to bring up later in other stories.
It's also interesting to try to spot all the little in-jokes and
little nods to other stories (both by Tolkien and by other authors) as well as
to historical events and figures. I knew to look out for them from my last read
of it. The notes at the back are helpful to pick up on the ones that you've
missed. The nice thing is, you don't need to know what they're referring to in
order to enjoy the story, but when you do get them, they're a nice little
bonus.
The pictures are all Tolkien's own, in a similar style to the ones
in Letters from Father Christmas. They are simple but lovely. There are
actually several that I would love to get enlarged and framed, they're that
nice.
Having read this book reminded me that I need to read more of the
children's books by Tolkien. Since reading Roverandom I've acquired a
copy of Farmer Giles of Ham which is somewhere near the top of my
To-Read list. Look out for the review of that one in the future.
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Let me know what you think. :-)