# best book (non-middle earth writings only)



## Mithrandir_II (Feb 3, 2002)

Which of the listed is your favorite non-middle earth text? If I missed one you wish to vote for please check other and list it in a post.


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## EverEve (Feb 3, 2002)

umm, i wouldnt know, but if the story is about tom bombadil, wouldnt it be about ME?


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## Kementari (Feb 3, 2002)

The Smith of Wooten Magor is my favorite.. Can one of you mods put it on the poll?


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## Nazgul_Lord (Feb 8, 2002)

technically the adventures of Tom Bombadill, is Middle Earth, so it should not have been included, but it is a good book.


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## Hirila (Feb 9, 2002)

Has noone read Roverandom?


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## Prince Legolas (Feb 24, 2002)

Yes, I have. I thought it was excellent.


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## Hama (Feb 25, 2002)

I absolutely love Farmer Giles. Has anyone read any of Tolkien's translations of olde english stories? Some of them are great.
FOr those of you who have read Tom Bombadil, is there any mention of his origins?


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## Goro Shimura (Feb 28, 2002)

Tolkien's essay _On Faerie Stories_ is my favourite!


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## Anduril (Mar 4, 2002)

I have to vote for Tree and Leaf...


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## Hama (Mar 5, 2002)

I am surprised more people don't explore these titles.


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## Treebeard (Mar 8, 2002)

As much as I love Tolkien, I can't honestly say I enjoy his works outside of ME. I read only a few of them (Giles, Roverandum, Smith), but I wasn't really impressed. I did love the way Giles ended, though: "A blunderbus, was it? I thought it was horseflies."


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## Beleg Strongbow (Mar 10, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Nazgul_Lord _
> *technically the adventures of Tom Bombadill, is Middle Earth, so it should not have been included, but it is a good book. *





is it?? I would like to read it.


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## tookish-girl (Mar 14, 2002)

What about Leaf by Niggle, is that the same as Tree and Leaf? I do like that one, but I voted for Farmer Giles, I just love his dog Garm. "Help! Help! Help!"


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## Turgon (Mar 14, 2002)

I love Leaf by Niggle! It's a wonderful little story...


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## Beorne (Apr 10, 2002)

Leaff by Nigle is also my favourite, besides the Middle Earth stories. The story is beautifully brought and I love the ending. I do have questions about the 'deeper' meaning of the telling. 

Greetings,


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## Beorn (Apr 10, 2002)

Please note, the above poster has an 'e' at the end of their name. Not me...

Why do people keep taking my name and changing it ever so slightly?!?!


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## Eledhwen (Dec 22, 2007)

Looks like I'm the only one who prefers Smith of Wootton Major. I like that it seems to be the origin of the star on the brow of the king of Gondor. I like the simplicity of the story, and the wanderings into the Perilous Realm, and the way Faerie touches on the 'real world' in the person of Alf.


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## Prince of Cats (Apr 3, 2008)

Farmer Giles of Ham was so wonderfully light and fun!

There is an audiobook with both Giles and Tom Bombadill. The Tom Bombadill audiobook is probably my most prized piece of media


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## Turgon (Apr 3, 2008)

Turgon said:


> I love Leaf by Niggle! It's a wonderful little story...



I agree with the above...


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## Starbrow (Apr 4, 2008)

As you can see from my name, I am a fan of Smith of Wootton Major. Starbrow was the name Smith was known by in Faery. I guess one of the reasons I like it is because the idea that a mere mortal can have a chance to experience Faery caught my fancy.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Apr 5, 2008)

Mithrandir_II said:


> Which of the listed is your favorite non-middle earth text? If I missed one you wish to vote for please check other and list it in a post.



_*Sam Gamgee Comes Home for Passover*_

Seriously though, I resonate with Starbrow's reasons for her choice of username. That's one of the reasons I chose "Barliman Butterbur": a man ideally situated in Bree: able to enjoy both the world of hobbits (and therefore their connection to "magic": elves, wizards, etc.) and the world of men.

And, I have an absolutely charming edition of the _Father Christmas Letters,_ published as a tiny little (3x3.5") book by Houghton Mifflin, available here.

From the dust jacket: "Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien's children. Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful color drawing or some sketches. The letters were from Father Christmas.

"This special edition contains a selection of these enchanting letters and pictures and will delight fans of the work of both J.R.R. Tolkien _and_ Father Christmas!"

And indeed it does!

Barley


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## Starbrow (Apr 6, 2008)

I'm a she, BTW. Although I do realize my avatar and name imply the opposite.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Apr 7, 2008)

Starbrow said:


> I'm a she, BTW. Although I do realize my avatar and name imply the opposite.



Post corrected! Y'know, at first I had "his (or her)." Then I researched the name and found that Starbrow was male. Not to worry, such genderbender choices of username has been done before. 

Barley


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## The Tall Hobbit (Apr 10, 2008)

Nazgul_Lord said:


> technically the adventures of Tom Bombadill, is Middle Earth, so it should not have been included, but it is a good book.


Although it is set in fairly modern times (mid 20th century), Roverandom is also connected with Middle Earth, because in one scene Roverandom sees the undying lands:


> Another time he took them to the other side (or as near as he dared), and that was a still longer and more exciting journey, the most marvellous of all Roverandom's travels, as he realised later, when he was grown to be an older and a wiser dog. It would take the whole of another story, at least, to tell you of all their adventures in Uncharted Waters and of their glimpses of lands unknown to geography, before they passed the Shadowy Seas and reached the great Bay of Fairyland (as we call it) beyond the Magic Isles; and saw far off in the last West the Mountains of Elvenhome and the light of Faery upon the waves. Roverandom thought he caught a glimpse of the city of the Elves on the green hill beneath the Mountains, a glint of white far away; but Uin dived again so suddenly that he could not be sure. If he was right, he was one of very few creatures, on two legs or four, who can walk about our own lands and say they have glimpsed that other land, however far away.


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## Eledhwen (Apr 10, 2008)

If you're going to look for a Tolkien work that does not touch on Middle-earth at all, then you're probably going to have to stick to the translations.

I wonder if, while he was translating the Book of Jonah in the Jerusalem Bible, he had in mind that Jonah was swallowed by Uin.


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## Arda Frog (Jun 11, 2009)

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is my fave outside of the Middle-Earth stories!

I also like the translation by Simon Armitage.


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## Eledhwen (Jun 13, 2009)

Barliman Butterbur said:


> _*I have an absolutely charming edition of the Father Christmas Letters, published as a tiny little (3x3.5") book by Houghton Mifflin, available here.
> 
> From the dust jacket: "Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien's children. Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful color drawing or some sketches. The letters were from Father Christmas.
> 
> ...


_*I love the Father Christmas letters; and I smiled when The North Pole was invaded by goblins and they did battle with the elves. I am put in mind of the recent documentary on C S Lewis' Planet connections with Narnia, where a re-enactment of the inklings in the Eagle and Child had Tolkien announcing that he had a piece to read, and one of his companions quipped "Not more bloody Elves!"*_


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## Illuin (Jun 15, 2009)

> Originally posted by *Eledhwen*
> _I wonder if, while he was translating the Book of Jonah in the Jerusalem Bible, he had in mind that Jonah was swallowed by Uin._


 






Or Ulmo. I see a little Jonah in Tuor, though Gondolin wasn't exactly Ninevah. Anyway, I can't say that I have a favorite. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in.


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## Môrroch (Jun 16, 2009)

Without a doubt, The Father Christmas Letters!


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## Prince of Cats (Jul 14, 2010)

I've discovered just today Leaf by Niggle, and I'm in love with it!


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## Bucky (Jul 29, 2010)

I gueess 'Other'..Leaf By Niggle.

But i really mean....

The Bible. 

Edit: Oh, It's only Tolkien's books, lol.


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## Sulimo (May 13, 2011)

I picked other even though I love The Smith of Wooton Major. I think that The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun is the most impressive to me, but I am a sucker for his poetry. 

For wholly original stories though its gotta be The Smith of Wooton Major.


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## spirit (May 13, 2011)

Hirila said:


> Has noone read Roverandom?


 
I've read it. It was a toss up between this and Farmer Giles, but in the end I voted on Farmer Giles. :*D


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## Sulimo (May 13, 2011)

I've never read Roverandom. How long is it?


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## spirit (May 13, 2011)

Shorter than LotR. 
:*D
Well, it's really titchy! Only if that could be a technical term! Basically, very short. Very easy to read it in a day, and do a LotR movie marathon on the same day.... 

I think you probably get the point, so I'll stop typing now. :*p


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## MasterBaggins (Aug 1, 2015)

Hirila said:


> Has noone read Roverandom?


I love Roverandom <3 , my favorite Tolkien, non-middle earth, book.


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