Enid Blyton has been named the United Kingdom’s best-loved writer, beating Harry Potter creator JK Rowling into third place and leaving literary giants such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens trailing. Blyton, creator of the Famous Five books as well as the Secret Seven, Malory Towers and Noddy, topped a poll of 2,000 adults for the 2008 Costa Book Awards. There was an extremely strong showing for fantasy authors, with Roald Dahl, JRR Tolkien and Stephen King all making the ... read more
Posted: August 20th, 2008 by Floresiensis | No Comments Filed under JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Philip Pullman
There was a touching story in the Santa Barbara Independent today. Lyle Hillegas was the former Westmont College President and El Montecito Presbyterian Church Pastor who sadly passed away this week after a battle with cancer. Tom Schmidt, a fellow religious professional, carried him to his garden - a little corner of England nurtured by his own hand and read to him. Lyle’s choice for his last story was JRR Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle,” the tale of a modestly talented ... read more
Posted: August 14th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JRR Tolkien
Pauline Baynes, the artist and illustrator who died on August 1 aged 85, brought the worlds of CS Lewis’s Narnia and JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth to life with her superb line drawings. In 1948 Tolkien was visiting his publishers, George Allen & Unwin, to talk about some disappointing artwork that they had commissioned for Farmer Giles of Ham, when he spotted some witty reinterpretations of medieval marginalia from the Luttrell Psalter that greatly appealed to him. These, it ... read more
Posted: August 9th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien
Fantasy author Terry Pratchett has been named the ‘evergreen’ king in The Bookseller’s first-ever register of titles that have never fallen out of the top 5,000 chart. Only 12 books, out of the more than 1.8 million titles that Nielsen BookScan are on the ‘evergreen’ chart. Pratchett has three of his early Discworld novels in the selection: The Colour of Magic, Mort and The Light Fantastic. Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong came out top. JRR Tolkien’s The ... read more
Posted: August 3rd, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett
Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule (unabridged) has stormed to the top of the fantasy charts at Audible.co.uk Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman Northern Lights by Philip Pullman Outcast by Michelle Paver Prince Caspian by CS Lewis Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett All the top ten are ... read more
Posted: July 28th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Audio-books, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Michelle Paver, Philip Pullman, Susanna Clarke, Terry Pratchett
Oxford is set to honour CS Lewis with a blue plaque at his former Oxford home where he wrote his ever popular fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis lived at The Kilns in Risinghurst, also known as ‘The Gateway to Narnia’, for 33 years and it was here that the fantasy author wrote his successful children’s stories. The Narnia books have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. The commemorative plaque will be unveiled this Saturday (26th of July 2008) and will ... read more
Posted: July 22nd, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien
Sir Ian McKellen, the actor who played Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, said on Sunday he has received death threats due to his homosexuality and while these had fallen off in recent years, others were still being subjected to homophobia. “My own death threats have declined considerably. I think I’ve become rather boring now to the public at large on this particular issue so I’m thought to be unremarkable.” Sir Ian McKellen is a ... read more
Posted: July 14th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JRR Tolkien
Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings has said that he would love to reprise his role as Gollum in the proposed movie adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. In an interview with KOS Media Serkis said “It would be strange if Gollum wasn’t there and it would be strange I would imagine if they didn’t ask me to do it. So I am secretly assuming I will be. They are both complete visionaries. I know Guillermo will ... read more
Posted: July 13th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JRR Tolkien
A demolition worker has discovered a postcard, which was written to JRR Tolkien 40 years ago, stuck behind a fireplace. The 40-year-old card was discovered during the demolition of 19 Lakeside Road - the bungalow that was the writer’s home from 1968 to 1972. After the death of his wife in 1972, Tolkien sold the bungalow for £23,000 and moved back to Oxford. Contractor Stephen Malton found the postcard - depicting Cork in Ireland and signed “Lin” - as he dismantled a ... read more
Posted: July 8th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JRR Tolkien
The Hobbit is very much in the news at the moment with the planned two film adaptation by director Guillermo del Toro. The book by JRR Tolkien was first published in 1937 and an estimated 100million copies have now been sold worldwide. George Allen & Unwin were the publishers that agreed to get Tolkien’s work out onto the bookshelves - after Unwin had asked his ten year old son to vet the manuscript. Rayner Unwin recommended that the book be published, saying that it would fascinate ... read more
Posted: July 7th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JRR Tolkien
