The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth

The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion

Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull · 935 pages

The Road to Middle-earth

Tom Shippey · 252 pages

"The Road to Middle-earth, Tom Shippey's classic work, now revised and expanded in paperback explores J.R.R. Tolkien's creativity and the sources of his inspiration. Shippey shows in detail how Tolkien's professional background led him to write The Hobbit and create a timeless charm for millions of readers. He argues convincingly that the source of Tolkien's inspiration lay not just in his love of

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

Simon Winchester · 265 pages

The History of the Hobbit, Part One: Mr. Baggins

John D. Rateliff, J.R.R. Tolkien · 512 pages

Georgette Heyer's Regency World

Jennifer Kloester · 381 pages

This book recreates Georgette Heyer's most enchanting characters and their most memorable scenes in the locations in which they actually took place, guiding the reader through them in a series of tours.

Elements of Semiology

Roland Barthes · 111 pages

The Stephen King Universe

Stanley Wiater, Christopher Golden, Hank Wagner · 432 pages

Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing

Ben Blatt · 288 pages

In Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve, statistician and journalist Ben Blatt brings big data to the literary canon, exploring the wealth of fun findings that remain hidden in the works of the world's greatest writers. He assembles a database of thousands of books and hundreds of millions of words, and starts asking the questions that have intrigued curious word nerds and book lovers for generations:

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

R F Kuang · 560 pages

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphane

Of Grammatology

Jacques Derrida · 354 pages

Jacques Derrida's revolutionary theories about deconstruction, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and structuralism, first voiced in the 1960s, forever changed the face of European and American criticism. The ideas in De la grammatologie sparked lively debates in intellectual circles that included students of literature, philosophy, and the humanities, inspiring these students to ask questions of thei

A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

David Salo · 440 pages

"From the 1910s to the 1970s, author and linguist J.R.R. Tolkien worked at creating plausibly realistic languages to be used by the creatures and characters in his novels. Like his other languages, Sindarin was a new invention, not based on any existing or artificial language. By the time of his death, he had established fairly complete descriptions of two languages, the "elvish" tongues Quenya an

Sauron Defeated: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Four

J.R.R. Tolkien · 482 pages

In the first part of Sauron Defeated, Christopher Tolkien completes his account of the writing of The Lord of the Rings, beginning with Sam's rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Kirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire. This part ends with versions of the previously unpublished Epilogue, an alternate ending to the masterpiece in which Sam attempts to answer his

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Peter Boxall · 960 pages

Mapping the World of Harry Potter: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Explore the Bestselling Series of All Time

Leah Wilson · 240 pages

The Treason of Isengard: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Two

J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien · 504 pages

The Treason of Isengard is the second volume of The History of The Lord of the Rings and the seventh volume of The History of Middle-earth. The Treason of Isengard continues the account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings started in the earlier volume, The Return of the Shadow. In this book, following the long halt in the darkness of the Mines of Moria with which The Return of the Shadow e

501 Must-Read Books

Emma Beare · 544 pages

The recommendations for inclusion in this comprehensive book were made by a bibliophile and writer with a peerless reputation. The reviews themselves were compiled by lecturers, writers and book lovers, sharing their pleasure, surprise or even indignation with the rest of us. This comprehensive guide includes recommendations in children's fiction, classic fiction, history, memoirs, modern fiction,

1001 Books for Every Mood

Hallie Ephron · 372 pages

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages

Ammon Shea · 239 pages

An obsessive word lover's account of reading the Oxford English Dictionary cover to cover. *Summary From [Worldcat][1]* [1]: http://www.worldcat.org/

The End of Harry Potter?

David Langford · 208 pages

Examines mysteries raised by J. K. Rowling's first six Harry Potter novels, speculating on how they will be solved in the seventh; covers such topics as whether Albus Dumbledore is really dead, whose side Severus Snape is really on, and whether Harry bears a part of the Dark Lord's soul in his scar.

Experiences in translation

Umberto Eco · 135 pages

"Translation is not about comparing two languages, Umberto Eco argues, but about the interpretation of a text in two different languages.". "In this book he draws on his substantial practical experience to identify and discuss some central problems of translation. As he demonstrates, a translation can express an evident deep sense of a text even when violating both lexical and referential faithfu

Stephen King from A to Z

George Beahm, Beahm · 278 pages

Contains hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries that provide information about various aspects of the life and work of popular novelist Stephen King.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

Lynne Truss · 209 pages

The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase

Mark Forsyth · 224 pages

From classic poetry to pop lyrics, from Charles Dickens to Dolly Parton, even from Jesus to James Bond, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase--such as "O Captain! My Captain!" or "To be or not to be"--memorable. In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether

Crossing The Wine-Dark Sea

Emily Wilson

The translator of editions of Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” explicates potential complications encountered in her line of work.