I finished The Silmarillion!

Part of the reason it took so long was I also started on Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson.

That was a pretty heavy disappointment and probably going to be my last Sanderson novel.

Anyways next up The Hobbit!

Finished the tale of Beren and Lúthien and just like that I get why people love the Silmarillion.

I am finding the Silmarillion to be pretty hard going.

It reads a lot more like a textbook than other works by Tolkien I've read. Also keeping track of all the names is a headache. Especially with everyone having multiple names like Melkor/Morgoth, Manwe/Sulimo and Namo/Mandos.

I'll get there

Just realized I haven't posted for a bit.

I started reading Tom Jones by Henry Fielding too so I have two books I'm reading at half speed instead of one I thrash.

Once Silmarillion is finished I'll still read the Hobbit next.

Alrighty, I've never read this and I've always wanted to. This copy is a secondhand gift.

The plan is to read The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, Then LoTR in order.

I've heard the Silmarillion is a hard read as it's kind of the mythology of Middle Earth rather than a straightforward story

Here we go!

The Unfettered Mind is done!

The first two essays in it were fine but I'd forgotten what a massive chore "The Annals of the Sword Taia" was.

It was pretty difficult going and I'm glad to put it behind me.

I started this book today. I've read it a few times over the last 20 years.

Some of it reminds me of modern psychology. See Abiding place vs Non-concious non-competence.

I'm not sure if I don't understand some of it due to issues of translation. To me, some of it is just philosophical word salad.

I started a project in June 2024 to read every book on my bookshelf.

So far I've read:

Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
The Dice Man by Luke Reinhardt
Introduction to Italian Poetry: A dual language book by Luciano Rebay.

More coming.