Leaf by Niggle, and Tom Bombadil

[Elbreth of Carhouth]

What do you think of these stories? I liked them. I've got them in "The Tolkien Reader", a compilation of Tolkien's essays, poetry, and short stories. Well, some of them anyway.

[bmilder]

A little silly, I thought. But I haven't read either of them in years.

The actual books were better.

[Elbreth of Carhouth]

Tom Bombadil was a little silly, although cute stories.
Leaf by Niggle had definate serious undertones that I loved. Maybe you didn't catch them? I thought it was an ingenious way of writing.

[Niffiwan]

Yes, Leaf by Niggle I thought had some very serious things in it, and I have a real respect for it; it shows so much of how life really is.
Tom Bombadil... ehh... I was a bit dissapointed, because only 2 of the rhymes actually had ol' Tom in them. I didn't know that Tolkien had written this before he wrote LoTR when I read it, so I expected more...

[Elbreth of Carhouth]

Leaf by Niggle is right up with LotR in my favourites. Some people don't understand why until I explain what I see in it. I don't know why they don't see it, maybe it's the way I was brought up.

[Niffiwan]

Too often, though, there is no way out of a catch-22 situation. :(
Although not up quite to LoTR in my favorites list, I still have a lot of respect for it. I didn't see how anyone could not get the undertones to the story until now...
It's just most of my friends would...

[Elbreth of Carhouth]

Verytrue Nif, you don't know how much.

[Michael Martinez]

"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", though originally composed before Tolkien wrote THE LORD OF THE RINGS, was rewritten in the 1960s for a special ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL book. "Bombadil Goes Boating" was written for that same book. ADVENTURES was later incorporated into A TOLKIEN READER and POEMS BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN.

[Niffiwan]

Whoops! Sorry. :p
I thought you said " Very true Nif, you don't know very much."
Sorry, my mistake. :)

I wonder how come I didn't notice after many times of looking at the message...

[anduin]

Huh?? Did I miss something? I haven't read Leaf by Niggle, so maybe that is it. So, what's it about anyway?

[Niffiwan]

What's it about? Buy it and see! :)
It's worth the money if you can catch the undertones (which I think you can).

[Niffiwan]

Elberth: You're right, I don't know just how much.
I know some of it, though...

[anduin]

Alrighty, I will! :)

[Gilthalion]

Leaf by Niggle is a pure fantasy, not of the elvish kind, but of a more surreal nature. As with much of Tolkien's work, many Truths are painlessly, almost unconsciously, delivered.

The Tom Bombadil stuff is great, great, fun.

So is Farmer Giles of Ham!

[Elbreth of Carhouth]

I agree, I don't know why people don't like Farmer Giles. I think he's fun.
Btw, Nif, you're officially forgiven. ;)

[anduin]

LOL.....I thought that something wasn't quite right about that exchange, but I thought it had something to do with the book since I hadn't read it.

[Niffiwan]

Well, for me Farmer Giles was a bit unnexciting just after the beginning. It was much better than I expected, though.

Elberth: I remember there was a post a long time ago about "your worst mistake at Entmoot". Should I revive it? ;)

[Elbreth of Carhouth]

Go for it Nif, that would be fun :)
Farmer Giles is good if you can stick with it. It's one of those stories that you need to make yourself read, and when you're done you're glad you did. At least, that's what I found.

[Niffiwan]

That's what I found too...

I think I'll wait a few weeks before reviving it ;)

[Saulotus]

Well I placed my opinion on Findulias' board concernin TB. If interested go there. I'll not repeat it dude.

[Niffiwan]

Well, you could just "copy+paste"...

[Finduilas]

I'll be nice, here's the link to the thread: pub8.ezboard.com/ffinduil...ID=4.topic (http://pub8.ezboard.com/ffinduilasstolkiendiscussionthelordoftherings.show Message?topicID=4.topic)

I like Leaf by Niggle, it's sort of sad, yet happy at the same time.
Not so thrilled by Farmer Giles though, and it has been suggested to me that I add Adventures of Tom Bombadil to my webpage eventually (lets put it this way, will do when I finish the current updates and the 2 sections on HoME).