Category: Book News

October 21st marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Lord of the Rings” in the USA. Houghton Mifflin will be celebrating by publishing a 50th Anniversary one-volume, collectible edition of “The Lord of the Rings,” complete with fold-out maps and a slipcase. To find out more about the upcoming publication, check out the full…

The Lord of the Rings has recently been voted Germany’s favourite book in a nationwide poll, Das Grosse Lesen, beating The Bible (which came in at second place) and Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone (which was voted in at ninth place). This follows another success of the book last year, when it topped the…

Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee), author of the new book “There and Back Again: An Actor’s Tale,” has an interesting interview with Sarah Stuart at Stuff, in which he reveals some great stories about the five years of making the trilogy and comments on his newfound confidence.

The Tolkien gallery section of Ted Nasmith’s official site has been updated with some of his wonderful illustrations taken from the new edition of The Silmarillion (which is due for publication later this month). The pictures include; Tuor is Led by the Swans to Vinyamar and Saeros’ Fatal Leap.

In a recent poll 1000 adults were asked to name their favourite children’s book when they were growing up. The top spot went to the Famous Five adventure stories by Enid Blyton. Lord of the Rings was placed sixth with The Hobbit in eighth place. You can read the full story at tvnz.co.nz.

Sean Astin’s book, “There and Back Again, An Actor’s Tale, comes out in October. He will be doing a book signing publicity tour that starts on October 13, in NYC, New York. You can see details about the book signing venues at Barnes & Noble. Details about the book can also be found there and…

Barnes & Noble’s latest online Tolkien course starts on 7th September. The course covers areas including; Tolkien’s biography, his construction of a mythological world and his lasting influence on fantasy literature. The course is free and there are further details here.

There and Back Again: An Actor’s Tale – A behind the scenes look at The Lord of the Rings by Sean Astin and Joe Layden, has been given a UK publication date at Amazon,co.uk of 9th September. The book is due to be published in the US in October 2004. You can find out more…

JRR Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring was first published fifty years ago today. For its first print run only 3,500 copies were published. You can read some of the original reviews of the book at BBC News.