Short Book Comment: The Road to Middle Earth

A slog, but in a good way.  As you might guess by the title, this book lays out the academic and wartime events that shaped J.R.R. Tolkien's views and writings, while avoiding being any sort of a biography.  It also spends time on some of the harsh criticism both his writing and his professional work received, and shows how these criticisms have not held up with the passage of time.  There're lots of dives into philology vs. literature, and Old English verse, as well as various northern European legends and their patterns.  Finally, there's an appendix that assesses the value of and differences in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of Lord of the Rings.  Mercifully, this was published in 2003-4, well before the not-so-good adaptation of The Hobbit.

Did I say this was a slog?  No, not really.  More of an enjoyable, extended hike through somewhat familiar woods, accompanied by an extremely knowledgable guide who points out things you otherwise might never have noticed.  This is one of those books that, if you think you would enjoy reading it, you probably will.  Conversely, if you think you won't, you're probably right too.