Tales from the Perilous Realm

J.R.R. Tolkien's legacy to the world was a tale of Hobbits and Rings. In Tales From the Perilous Realm, four short stories are added, only one of which is clearly a Hobbitish tale:

* Farmer Giles of Ham: A farmer gains courage as his dog loses it in search of a dragon.

* Smith of Wootton Major: Mysterious processes are afoot regarding cooks, travelers, children, and fairies.

* Leaf by Niggle: A relatively dark dramatization of an artist's creative focus.

* The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: Straight from The Hobbit!

These "short" tales (the 4 total almost 3 hours of listening) are the product of a BBC Radio dramatization. Expect a variety of sound effects, background music, and powerful, expressive voices, all very well done.

The order of delivery is interesting in this collection. Farmer Giles is almost comedic, while Smith of Wootton Major is thoughtful, and Leaf by Niggle is dark. Thank goodness the collection ends with the joyous enthusiasm of Tom Bombadil!

Try this CD collection during your morning commute, particularly if you are a fan of Tolkien's work.

A cokpolation of J.R.R. Tolkiens work outside "The Lord of the Rigns" (although the poetry of Tom Bombadil is set in middle earth). Thr first story is a charming childrens story about a little dog turned into a toy; it very much reminds me of The Little Nemo in Slumberland strip with its unbound and unapologetic imagination as well as its wonderful dream-like imagery. Leaf by Niggle is wonderfully surrealistic and the othertales and poetry are also very enjoyable. I also like therpeface by tolkien inwhich he speaks of what Fantasy as agenre should be. Its agreat look at the author's thought process.

After reading Lord of the Rings many times over, and wearing out more than one copy of The Hobbit (with help from my boys, now), one can only wish that our old friend, J. R. R. Tolkien, had written more. (I long since tried the Silmarilion, but it seemed to be made for another race of readers.) How pleasant, then, to happen upon this book in the library.

Roverandom is a dreamy story about a dog who goes to the moon and under the sea. Told originally to Tolkien's children, I felt it was softer, less polished, in fact very nice to read to a child who likes dogs. (But I repeat myself.)

Farmer Giles of Ham was for me a delightful story. The cowardly, boastful talking dog is alone almost worth the price of the book . . . I found myself reading part of that story to my boys, though they are well past th age of being read to, or have not yet reached it again. Funny and delightful, including Tolkien's faux-scholarly introduction.

I didn't read Tom Bombadil; sorry, I had enough of him in the Fellowship of the Ring. I did read the intro, which was mildly amusing, more false scholarship of the kind that Tolkien and Lewis and friends liked to engage in in their letters.

Smith of Wooton Major is again quite good, about an obscure fellow who likes to go to Fairyland, and his adventures in the "real world." If this really is autobiographical, that makes it especially touching; one almost wants to read allegory in at points, but refuse, in respect for Tolkien's feelings about the matter.

Leaf by Niggle touched me. Tolkien expresses what life is about, how little of what we dream of comes true, what is real and what seems real, and the hope he had that more would come of our paltry works than we now dream. It reminds one of Thomas Aquinas' statement that his great work was only so much straw; and yet, knowing how Tolkien loved trees, it is a more positive statement than that.

On Fairy-stories is much the most difficult read in the book, but well worth reading. Here is a great story-teller and scholar's philosophy of imagination. He interacts with other great story-tellers, like Lang, Grimm, Chesterton (a major influence, I think) and Shakespeare (he had his criticisms!), and offers a fascinating theory of fantasy, "sub-creation," and the work of God in this world. This essay is ultimately a theology or Christian map of reality as well as a theory of fairy tales. Having written a couple books on how the Gospel fulfills truths in other cultures, I find his thoughts deeply significant for themselves, as well as for their influence on C. S. Lewis.

You don't have to read each of these pieces, of course; but it's so good to hear from this old friend, again.

I picked this up because I'm quite an avid JRR Tolkien fan. I saw that it was some of his short stories but what I didn't know was that this was done with a cast instead of a single reader. It made all of the stories much more enjoyable. It seemed like they did a superb job of finding the right voice for each character. I could not imagine a better Tom Bombadil!

All except the story of Farmer Giles and it was because of one of its main stars, the dog, was voiced by somebody who was annoying the entire time. Too much barking. Too much growl in his voice. Maybe it was a form of British Humor I couldn't identify with but I think they would have done a better casting job if they just had somebody scratching their fingernails over a chalkboard. Yes, I found it that annoying.

The stories themselves were great and made me long for the world of Tolkien all over again. Any collector of Tolkien has to have this in their collection.

Having never been a big fan of Tolkien's works, as I generally view them as wordy and dry at times, I was surprised at these tales. The Tom Bombadil poems were my least favorite in the collection, partially because I never cared much for the character. While not poor, these are the weakest of the four in this collection.

"Leaf by Niggle" was the best of the bunch with its a allegorical tale about life and death and what follows.

"Farmer Giles of Ham" was the second best of the bunch, the story of a farmer who is given a powerful dragon sword, named Caudimordax, for scaring away a giant. A dragon named Chrysophylax shows up and Giles is expected to handle the situation.

"Smith of Wootton Major" tells of a boy who is allowed to exit the real world to view the faerie world.

The voices and sound effects in the CD set are very good, which is typical of many BBC Radio productions.

Since they were first published, THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS have always been popular. Those two works combined guaranteed that Tolkien would always have a place at the top of fantasy fiction. Publishers and film studios know that if you just put Tolkien's name on something, you're guaranteed to have more success than without. Not long ago, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt became the prime American publisher of "new" Tolkien works. A couple years ago they published THE CHILDREN OF HURIN which was a very successful book and this summer they will be publishing a new edition of Tolkien's translation of THE LEGEND OF SIGURD AND GUDRUN. Last fall (2008), this volume TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM was released. The book is a collection of four short stories, a collection of poems, and an essay. Each of the works is available elsewhere, either as a stand alone volume or a part of larger collection. However, this is the first time that these pieces are together in one book. The stories share no characters or settings and are only connected because of theme: each one is a fantasy or "fairy story". TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM includes:

"Roverandom"--a story about a toy dog that comes to life, flies to moon, and travels to the depths of the oceans.

"Farmer Giles of Ham"--a tale about a simple early British farmer who using his wits and common sense defeats a giant and a dragon.

"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil"--this is a collection of poems and the only piece that has any association with Middle Earth. A few of the poems are about Tom Bombadil, but most are just poems that are a part of the culture that citizens of Earth probably would have been familiar. Included is the poem about the Oliphants that Samwise talks about in THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

"Smith of Wooton Major"--a true fairy tale about how deceiving appearances can be and the passing of gifts from one generation to the next.

"Leaf By Niggle"--an allegorical story about a painter who goes on a long journey.

"On Fairy-Stories"--Tolkien's essay about what is and isn't true fantasy.

The book also includes an introduction by Tom Shippey and the stories are accompanied by illustrations from Alan Lee.
TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM is a pretty decent collection of Tolkien's shorter works, especially that not connected to Middle Earth (except for "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil"). Those who consider themselves Tolkien scholars might not get as much from this book as a casual Tolkien fan or reader. The illustrations are nice, but Alan Lee is a different artist than Pauline Bayne and some readers might not like that. However, if you are just a basic fan of Tolkien, are interested in reading more of his work, or have never read any of these stories before, you might want to spend some time curled up under a blanket and reading TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM.

"Farmer Giles" deftly circumvents many of the conventions of this sort of story; in this sort of story, everyone expects the king and/or his knights to take care of the dragon problem, but they are worse than useless. The only one who can deal with the dragon is a fat redheaded farmer who can't abide tresspassers, even if they are large, scaly and breathe fire. His discussion of the meaning of "blunderbuss" has a nice little slap at those who would measure how advanced a culture is by its weaponry. (The definition--lifted from the OED, for whom JRRT worked--says that the blunderbuss has been superceded in 'civilized' countries, and JRRT remarks that Farmer Giles' country hadn't yet been civilized, so the blunderbuss was the only sort of gun around.)

"Leaf by Niggle" and "Smith of Wooton Major" have, despite JRRT's professed dislike of allegory, strong allegorical elements, dealing with the role of imagination in education, the value of art in the community, and the artist's balancing of his artistic life with his responsibilities as a human being and a citizen.

The poems in "Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Poems" seem like light verse, but once you look at them they have a lot more to them than they seem at first glance.

In "The Hoard", the precious metals and gems corrupt and destroy everyone who owns them; peace and harmony are restored only when they are returned to the Earth from whence they came.

"Cat" starts with the first rhyme a child learns to make (the fat cat sat on the mat) and ends with a profound statement about feline nature. And human nature too. As the fat cat on the mat is kin to the lion, leopard, and tiger, so your typical Englishman who works in a bank or a shop or on a farm, or teaches school or practices law, is the descendant of Norman crusader knights, Saxon and Viking raiders, and Keltic warriors.

"The Sea Bell" and "Firiel" are best taken together. Both the anonymous speaker in the first poem and the title-character of the second have a vision of another world that lies over against our own, the world of magic, of enchantment, of 'faerie'. The speaker in "Sea Bell" tries to grasp and clutch at that world, and in the end looses not only the good of that world, but of the mundane world; Firiel, on the other hand, knows that the mundane world is her world, and although she cannot live in that other world, she will treasure the memory of the vision all her life, and it will make her love this world all the more.

The other poems are lighter and more fun, although "Shadow Bride" is a little disturbing.

I'm not sure I could fairly review the stories themselves. Tolkien was a masterful storyteller and these short stories lack none of the magic I've experienced in his other works.

Since the copy I received was the audiobook version I have to say that I want to review that. A dramatized version it's very easy to close your eyes and imagine that you've left a film on in the other room. When birds are chirping you hear them and the voices have just the right emphasis at the right time. I really enjoyed putting each story on during an afternoon of household chores.

What more can I say? If you're a fan of Tolkien's works and looking for an audio version for a car trip or to share with someone with a sight impairment Tales from the Perilous Realm is very entertaining and well priced.

"Tales From the Perilous Realm' is a collection of five (5) storeis by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a great book for a lover of Middle Earth. For the more casual fan these stories may leave you wanting.

The five stories (four short stories and one book of poems) are enjoyable. For me, some more than others. I really liked the stories 'Leaf by Niggle' and 'Smith of Wotton Major'. The tales were well told and the characters were interesting. 'Farmer Giles of Ham' and 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil' were nice, but not my favorites.

The only story I really did not enjoy was 'Roverandom'. I just thought the story was like the title. It just wandered around. The story was cute, and written more for children.

If you are looking for stories more in line with 'The Hobbit' and 'Lord of the Rings' I would suggest that you read 'The Children of Hurin' and 'The Simarillion'. Great books that continue the theme and history of Middle Earth. 'Tales of the Perilous Realm is a great additio to your collection, but not my favorite in the Tolkien library.

Is this collection worth purchasing?

Tom Shippey's introduction is, as always, incisive and insightful, packed with quotable phrases and interesting observations placing these shorter pieces within Tolkien's oeuvre. But it is aimed at the new reader of these works - it is a guide to how to read them, not ground-breaking new scholarship.

I am personally not a fan of realism in illustration of Tolkien's works; I find that a more stylized approach better suits the atmosphere of his writing. This is perhaps purely a matter of personal taste, but I can't read the stories included in this collection without a deep longing for the original illustrations by Pauline Baynes - particularly for Farmer Giles, where Tolkien himself said he felt her artwork reduced his text to a commentary on the drawings. To my mind, Lee's pale, washed-out pencil drawings hardly hold a candle to Baynes' ability to convey the humor, enchantment, and melancholy of Tolkien's shorter works.

All of the included works by Tolkien are readily available elsewhere. Roverandom, Farmer Giles, Smith, and On Fairy-stories have recently appeared in excellent stand-alone editions with critical commentary and, when applicable, the original illustrations by Baynes or Tolkien himself. All but Roverandom and Smith are included in The Tolkien Reader, which is still in print, though alas only in paperback; I imagine this collection is meant to replace it in hardback.

If you are a fan of Alan Lee, the answer may be yes, though for most of the tales there are actually only two drawings each. But for the scholar or serious reader of Tolkien, the individual volumes with commentary are a wiser expenditure, and have the advantage of including corrected texts (I did not go through the texts in this volume with a fine-tooth comb, but I did spot at least one punctuation error). Is it a good introduction for the new reader of Tolkien, looking to read something beyond The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings? Perhaps; it gathers the most important texts conveniently in one place, but the Baynes illustrations (and Tolkien's own illustrations for Roverandom) add so much to the experience that I would hate to see the first-time reader miss them. I'm afraid Tales from the Perilous Realm won't be on any of my gift-giving lists.

Here are the items I recommend instead for the serious Tolkien reader:
Roverandom
Farmer Giles of Ham : The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall, and King of the Little Kingdom
Tolkien on Fairy-Stories
Smith of Wootton Major
The Tolkien Reader

In this wonderful volume (small and inexpensive enough for frugal hobbits to give away on their birthdays) three short stories and one collection of poems are to be found. The collection of poetry, "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" is drawn from the many poetic examples found in the Red Book of Westmarch and were written or compiled by Bilbo, Frodo, Samwise, and their families. Tom Bombadil is, of course, a well-known figure to those hobbits living in Buckland, and is a figure providing much comic relief. Some of the other poetic examples, however, are darker and more serious in nature. "Leaf by Niggle" is a wonderful short story about a little man (very hobbitlike in his habits) who is a painter whose dream and ambition far exceed the level of his talent. "Farmer Giles of Ham" discusses the adventures of a small farmer living in a town not unlike Bree who gets the best of a devious (but not overbold) dragon. "Smith of Wooten Major" tells the story of how an ordinary man is drawn into the perilous realm of faerie. All in all, this is a book that hobbit fathers would love to share with their children in the evening in front of the fire. I highly recommend this volume.

Tolkien's ability to enliven a narrative with words is arguably unparalleled in the genre. So it was with great delight that I listened to the recordings on this Audio CD, for the lively narration brought added depth to something already outstanding.

I'm a bit hard of hearing, and as the volume of the narrator's voice went up and down, I missed out on much, but my memory - from 20 years ago - filled in the gaps nicely. If you're a bit hard of hearing, I wouldn't recommend this. If you're not, then it's a bit thumbs up.

You need to know that I'm a Tolkien fan who reads the Lord of the Rings trilogy every year and always discovers something new. I've also read The Hobbit, The Silmarillion and The Children of Turin. Tales from the Perilous Realm is enjoyable reading based upon its own merit but what I find particularly fun about it are the connections with Lord of the Rings. It is not intended as a part of the over all saga, as the previous titles are, but bits and pieces have made their way into the Lord of the Rings trilogy such as the poem/song by Frodo at the Prancing Pony Inn and Sam's quote of Bilbo's poem/song regarding Tom Bombadil's imaginary encounter with a troll and, of course, the character of Tom Bombadil himself. One can also see glimpses of ideas and characters that are later developed or used such as dragons, and men of the land who become wandering heroes. As much as I enjoyed the stories, none of them have the complexity of Lord of the Rings and can appear quite simple in plot and style. However, Tom Shippey's introduction helps put them in an historical context within Tolkien's life and explain some of his intent in writing them. This helps the reader enjoy the stories in and of themselves while fans of Lord of the Rings can appreciate how much Tolkien's writing style and story-telling developed over time and found fruition in that saga. Tales from the Perilous Realm includes Tolkien's article on Fairy-Stories which approaches being an academic work on the distinctions of fairy stories, myths and fantasy writing of various cultures both old and new. Whether or not one is familiar with all the literature which he sites, the reader can appreciate how seriously he studied the subject and how it influenced his own work. If you haven't read anything by J.R.R. Tolkien, I suggest you start with the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings and then decide if you want to read Tales from the Perilous Realm. If you're a fan of his as I am, you'll enjoy the insights into one of our favorite authors which this book provides.

This work contains four short stories by Tolkien, as well as my favorite non-LOTR work "Leaf By Niggle." "Leaf by Niggle" offers more insight into Tolkien than any biography written; it is key to understanding Tolkien. These stories and, in the case of "Tom Bombadil," poems, are delightful side trips into Tolkien's creativity. "Farmer Giles of Ham" is the best of the lot, but they are all very good. The soft pencil sketches by Alan Lee are a welcome addition. If you enjoy reading Tolkien, you should buy this volume.

Fans of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are unlikely to find these works quite as satisfying as those two books. Except for the fourth narrative, the Adventures of Tom Bombadil, they aren't even set in Middle-earth. They are fairy-tale-like stories, half read and half dramatized by the BBC, and the productions can be a little hokey, almost like children's stories. If you don't mind that, and don't require the same level of seriousness as is found in The Lord of the Rings, they've very pleasant. Most are allegories of the imagination and creativity.

The last disk is excerpts from the BBC's dramatization of LOTR, focusing on Tom Bombadil.

For Tolkien fans, the stories included here need no introduction. They are delightful, whimsical, and a great introduction to the author if you are trying to introduce tolkien to say your 8 yr old like I am, and the lord of the rings is forbiddingly long. This is a BBC audiobook, so its british pronunciation all the way -- thats authentic too!

Again the BBC gives us wonderful production values and performances. Those looking to trod Middle Earth again may be in for a tiny let down but this collection of Tolkien's finest short stories will please new audiences as well as expanding the author's legacy with established fans.

This is a book of short stories which were probably written for children . However when they were written children had the reading comprehension of a current day adult therefore the suttle innuendos and sub texts will be lost to anyone whose imigination relies on a multimedia explosion . These stories only require a suspension of the weight of everyday life and a desire to be transported from daily care. If you are older than you look or younger than your age don't delay any longer read this book.

This is a set of Three Radio Plays from the BBC based on the Tolkein stories. All are reasonably well done, they seem to be aimed at a younger set, and are entertaining. Almost as good as the BBC "Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings".

I really enjoyed this book. It was a huge relief to see a lot of the out of print Tolkien books in one collection. Each story is wonderful and a great read. For those of you curious, the Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of the LOTR poems. It is a little expensive, but you can try to find the books by themselves, and they will be much more expensive. I suggest this book to anyone who likes Tolkien.

Not sure if I'm supposed to review the performance of these dramatizations or the actual tales themselves. For the latter, this is Tolkien, but definitely not Lord of the Rings. These are earlier stories, and smack of Tweed England - they are funny, and homey, and sort of proper in that old fish n chips sort of way. For the former, the dramatizations are standard BBC, which isn't bad at all.

These are really fun for passing a car ride, especially if you have kids along.

If you read the LOTR and The Hobbit and miss to read more, this is the book for you. Farmer Giles of Ham is folklorish in style, but the story is much like the other grand adventures Tolkien wrote. Great story! The other stories are a bit so-so. Its Farmer Giles that really makes this book worth the bucks.

I generally prefer reading to listening to books on audio and this set did nothing to change my preferences. I had previously read Farmer Giles of Ham and was hoping to enjoy hearing it on a rainy afternoon. Unfortunately, having actors' voices replace my imagination didn't work. Though I am sure it was a well-produced set of CDs, in my opinion, it just didn't work.

I generally prefer reading to listening to books on audio and this set did nothing to change my preferences. I had previously read Farmer Giles of Ham and was hoping to enjoy hearing it on a rainy afternoon. Unfortunately, having actors' voices replace my imagination didn't work. Though I am sure it was a well-produced set of CDs, in my opinion, it just didn't work.