There is one wonderful resource that we did not have at the time we began the first CbC discussions, and I will be reading and commenting on it along with the actual book text - Hammond and Scull's LotR Reader's Companion. I know some of you have it as well, and it will certainly be easier to read it chapter by chapter than it was to attempt to combine the various threads in HoME! However, I plan to read the book chapters first, so as to let Tolkien's own words echo in my mind before I add others' thoughts.
I'm beginning with the Foreword today; I have already read it and will post my thoughts soon.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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