This book would be worth its weight in buttered toast if only for "On Fairy-Stories" and "Leaf by Niggle." I was glad for the other additions as well, but these two I will come back to again and again for a reminder that life is ready to be mined for beauty and truth.

টোল্কিয়েন সাহেব যতখানি যত্ন নিয়ে দুনিয়া গড়েছিলেন বই লিখতে গিয়ে, ভাবতে অবাক লাগে। এই বইয়ে একটা নামডাক-ওলা প্রবন্ধ আছে, অনেকদিন পর প্রবন্ধ পড়লাম। সেইখানে কিছু চিন্তা দেখা গেলো, তাঁর নিজের লেখা যে ধাচের, ঐ ধাচের সাহিত্যের বিষয়ে।
অঙ্গুরীয়পুরাণের শেষের সংযুক্তি পড়লে তাঁর শ্রম আঁচ করা যায়। এটা, মানে প্রবন্ধটা পড়ে জানা গেলো, তিনি লেখালেখিকে কীভাবে দেখেন, গল্পকে কীভাবে।
একটা জিনিস যেমন, আমরা ভাবি যে ধূসর চরিত্র সৃষ্টি মহৎকর্ম, শাদাকালো চরিত্রেরা কাঁচা হাতের কাজ। ভেবেভেবেও যে সেটা করা যায়, তাও এতটা ভেবেসেবে, জানতে হলে এ বই পড়তে হবে।

গল্প দুইটাই অসাধারণ, তবে প্রথমটা সম্ভবত আমার দীর্ঘকাল মনে রাখতে হবে। লেখা দুর্দান্ত, গল্পও দুর্দান্ত। নিগলের আঁকা পাতা, আরো ঢের বেশি মানুষের হাতে পারলে আমি ছাপায়ে গছায়ে দিয়ে আসি।

কবিতাগুলিও ভালো লাগছে। অনেকদিন পর কবিতা পড়লাম টানা। আমি কবিতা কম বুঝি, তবে, কিংবা হয়ত সেই কারণেই, আমার টোল্কিয়েনের কবিতা ভালো লাগে।

সব মিলায়ে, ভালো লাগছে, প্রথম লেখাটা (বেওড়ৎনর্থ বেওড়থেল্ম) তেমন গিলতে না পারলেও। সেই লেখাও অবশ্য এনার এন্তার পড়াশুনার ফসল। এত পড়াশুনা লোকটার!

Many people have never heard of this. But his short stories (which span genres) are endearing, and his essay on fantasy had a big impact on my approach to both reading and writing fantasy.

Anyone who wants to know the mind of Tolkien should own this book. A clear insight into his thinking of story writing and his Christian worldview.

I liked the stories- tree and leaf, and farmer Giles. The poems of tom bobadil were ok, I'm not a huge poetry fan in general, but these were interesting. This book also has an 80 page essay written by tolkien on what a fairy story is and how it should be composed. If you plan to write fairy stories or generally enjoy literature critiques, this is for you. I read about 10 pages and skipped it. This book also includes a play written by tolkien about an old battle. Somewhat interesting, but not something I would seek out. Lastly, the first chapter of the book is a long fan letter essentially, all about how wonderful tolkien is. If you want to read truly everything ever written about or by Tolkien, then this is the book for you. If you prefer to read his stories, you would do better reading a Tolkien Miscellany, which is just the stories and bobadil poems, plus the story of sir gawain.

A fun read. I am still trying to figure out exactly when Niggle died in the story.

Is a good book if you can make it through the 80 some page essay on fairy tales and fantasy. (Which is a good essay, but a little hard to hack at 80+ pages) The Big D picked it out for me to read because it had some stories in it that he tought I should read.

This is a collection of short stories, poetry, and an essay by Tolkien.
Tolkien's Magic Ring - 3
The homecoming of BB'son 3
Tree and Leaf: essay On Fairy Stories - 5 - excellent
Leaf by Niggle - 4
Farmer Giles of Ham - 4 - Funny
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - 3

I found a 1966 copy of this book second hand, and felt such delight reading it and seeing the illustrations.

Wow, this book is such a treat... Especially if you're hankering for more Tom Bombadil! The included essay 'On Fairy-Stories' is all-around a great read, even if you're not a Tolkien fan.

“It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.” (from On Fairy Stories)

This small collection contained the essay “On Fairy Stories” as well as short fictions like “Leaf by Niggle”, “Farmer Giles of Ham” and more. I had read, in passing, most of these but not in close succession and also not in a log while. Unfortunaely, while charming, it is less cohesive than I imagined it to be, and I got — by far — the most out of the essay, “On Fairy Stories”. I really love how, as a greater of these languages and worlds, Tolkien’s brain works. Funny, full of compassion and brilliant in scope. His words always seem to come together in something akin to a warm hug. I’m delighted to have spent some time here and it was a nice thing to slot in between other reads. But… I’m 20% into my reread of “The Return of the King’ now and much prefer that level of immersion, lol.

If you like fantasy and think it’s looked down on by literary snobs, you might enjoy the vindication you’ll feel after reading the aforementioned essay.

Good collection of stories! Quite cute.

Parts are excellent! Some is tedious to read. It's interesting that some of these works wrote for himself and not to be published. If you only read parys of this book, 'Tree and Leaf,' by itself is worth te read. That short story is 5 star +.