Meditations on Middle-Earth (ed. Haber, Karen) 2001

A few very good essays (hello, Michael Swanwick and Ursula Le Guin!), some good ones that reveal more about the author than Tolkein, and only two real dogs. I normally don't go in for gossip, but it would be absolutely fascinating to know how people were chosen to contribute and whether anyone was asked who declined. It seems very odd that Terry Brooks is not included; I would have thought him a more natural choice than Feist.

I found it odd that the only typos I noticed were of Tolkein's words! Owyn instead of Eowyn, Cirith Ungo instead of Cirith Ungol (to be charitable, the exclamation point at the end of the sentence containing Cirith Ungo! probably looked like an "l" to tired editorial eyes), and worst of all, Sargon instead of Sauron. There is also an incredibly odd paragraph in Feist's essay which reads

Frodo and the hobbits were "people," simple, graceful, peaceful, and humble. They were archetypes bordering on stereotypes: Frodo the Plucky Hero, Sam the Good and Faithful, Gandalf the eminence who could not possibly be more grise, Merry and Pippin...

Uh... Gandalf is most definitely NOT a hobbit!