I Know I’m Guilty

I don’t like spending money. Well, I do, but I don’t enjoy wasting it. Frugality serves well to the light wallet, but one’s gotta live, eh? Anyways, two things I don’t save that much money are food and books.

Well, actually, I do, but I speak in matters of relativity. Food serves as my fuel and reading, my forte. I absorb the flowing prose of great authors of the past with such grace… who am I fooling? I devour word after word of many a book (like food!) — most good works fail to be night-time reading for I have an unfortunate trait of thinking all books are one-sitters.

On top of this gusto, I adore vintage books. Rather than the glossy, commercial looks of many books today (think John Grisham or movie tie-in covers); I prefer the papery, or perhaps woody or leathery, worn but well-loved waft from the books that have withstood the challenges of time.

While I sincerely enjoy most genres, I love Tolkien’s epic style. I know Rowling’s Harry Potter series isanother popular fantasy read, I’m not that fond of it. It’s ok, but the plot dwindled a long time ago. I don’t deny the fact that I read the Rings Trilogy after I saw the first movie (I was12, give me a break. Besides, I lived in Korea and mostly read Korean authors.), I bought Harper Collin’s paper back movie tie-in in 2002 for around ₩ 10,000 (Won), which is around 10 USD (It says on the back that it’s £14.99! I was super lucky.) Since then, I have acquired The Hobbit (actually, three Hobbits!), The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales (the latter two being Harper Collins paperbacks – obviously more gorgeous).

My humble Tolkien collection

I have long admired Tolkien’s original drawings and have wanted to purchase the Boxed Harper Collins (UK) edition and The Hobbit, especially after my copy became lean after much reading. Harper Collins, one of the UK publishers for Tolkien has a gorgeous set of paperbacks and hardcovers. In the US it’s difficult unless I pay for an exorbitant shipping fee. Furthermore, I like the 1 volume editions. So what does a college student do when she faces such a sphinx-like question?

She splurges despite all odds.

Let me introduce you to The Lord of the Rings, Collector’s Edition, 1974.

It cost me $30. It’s beautiful, antique and definitely shelve-worthy. The new deluxe edition that Houghton Mifflin published as a 50 years anniversary in 2004 costs $85. Besides the fact that the ‘04 version uses the fully corrected text for the first time, it’s not really that different. The new version, like the ‘91 edition contains illustrated images by Alan Lee, but I don’t find them necessary. It’s Tolkien narrating and I don’t need help envisioning the scenery; he already did a good job drawing out everything. After all, Tolkien touts his title as Father of Modern High Fantasy over all. Even Rowling with her Potter series cannot match Tolkien’s grandeurs.

So you think I would stop there, right? I mean, I should keep a head. You thought wrong, very wrong. I mean, I have a head, though perhaps for shock-inhibiting purposes… These types of dangerous adventures must invite side effects.

The Children of Húrin, published just last year. An epic on the Elder Ages, it contains previous occurrences to the trilogy. I hear it’s harder to read than LOTR, but this I find true with most of his unfinished works. To begin with, they were incomplete, thus the plots are not as well woven together; but many more serious Tolkien aficionados are fine with them. So best of luck to myself in my lazy quest to just read them over the semester… I must return to reading The Two Towers.