Rating: 
Summary: Great collection of writings on J.R.R. Tolkien
Review: A wonderful collection of great fantasy authors' comments on the greatest fantasy writer of all. I especially like the originality of Raymond Feist's piece on Tolkien. I highly recommend this for the avid Tolkien fan.Please note, this is a collection of commentary on J.R.R. Tolkien written by current fantasy authors. It is not a collection of short stories by those authors. Please don't purchase this just because your favorite author contributed to it (unless you're a collector of anything and everything he/she writes). If you're going to buy it, then buy it because you love Tolkien and you want to see what his peers have to say about him.
Rating: 
Summary: A Literary Celebration of J. R. R. Tolkien
Review: Admittedly, this intriguing little tome is a mixed bag, with regards to quality, yet redeemed by excellent essays from the likes of Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Swanwick, Poul Anderson, Orson Scott Card, Harry Turtledove and Douglas Anderson. Le Guin's essay is the literary home run, emphasizing the literary qualities found in Tolkien's writing. Running a close second are those penned by Swanwick and Anderson, in which they acknowledge Tolkien's strong influence on their careers as fantasy writers. Douglas Anderson writes an excellent literary overview of Tolkien's career as a writer and academic, noting his other published works besides those pertaining to Middle-earth. Although these essays will be appreciated mostly by the converted, skeptics of Tolkien's work may begin to understand it by reading the essays I've cited herein.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven but enjoyable
Review: As with any collection of writings (in this case, essays), "Meditations on Middle-earth" varies widely in style, theme, effectiveness, and overall quality. So it's no surprise that (for me at least) some of these essays work much better than others. In fact, I would have to say that a couple pretty much never captured my interest. It was also a little off-putting to me, at least initially, to know that this book was published as an obvious commercial tie-in to the movie. I hate commercial tie-ins! But, such is life, I guess, in our capitalist society, so what can you do? These caveats notwithstanding, I have to say that, overall, I enjoyed this book very much. Most of the writers do a good job in describing their own personal experience of Tolkien/"Lord of the Rings," and several are truly outstanding. I particularly liked Michael Swanwick on various Tolkien themes -- integrity, truth, honesty, sadness, life/actions as having real consequences - as well as his view of "the true purpose of the Ring-quest" as a "test of all creation." Orson Scott Card has some interesting points to make on "escapist" vs. "serious" reading, on who the REAL hero of "The Lord of the Rings" was (hint: not Frodo), and most importantly on the "wild," "untamable" nature of all great tales, including Tolkien's. Ursula Le Guin does an excellent job analyzing Tolkien's prose style (using the chapter 8 in Volume 1, "Fog on the Barrow Downs"), his rhythmic patterns, and his "'trochaic' alternation of stress and relief" throughout his saga. Terri Windling writes a hair-raising essay on good and evil, fantasy and reality, and her own escape from a truly horrific childhood and an evil stepfather, in part thanks to Tolkien. In sum, "Meditations on Middle-earth" is a very good, albeit uneven, collection of essays on one of the great authors (JRR Tolkien) and books ("The Lord of the Rings") of all time. If you're into Tolkien, you should definitely like this book, and if you've never read Tolkien, then this book might make you curious to do so. Either way, you can't go too wrong reading and thinking about "The Lord of the Rings."
Rating: 
Summary: Authors gush over Tolkien
Review: Easily found and bearing a highly illustrious cast, this book presents fifteen noted fantasy authors, plus scholar Douglas A. Anderson and artists Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, expressing what they get out of Tolkien. It's a change from listening to authors hawk their own work on convention panels.
Despite the obligatory "how I discovered Tolkien" anecdotes, which can be annoying in such quantity (I often find them charming, myself), the contributors avoid much repetition. A few simply burble, trying unsuccessfully to be amusing. Several discuss how Tolkien's example freed them to write their own kind of fantasy: Poul Anderson's juxtaposition of =LotR= with his own =Broken Sword=, and Harry Turtledove's bashful confession of his early life as a naked Tolkien imitator, are the most notable. Others try to analyze the reasons for Tolkien's popularity, but with less success: that's a skill of critics, not of authors. But a few, including Raymond E. Feist and Terri Windling, have some good points to make along the way. The best essays are by those who do have it in them to be critics. Douglas A. Anderson is here to remind us that Tolkien wrote other books besides =LotR= and =The Hobbit=, and to warn us of the perils of undiscriminating popularity. Michael Swanwick offers a brief but thoughtful character study. Slightly less elevated than these is Orson Scott Card's diatribe against symbolic analysis: my instinct is to agree, but I finish the essay thinking there's points to be made for the other view. The outstanding contribution is Ursula K. Le Guin's: she simply sits down, as a good author with an ear for style can, and =demonstrates= Tolkien's quality by analyzing his use of rhythm, recurrence, and opposition to create emotional effects in a sample chapter of =LotR=, "Fog on the Barrow-Downs".
The authors make few factual errors, but the book offers many typos, including a character named Owyn. Illustrations by John Howe brighten a few pages.
Rating:
Summary: Took me back to the first time I read Lord of the Rings
Review: I borrowed this book from the library and enjoyed it so much I asked for it for Christmas (and got it). The different authors writing about the influence LOTR had on their lives reminded me of the first time I read the story and the effect it had on me. The drawings that illustrated the book were very well done. I think this should be in every fan's collection and is a must for anyone contemplating following in Tolkien's footsteps and writing a fantasy novel.
Rating:
Summary: Took me back to the first time I read Lord of the Rings
Review: I borrowed this book from the library and enjoyed it so much I asked for it for Christmas (and got it). The different authors writing about the influence LOTR had on their lives reminded me of the first time I read the story and the effect it had on me. The drawings that illustrated the book were very well done. I think this should be in every fan's collection and is a must for anyone contemplating following in Tolkien's footsteps and writing a fantasy novel.
Rating:
Summary: Calling all Tolkien Fans
Review: If you're a fan of Tolkien's Middle Earth, this little volume of essays will be a welcome addition. It's refreshing to see how deeply "The Lord of the Rings" effected the contributors; and how, over time, their perceptions of LOTR have changed. My favorites were the submissions of Michael Swanwick, Esther M. Friesner, Robin Hobb, Orson Scott Card and Diane Duane. Douglas A. Anderson and Ursala K. Le Guin offer more cerebral takes on both LOTR and the role of story in our lives -- the eternal rhythums Tolkien tapped while writing his masterpiece. For "Meditations" I offer what I believe is the best praise anyone can offer for a book: It's much too short.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful conversations with SF & F's best
Review: Imagine if you could gather some of the world's best Science Fiction and Fantasy authors into a room for an informal chat about Tolkein's influence on their personal and professional lives. Unfortunately, the authors are not all IN the same room, so each conversation is quite a bit different from the last. The authors were clearly given quite a bit of lattitude and therein lie the strengths and weaknesses of this collection.
The tone of the essays are personal, even familiar. For fans of Tolkein or of the contributing authors, the book is worth reading, if for no other reason than to spend some time with distant friends. Another perk is the reading list inadvertently provided by each author as they comment on their other influences. Apparently there are a few seminal works in the genre that I have completely missed.
The quality is admittedly a bit spotty, even within the same essay. Some of the best essays came from authors I knew nothing about. However, like any good conversation, there are snippets of great wisdom throughout. (It is the rare friend who offers up nothing but gems.) I can assure you that every essay will leave you smiling, or nodding and a few might even have you reaching for a pen. In short, you will find much to enjoy in this collection.
I should note that there is something here for everyone: hobbyist, devotee, english major, or bibliophile. Rarely does one get to listen in on the personal conversations of authors as they discuss their lives, their work and the influences that have made their careers possible.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful collection of essays
Review: MEDITATIONS ON MIDDLE EARTH is a collection of essays focusing on J.R.R. Tolkien's works, especially the Middle Earth saga. Some of the more renowned fantasy authors of today evaluate the series that made fantasy a household name. Surprisingly, though everyone agrees that Professor Tolkien opened up the genre to the middle class, not all of the contributors are fans of the actual novels. Insightful and entertaining, each essay is well written with the writer's particular spin. However, this anthology will be loved by those readers analyzing the various cultures in a way that cultural anthropologists would envy or by those fans who cherish Beowulf, which Tolkien felt is the forefather of the genre. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Insightful collection of essays
Review: MEDITATIONS ON MIDDLE EARTH is a collection of essays focusing on J.R.R. Tolkien's works, especially the Middle Earth saga. Some of the more renowned fantasy authors of today evaluate the series that made fantasy a household name. Surprisingly, though everyone agrees that Professor Tolkien opened up the genre to the middle class, not all of the contributors are fans of the actual novels. Insightful and entertaining, each essay is well written with the writer's particular spin. However, this anthology will be loved by those readers analyzing the various cultures in a way that cultural anthropologists would envy or by those fans who cherish Beowulf, which Tolkien felt is the forefather of the genre. Harriet Klausner
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