How Tolkien built The Lord of the Rings
Conceived as a simple sequel to a children's story, J. R. R. Tolkien's epic spent twelve years in drafting before reshaping fantasy literature.
Topic
Books
Stories tagged “Books”.
How the Booker Prize Works
From eligibility rules and panel reading marathons to high-profile disputes, here is how Britain’s most prestigious fiction award operates.
A Reader's Guide to Jane Eyre: Context and Reception
Charlotte Brontë's 1847 masterpiece transformed prose fiction through an intense study of moral independence and private consciousness.
How to Read The Odyssey Without Getting Lost
Homer’s epic of shipwreck, monsters and homecoming remains literature’s most durable voyage, shaped by centuries of oral tradition.
A Reader's Guide to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll's Victorian classic dismantled children's moralising literature using rigorous logic, indelible wood engravings and mathematical nonsense.
A Reader's Guide to Moby-Dick
Herman Melville's maritime epic was a commercial failure in 1851, but patience and an eye for its unusual structure unlock a classic.
A Reader's Guide to Bram Stoker's Dracula
How an overworked London theatre manager assembled folklore, travel accounts and stage charisma into an enduring Gothic masterpiece.
A short history of high and epic fantasy
From 19th-century romances to Tolkien and modern bestselling sagas, the genre grew around the architecture of fully realised secondary worlds.
Culture briefing: NEA Big Read and Philadelphia meeting
The National Endowment for the Arts announced a sports reading programme and scheduled a public meeting in Pennsylvania.