Cussedness
The natural cussedness of things in general.
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The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
Apparently there is some debate about which Tolkien was responsible for The Silmarillion; whether it is mostly genuine J.R.R. or made up by his son C.J.R. seems a rather boring question to me, a book is a book irrespective of who wrote it, but I suppose such fascinating discussions keep literature students off the streets and out of trouble.
The stories in The Silmarillion will interest anyone who enjoyed The Lord of the Rings, as the main purpose of the work is to provide a detailed history for that epic. It is unlikely to entertain anyone who doesn’t already appreciate Tolkien, and may prove dull even for confirmed fans of his more well known writing; it defeated me on my first attempt, as I mentioned before. This time round I found it much more readable. Tracing the origins of the races and lands of Middle Earth, and in some cases even specific characters, is enormous fun, and the detached style makes sense in light of the book’s status as a set of mythological foundations. I would, however, still direct those seeking specific answers to questions arising from the main works to The Encyclopedia of Arda, because, enjoyable though it is, The Silmarillion is still a rather sprawling and unwieldy tome.