Welcome to the third week of the bookshelf tour! Previously: Nonfiction | Buddhism & Yoga | Poetry & Adult Fiction | Adult Fiction & Graphic Novels | Horror & Classics. ICYMI, since I’m not on Booktube, and never will be, I wanted to travel through my shelves on a biweekly adventure on the blog. Since these are going to be pretty long, I won’t ramble on, so let’s get to it! About half of these are read, though probably only a handful are reviewed, so I’ll link to Goodreads if it’s available.
This shelf is my pride and joy. It’s got a big space at the end because I want to keep filling it with different editions as I find them. Tolkien is the only author that I buy several versions of books for, but oh boy, am I so damn proud of these. I’ll link each title to Goodreads, as well as drop star ratings if I’ve read them.

This is definitely going to be the best shelf of all of them because everything is just one thing, nothing mixed together. I’ve even left the last bit of the shelf empty since I know I’ll keep adding more to it. But, before we get into that, let’s look at the extras. There’s a red Buddha hiding on the left of the rosemary mint candle, a black and white elephant on either side of chakra stones, a jade elephant that my brother nearly got confiscated bringing back from Australia on top of a water lily & pear candle, and a seagrass candle from one of my favorite brands, Sand + Fog, beneath a mask that my brother brought back from his month in Belize. The herbs creeping in on the right are sea leaves? I think? I can’t 100% remember.
And without the stuff so you can actually see the books.

Tolkien
And here lies the prized Tolkien shelf! Once upon a time, I only owned one set of the trilogy, and those weren’t even mine–they were my dad’s that I’d decided I was going to keep on my shelves. Over the years, however, I’ve slowly built up my collection, and while it’s nowhere near finished, I’m pretty proud of it right now.
My top three in this section is:
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J.R.R. Tolkien | ★★★★ | Review
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter | ★★★★★ | Review
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien by J.R.R. Tolkien | ★★★★ | Review
An Atlas of Tolkien by David Day | ★★★★★ | Review
The Battles of Tolkien by David Day | ★★★★ | Review
The Return of the Shadow by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | UNREAD
The Treason of Isengard by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | UNREAD
The War of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | UNREAD
The End of the Third Age by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | UNREAD
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien | ★★★★★ | Review
NOTE: I have three copies of The Silmarillion.
The hardcovers are both first editions,
and one of them has been in my family since publication.
The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | ★★★★ | Review
Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | ★★★★ | Review
The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | ★★★★ | Review
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien | ★★★★★ | Review
NOTE: I have two copies of Unfinished Tales.
The hardcover is a first edition.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien | ★★★★ | Review
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien | ★★★★★
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien | ★★★★★
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien | ★★★★★
NOTE: I have three copies of the trilogy.
The hardcovers are second editions.
The taped paperbacks are from the 80s and have the funniest covers ever.
Oh it looks so good!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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Thank you!
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All I can say is — WOOOOWW!!! They look amazing ❤
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Thank you so much! ❤
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My other half is a Tolkien fan – she has Argonath bookends 🙂
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That is honestly the coolest thing I’ve ever heard! I want to get the Argonath statues tattooed as part of my ever-growing LOTR mural so bad.
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I’ll take a picture of them, and post to instagram.
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oh wow your Tolkien shelves are great!
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Thank you!
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You’re love the the series really comes through here. 🙂
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Gosh, and I literally just received another copy of The Silmarillion! It’s been passed down through my dad’s brothers, and all of them have read it, and now it’s “coming to the next generation.” These books are so good!
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That’s lovely!
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This is SO impressive and SO cool!! I am blown away you have a first edition of the Silmarillion!?! Like, jaw literally dropped to the floor. I really wanted to get the illustrated edition of the Silmarillion.
If you like, I did a book tour recently and also had a post dedicated exclusively to Tolkien: https://thoughtsstainedwithink.com/2020/04/20/library-tour-part-4-lotr-edition/
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It’s seriously one of my most prized possessions! The map in the back is a fold-out, and it’s so huge and wonderful. I want to frame it.
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That is just incredible! I don’t blame you at all. And I bet that map is INCREDIBLE. You should totally frame it!
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