I just finished Tom Shippey's excellent book, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, which I have wanted to read for some time now. In it, Shippey's primary argument (as implied by the subtitle) is that twentieth century literature was dominated by the fantasy story, and that Tolkien holds the premier place of authorship among those who may be called fantasy writers — effectively putting him at the premier place of authorship among all writers of the century.

A recent post on the Goodreads Blog explored the question of whether stories in books are better than their adapted movies, noting that half of this year's Academy Award Best Picture nominees were based on books.

As an attempt to offer a survey of (mostly 20th century) short science fiction, The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction is quite successful.

Since with a book like this it's almost impossible to make any significant assessment that doesn't boil down to simply preference, I will simply list those stories I liked best out of the collection, followed by some choice quotations.

I've read quite a few parts of this previously, either due to individual curiosity about specific topics (such as the Quest of Erebor, Istari, Palantiri) or as part of other works (Narn i Hin Hurin – most of which is incorporated in The Children of Hurin), but I had not until now sat down and read all the various tales in order. Already a big fan of Tolkien, as a whole I quite enjoyed the collection, especially since Christopher Tolkien's notes and analysis are kept at a minimum compared when compared with the various volumes of the History of Middle Earth.

If there is any topic writers like to write about more than any other, it's writers. Hemingway wrote about writers; John Irving writes about writers; now, John Scalzi has written about a writer.

("But wait!" you protest, "I thought this story was about a bunch of redshirts?" It is, until...well, dammit, read the book!)