I turned eighteen this Monday. Yup. Eighteen freakin years. I'm not going to ramble about how crazy it is that I'm officially an adult, because that would literally take forever. However, I got two (or actually four) birthday presents that were connected to my favourite fandom which I thought I would share with you!

 

One of the things I got was The Lord of the Rings translated by Erik Andersson into Swedish. I have actually never read this translation of The Lord of the Rings so I'm really curious how it differs from the translation Åke Ohlmarks did in the 50s/60s. I have read quite a lot on the pros and cons of each of the translations so I'm really looking forward to see whether my prejudices will be fulfilled and which of the translations I'll prefer. Åke Ohlmarks translation was my first encounter with The Lord of the Rings (besides the films) so of course I'm affected by that. To be honest I much rather prefer Åke Ohlmarks choice of names, but I think that's only because I'm accustomed to them. One thing I however don't like about Ohlmarks is his way of interpreting the story. It's quite embarassing but I actually thought that Legolas had children when was knew Tolkien, but I mean, it's wasn't my fault. How could I've known that Ohlmarks had made such a huge mistake? (For all who doesn't know; in Ohlmark's translation Legolas has children...) But that made me quite annoyed after discovering the truth. I know that Andersson has made similar blunders, but I mean Legolas having children, that's just plain ridiculous. Anyways! I can't wait to read Andersson's translation and compare them and see which I like the most. Unfortunately I don't think I'll have time to do that in quite a while. I'm currently reading The Lord of the Rings in English, I tend to do that every year, to freshen my memory, but perhaps during my Christmas Holiday I'll get sufficient time to read Andersson's translation.

 

 

The other thing I got was "Tolkien - The Illustrated Encyclopedia" by David Day. I quote: "The first encyclopedic illustrated guide to the world of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands, this book brings together every important aspect of Tolkien's vast cosmology. More than 500 alphabetical entries cover five major ubject area: History, Geography, Sociology, Natural Historiy and Biography." I can't say whether all the things above are true because I've only recently begun reading this book but from what I've read I can say that this book is awesome. I have some troubles with remembering all the characters names and when they lived and how the geography looked like during a certain period but I feel like that when I've finished reading this book I'll know quite a lot more than I do right now. The illustrations are by several different artists and I guess that some people appreciate this kind of art, I however have never really understood it, I'm the person who rather choose Alan Lee, John Howe or Ted Nasmith over Cor Blok and even though the drawings in this book isn't really similar to Cor Blok's it leans towards that kind of art. I know some people like it, others don't, I fall into the category who doesn't like it BUT I didn't really want this book for its drawing but for its informations so it's not such a big deal. I'm not going to say so much more because I'm going to do a full review once I've finished reading this entire book but I can say that if you're considering buying a Tolkien Encyclopedia I would definately recommend this one.