Markers

Did not get enough sleep. But there are Christmas things to be done.

I listened to the first four hours of Christopher Lee reading The Children of Hurin last night while colouring. Lee reads very well, and I love the story of Turin, though I've yet to spot any difference between this version and the one included in The Silmarillion.

There's a lot of moral greyness in the story for Tolkien, though I found it interesting the lengths to which he'll go to tie misfortune with pride or some other unbecoming emotion, like Morwen is apparently punished by fate for not going to Doriath with her son because staying behind in the hopes her husband would return was a point of pride. But Tolkien never seems to really pin the blame for Turin's misfortune on Turin. Maybe he was inspired by the story of Job. I don't know, I'm too tired to really think right now.

The introduction to The Children of Hurin, written by Christopher Tolkien, is also read by Christopher Tolkien, and it's wonderful hearing the care he takes in his brief synopsis of the history of Arda thus far and the pronunciations of various words his father made up. He made a new map for the book, too, and a folding copy is included with the audiobook.

There is currently a big, grey homeless cat taking shelter from the rain on the back porch . . .