Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

Communications Manager Kyla Merwin recommends the short story, “Leaf by Niggle,” in Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tomorrow, March 25, those of a certain Fellowship celebrate a seminal event: The downfall of Sauron, lord of Mordor, the One Ring, the Orc and the Uruk-hai, and all things evil. In the modern vernacular, we call March 25 Tolkien Reading Day.

So, let’s take a journey together—an inescapable journey between desire and responsibility, hope and despair …

… far away from Middle-earth, orcs and elves, wizards and hobbits. Specifically, to a tree in a very different place inside the grand landscape of a little man named Niggle.

Niggle is an artist. His current passion project is a tree—with ever expanding branches and twigs and leaves, painted in exquisite detail. He sacrifices all of his other creative endeavors in favor of this tree, sometimes attaching abandoned works to the fringes and margins of the landscape in which this tree grows.

Niggle has a good heart, a talent for painting and for procrastination, and a sincerely needful neighbor. Negotiating a life that consistently pulls him away from his painting, Niggle neglects to prepare for a great, imminent journey—a journey, we may infer, that we must all take.

Scholars suggest that Niggle is a reflection of the author himself, and that “Leaf by Niggle” is allegorical to the journey of death, purgatory, redemption, and – shall we say? – the Undying Lands.

Interestingly, Niggle’s quiet struggles mirror Frodo’s epic quest in The Lord of the Rings. Where Frodo carries the crushing burden of the One Ring to Mount Doom, Niggle carries the quieter burdens of duty and compassion, repeatedly sacrificing his own desires to care for others.

Both journeys demand personal sacrifice. Both reveal that true heroism is often found in loyalty, not glory.

But where Frodo walks through the dramatic wastelands of Mordor, Niggle traverses profound, interior landscapes of the soul. Tolkien layers meaning into every one of the story’s brief twenty-seven pages, weaving together art, mortality, and hope.

What remains is a sweet and powerful reminder: small acts of kindness, persistence, and creativity matter in this life. And perhaps, the unfinished works we leave behind—our dreams, our art, our regrets—might, in some better world, find completion. Or, as Tolkien might have put it, find their place in the Undying Lands.

Find Tales from the Perilous Realm in our collection here.

Note: This review was revised with AI assistance.

Gold Mine Processing Associate Janis Tedrow recommends The Dog Who Followed the Moon by James Norbury.

When I initially got the illustrated children’s book, The Dog Who Followed the Moon, I had my six-year-old granddaughter in mind. But as soon as I started reading the book, I realized it is not only a book for children, but a book for everyone.

The two animal characters are the puppy, Amaya, and the old wolf. They come together under unusual circumstances and compassion. While searching for her parents, Amaya, was attacked by a pack of wolves. An old wolf from the pack had a change of heart and saved Amaya from all the others. The wolf and Amaya began a journey together without understanding the destination.

They started following the moon and soon discovered what they were looking for was each other.

As they embarked on this journey and embraced this adventure together, they learned lessons about the endurance of life, the meaning of love and the fact that what you do gives meaning to life.

This fable explores themes of friendship, connections, and personal growth. It also reflects love, grief, and resilience. The is an excellent book for any young child and/or their parents.

Find it in our collection in New Books/Graphic Novels here.

Gold Mine Processing Associate Peter Matschek recommends A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

In short, this book is about the Appalachian Trail.  As a backpacker in my youth, I was interested in the long hiking trails in the country such as the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail, but I didn’t know much about the AT (as it is known by).  The author had lived the previous 20 years in England and when he returned to New England, he decided to hike the trail. 

He didn’t let his lack of experience get in the way of doing this trip. 

He started out by researching the history and discovering that it might not the cakewalk he had envisioned.  “Nearly everyone I talked to had some gruesome story involving an acquaintance who came stumbling back two days later with a bobcat attached to his head or dripping blood from an armless sleeve and whispering in a hoarse voice Bear!  Bryson goes on to list a variety of wildlife that inhabits the woods:

“… rattlesnakes and water moccasins and nests of copperheads, bobcats, bears coyotes, wolves … looney hillbillies destabilized by gross quantities of impure corn liquor and generations of profoundly unbiblical sex.”

Bryson lists the diseases one can develop while in the woods with Lyme disease being “for the person who wants to experience it all.”  He also mentions the killings that have occurred on the trail and people who come up missing without a trace. 

You would think that all this information would discourage him from actually hiking the AT, but no, he was bound and determined. He asked a friend to join him who was even more clueless about what they were getting into (not to mention “gloriously out of shape”).  They wound up hiking over 800 miles of the trail in different sections and met “a bizarre assortment of hilarious characters.”

Bryson also describes the history of the AT and all the areas that the trail traverses.  It’s a very entertaining and informative book and I recommend it to anybody who is interested in the Appalachian Trail. 

Find it in our collection in print, large print, ebook, CD, and DVD here.