I've never been interested to read an author's personal correspondence. It's always seemed invasive and "prying," and of questionable value in locating and understanding the real sources of an author's muse. In this case though, and on the strength of other reviews, I bought the book, and am delighted to have taken the risk. It's just plain fascinating to follow the development of Tolkien's writings in his own words and thoughts, trials and setbacks, set amid all the same criteria of his larger life. An incredible read, really. Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkien's biographer, compiled this collection of personal correspondence with tact and great sensitivity and respect for J.R.R.T., and also a bulls-eye sensibility for what possible readers might find of interest.
On the Kindle version, though, 1 star at best. Typos or scan errors, whichever they are, are everywhere, and egregious. It's obvious that this Kindle text was never proofed by a human editor. To find the word "orc" misspelled as "ore" four times on one page is proof enough that the publishers put very little care into preparing the text. There are many, many other errors just in the first twenty percent of the book. I am very tempted to return this Kindle version for refund and go for the hardcopy, instead.
Especially at this time, when publishers and authors are clamoring for higher prices and consideration for their electronic books, I find myself more than ever inclined to just go back to hard-copy reading. It may be that the paper version of "The Letters..." contains the same quantity of really inexcusable errors, but that doesn't justify the glaring lack of editorial care in this Kindle version. These firms are obviously paying much, much less to produce the books, and yet still demanding to be paid even more, unfortunately actualizing Tolkien's own vision of the "machine" and where it was headed in his day.
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