Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where we randomly select a book from our Goodreads To Be Read list and share it with the world. It’s hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners, so be sure to link back to her site so that we can all see what everyone plans to read!
The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary
by Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall, and Edmund Weiner
Nonfiction
240 pages
First published April, 2006, by Oxford University Press
From Goodreads: It is a little-known fact that, after the Great War, J.R.R. Tolkien’s first job was as an assistant on the Oxford English Dictionary. Yet the experience proved to be of enormous significance for his subsequent endeavours, literary as well as scholarly. He later said of it: “I learned more in those two years than in any equal period of my life.”
A valuable contribution to the study of the OED itself … The Ring of Words successfully reunites the academic and creative aspects of Tolkien, often seen as at odds. – John Garth, Times Literary Supplement
The Ring of the Words is an excellent addition to the shelf of best books about Tolkien, warmly recommended. – Wayne G. Hammond, author of J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography and co-author of The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
Anyone enthralled by the story of the English language will be captivated by this account of an unforgettable man’s half-forgotten first achievements. – Simon Winchester, author of the Surgeon of Crowthorne and The Meaning of Everything The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Why yes, I am a complete nerd and would be perfectly happy to read a book about Tolkien and his work on the Oxford English Dictionary. Who wouldn’t?
Traveling in Books 
I loved the professor and the madman about the OED. So I would totally read this! Thanks matey.
x The Captain
You’re welcome!