005. January '25 Mathoms

The Return of the Monthly Roundup

Hello friends!

Since starting this newsletter I’ve attempted several times to put together a commonplace¹ or roundup sort of feature,² but I’ve never been quite happy with the result or able to keep up with the added feature.

But here I am again with another attempt!

I’ve titled it “Mathoms” because it’s a feature where I anticipate I can share things I I enjoyed or found interesting and don’t want to necessarily discard but also don’t really have a place to share otherwise, such as quotes, ideas, notes and excerpts from what I’ve been reading recently, some of my favorite recent Substack reads, research that didn’t make it into a recent essay or article, and more!

Mathoms: an old word of the hobbit-dialect, not recorded as being in use outside the Shire. It was used to refer to "trinkets" or any item that Hobbits had no particular immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away. -Tolkien Gateway

Because of its slightly more personal nature and because I plan on maintaining the same number of free newsletters each month (minimum of 3), I’m going to be making this a new paid subscriber exclusive.

In today’s issue:

• My thoughts on the books I’ve finished so far this year (by Tolkien, Brandon Sanderson, and Victoria Aveyard)

• My current reads

• Some interesting articles I stumbled upon while researching for last week’s 🎥 All 10 LOTR and Hobbit Films Ranked

• A few recent articles and Substack newsletters I enjoyed

So enjoy the return of this feature, Extended Edition members! Thank you for your support of this newsletter. And please share some of your own mathoms with me here in the comments!

Want to join the Extended Edition members in getting access to this and all the other paid features (Monthly Essay, Full Discord access, free copies of my e-books, etc.), then subscribe below.