Trotter - I replied to your tweet but wanted to say it here too. I love Alan Lee’s work in general, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the new illustration for the cover. I don’t care too much for the Gollum illustration but I would like to have a clear version of the Misty Mountains illustration if they release it as a poster or something. ?

I guess I know nothing - I thought him reading the book he did for that fundraiser would be presented on CD/digital audio format (aka, audiobook). Had no idea that it'll be another session specifically for the upcoming audiobook.

Thanks for posting this Trotter and keeping us so informed on so many Tolkien happenings. I'm really looking forward to listening to this one. I agree with Andy about audio books as I too have little time to sit down with a book nowadays. I listen to lots of audio recordings and this is one I'll jump into with full enthusiasm.

HarperCollins Publishers UK
Award-winning actor Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit) reprises his role as Gollum and reads from 'Riddles in the Dark'. The new unabridged audiobook of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (on sale September 3rd 2020)

Excellent news! I could only watch a small fraction of the Hobbitathon, but I really enjoyed it.

Also, I didn't know there was a Children of Hurin audiobook read by C. Lee. I'll have to buy that one too.

Now I have to ask, are there any other Tolkien audiobooks read by either of them?

Trotter wrote:

HarperCollins Publishers UK
Award-winning actor Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit) reprises his role as Gollum and reads from 'Riddles in the Dark'. The new unabridged audiobook of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (on sale September 3rd 2020)

[!IFRAME FILTERED!]

That rasp he does with his voice as Gollum is just stunning. Really looking forward to listening to this.

Morinehtar wrote:

Excellent news! I could only watch a small fraction of the Hobbitathon, but I really enjoyed it.

Also, I didn't know there was a Children of Hurin audiobook read by C. Lee. I'll have to buy that one too.

Now I have to ask, are there any other Tolkien audiobooks read by either of them?

Those are the only two.

I have to confess I am not a fan of Christopher Lee's reading, he is just too Saruman and I normally don't like to mix book and film but I really had quite a fabulous day listening to Andy read The Hobbit.

Thank you onthetrail! If Christopher Lee sounds like Saruman while reading CoH, I suppose the same reason why you don't like his reading is the reason I would like it I can't believe I wasn't aware of it, but now I have 2 audiobooks to look forward to.

I will definitely enjoy Andy's reading of The Hobbit and I really hope it is financially successful so that it motivates HC to get him to read more Tolkien books. (Is it foolish to hope for an unabridged LOTR audiobook?)

Anyways, my next question is about the delivery method. If I purchase an audiobook using the Amazon "Audiobook" option, will I get a file that can be played on a standard music player app or will I get a file that can only be played with a specific Amazon app?

I'm buying the CD so that I can make a digital copy that does not have any copy protection on it. The Amazon download is from Audible and the audio-book can only be played through their Apps.