Hello, friends! The Tea with Tolkien community is excited to announce our next book club: a read-along of The Silmarillion, beginning in January! You can find the schedule below.

There are many ways to participate in this free, virtual Book Club! The easiest way to join is signing up with your email address — from there we’ll send a link to our private discord server directly to your inbox, and you’ll also receive weekly emails once the book club begins. I’ll be posting about the book club on social media so if you’d like to join the discussions on twitter or Instagram, look for the hashtag #teawithtolkienbookclub.

I’ve found that The Silmarillion can be quite intimidating for new readers, so my hope is that the community aspect of our book club will help you along the way! I’d be so happy to see you finally finish the entire book if that’s been a goal for you! And no, you do not have to read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings before picking up The Silmarillion.

A note on the schedule: we will read the assigned reading for each week and then begin the discussion on the date listed for the chapter. So you should have read the week's chapter(s) by that date if you want to be a part of the conversation. For example, discussion of The Waldman letter begins on January 12. If you don’t know what the Waldman letter is, you can read it here.

Our book club very casual and you can just jump in anytime throughout the week with your thoughts, but I'm going to make a special effort to be online on Tuesdays to discuss! I'm also going to hopefully get some podcasts recorded for each week so that can be a good jumping off point for discussion.

Silmarillion Book Club Schedule

12 January The Waldman Letter

19 January Ainulindalë + Valaquenta

26 January Of the Beginning of Days

2 February Of Aulë and Yavanna

Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor

9 February Of Thingol and Melian

Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië

16 February Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor

Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor

23 February Of the Darkening of Valinor

Of the Flight of the Noldor

2 March Of the Sindar

Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor

Of Men

9 March Of the Return of the Noldor

Of Beleriand and its Realms

16 March Of the Noldor in Beleriand

Of Maeglin

23 March Of the Coming of Men into the West

Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin

30 March Of Beren and Lúthien

6 April Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad

13 April Of Túrin Turambar

20 April Of the Ruin of Doriath

27 April Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin

4 May Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath

11 May Akallabêth (part one)

18 May Akallabêth (part two)

25 May Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age