"New" Tolkien Work in 2007

If you haven't heard yet, Houghton Mifflin is publishing a "new" book by J.R.R. Tolkien titled The Children of Hurin, edited and put together by Christopher Tolkien.  It will feature a new map by Christopher and a book cover by Alan Lee.  It will be a stand alone work.

I am very curious to see how this will turn out.  Will it be another history-like compilation, similar to The Silmarillion?  Or more of a novel like LOTR?  It's difficult to tell at this point, but the tale of the Children of Hurin has been already published in pieces and parts in Tolkien's other post-LOTR works.  Over at Wormtalk and Slugspeak, Professor Michael Drout gives a excellent break down of the what's been published before.  It is unclear if the "new" work will include any previously unpublished stuff.  For the sake of Gandalf, I hope so.

On hearing this news, I started getting that Tolkien nostalgia, and have been going back to some stuff in the History of Middle Earth volumes, primarily in regards to Aelfwine of England, a character that could have his own novel, if I had my way.  There is so much vast beauty in all those old tales from the First and Second Ages that just take me to a place of real wonder.  I think it might be time for me to starting rereading LOTR again.  Ever since the movies, I have had a difficult time picking up those books.  I liked the movies, in a disconnected sort of way, but they have given me some difficulties in connecting and approaching the novels.  But I love those books regardless.  They are what introduced me to literature and was the soil and seed to my future passion.