Tag Archives: books: lord of the rings series

a few thoughts on Tolkien

authors, fantasy, fiction January 3, 2017 Leave a comment

tolkien-darkness-must-pass

JRR Tolkien was born 125 years ago today, on January 3, 1892 (for the arithmatic-ly challenged).

My mother dragged me to see the Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. I was 13. She really did have to drag me, using the sound reasoning that she’d gone to every damn stupid god forsaken terrible film I’d ever want to go to as a kid, and I was going to come whether I liked it or not.

At the start I was outraged I was being dragged to a three hour film I knew nothing about and had no interest in.

By the end I was outraged I’d sat through a three hour film and they hadn’t answered any questions.

My mom wouldn’t tell me what happened next and said I’d have to read it or wait til the next film. I was outraged further.

But I started The Hobbit on December 21, 2001 and finished The Return of the King on August 22, 2002. I was a slow reader as a kid.

And man, those books and films changed my life.

Not in a “I’m a new person” kind of way, although I did adopt the “not all those who wander are lost” quote as a philosophy of life. I don’t think it changed my outlook on life. It did change my outlook on stories. I compare every epic saga to that of the Fellowship’s. I don’t even do it on purpose. But that’s the standard – from the personal, inner conflicts of the characters to the epic consequences of the struggle, other stories I’ve read lack the world building, the scope and the depth of Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson’s adaptations are also possibly the greatest films I’ve ever watched in terms of grandeur and scale and faithfulness to the source material.

I’m not so devoted I’ve done things like read The Simarillion or The Children of Hurin. Or The Appendices. DEAR GOD, THE APPENDICES. But I like that they’re there if I ever want to read them.

And I do recognize greatness when I read it, and Tolkien may be the greatest.

So happy birthday to an all time great and one of my all time favorites. Thanks for a story that has given me something to bond with my mom over. And my friends. And my teachers. And the rest of the world. It’s been the best gift.

tolkien-wander-quote

Meme: 10 Books That Have Stuck With You

fiction, humor, memes September 16, 2014 Leave a comment

This meme is going around on Facebook, and I thought I’d share my list here.

In your status, list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take more than a few minutes, and do not think too hard. They don’t have to be the “right” books or great works of literature, just books that have affected you in some way.

01. All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
02. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
03. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
04. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
05. Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
06. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
07. Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs – Dave Barry
08. And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
09. Rebecca – Daphne DuMaurier
10. The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

10 Facts You Don’t Know About The Lord of the Rings

fiction July 12, 2014 Leave a comment

This isn’t my post but I enjoyed it a lot. I love ‘Lord of the Rings’ so I thought I’d share.

Robert's avatar101 Books

Between Tolkien’s immense novel and Peter Jackson’s incredible adaptation, The Lord of the Rings has more interesting little tidbits than every novel I’ve read from the list combined.

I found this exhaustive list of “facts you never knew” on Empire Online, so I thought I’d share 10 of my favorites with you.

View original post 341 more words

new ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ movie trailer

fiction October 6, 2013 Leave a comment

Originally, I didn’t see The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie by choice. I was about 13 at the time, and my mother dragged me along with her. I didn’t really want to go, but went anyway. She said that I “owed” her for all the crappy movies she’d taken me to through my life because she didn’t actually want to see any of them, she was just being a good parent.

So, I saw the movie with her because guilt is one my family’s biggest motivational tools. I really liked the movie, and was mad that it didn’t conclude the story. I was even upset to find out there were TWO more of these films, and downright distressed when I discovered that they were coming out one and two years from that point.

I decided to read the books, and started The Hobbit the next weekend.

The Lord of the Rings movies are epic, and I mean that in two ways. They are epic in the most literal sense: they are extremely long movies. The other way I mean it is in size and scope: there are very few movie adaptations of books that cover as much rich material as the LotR movies do with JRR Tolkien’s huge fantasy.

The Hobbit films were rumored to be coming out not long after the original films, but the buzz about them didn’t pan out until much later. I reread it in preparation of its release (at the time rumored to be in 2009) but it turned out I wouldn’t have had to reread it until 2012. It was good that I did, though. I’d made up my own ending to the book, apparently, and read an entirely different ending than the one I remembered.

Anyway, the film: I didn’t expect The Hobbit films to happen with all problems, like the screen writing and directing changes, and I was a little nervous about what I was hearing: The Hobbit being stretched into three films didn’t sound like it was possible, or was necessary, since they were ADDING material.

Well. ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ really put my mind at ease. It was just as good as the original LotR films, and I really enjoyed some of the stuff they added. I had also forgotten how much I missed having a movie that covered the size and scope of the original films. Movies that cinematically beautiful and that complex don’t come around a lot.

The new trailer for the second film, ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ came out recently, and I’m really excited about it. Check it out:

The only thing so far that’s a little off-putting? I always pronounced the dragon’s name, Smaug, as ‘Smawg’ not as ‘Smoug’. ‘Aw’ as in ‘awful’ and not ‘ou’ as in ‘ouch’, if that makes sense. But I think I’ll be able to overlook it! 😉

Happy Hobbit Day!

fiction September 22, 2013 Leave a comment

September 22 is Hobbit Day. Hobbits are some of my favorite fantasy creatures 🙂 This graphic is a year old, but useful on how to throw a Hobbit Day Party. Enjoy!

hobbit day party