(no subject)

[la_rainette]

Cross-posting to JL, IJ, GJ and LJ, take two. Because, ahahahaha, it won't cross-post unless you ask it to. *baps self*

I am, for the first time, reading Lord of the Rings. Yay?

Now, this is something I have attempted several times before, and I always got stuck at around page 80 or so, once the hobbits get wandering. Because it goes like that: the hobbits went up the hill, the weather was fine, they got hungry, they stopped and had breakfast (insert breakfast menu), they sang for a while (insert sont lyrics), then they slept for a while (insert mentions of sleeping habits and various snoring noises), then they get up and do it all over again.

The first time I attempted to read the book? I had bought myself a LORD OF THE RINGS MAP to follow the hobbits' wanderings. Which was possibly the worst idea ever, since trying to follow them blew my mind with sheer boredom.

This time, however, I am not even bothering with following their steps. I just imagine New Zealand mountains and forest and I know that they're beautiful and basta, as we say. I skip the breakfasts, second breakfasts, elevenses, luncheons, dinners and suppers and assorted snacks altogether, and I seem to be doing OK so far.

I am even starting to enjoy myself. *grins*

Right now, I am past page 100 (HOORAY! I BROKE MY RECORD!) and have just hit the point where Frodo and Sam realise that yo, their friends Pippin ad Merry know exactly what they have been planning, despite their best efforts to keep everything a secret, and this amuses me greatly. I am sure you have all experienced this at least once, haven't you? I am sure you have all, at least once, tried to keep something Really Sekrit... and then found out that everyone knew and that you could just as well have relaxed a bit, cos frankly, why bother?

Anyway. I am amused. It doesn't take that much these days to amuse me.

Also, I think I like Sam in the book even more than I like Sam in the movies. Dude, I think I may even finish the book this time.

Comments

[darthrami.livejournal.com]

I kept getting stuck when they met up with Tom Bombadill (sp?). I know the pain.


I'm glad I got through them, but I'm not sure I'd be able to do it again.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

Tom Bombadill? *worries* Maybe I should just skip this part altogether?

Besides, he's not in the movies. well, hopefully he's not an essential character :D

[darthrami.livejournal.com]

Lots of people love him! Essentially it's, uh. The hobbits take a break from wandering about and stay with him for a while! Which is lovely. But bored me out of my skulllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

NOOOOOOO! HOBBITS! NO STAYING PUT ANYWHERE! GET MOVING!

So I gather I'll just skim that part. :D

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Tom Bombadil sings and does a lot verse and the first x times I read LoTR I couldn't stand him, but if you think of him as a generic pagan god type/archetype, he suddenly becomes very important. You can still skim the poetry bits though. Oh and chapter 11, Council of Elrond? If your brain glazes over, its just the prologue from the film, go and watch that again then skim to the end :)

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*nods* thanks for the tips. :)

I take it you've read LoTR quite a few times, then. Wow, I am impressed.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

I first read it when I was 11 (and got bogged down in the Council chapter for weeks) so I've had plenty of time to re-read since then, plus I'm a huge fantasy/SF fan and a voracious reader - have also read The Hobbit (in German also, and have a French trans sitting on the shelf) but am not quite enough of a Tolkein geek to read the Silmarillion and other works, they seem very-longwinded by comparison!

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

I read the Hobbit when I was 13. I remember loving it at first and then getting frustrated because no matter how often Bilbo shook him off, Gollum kept returning and I was like, ENOUGH ALREADY! :D

But then it wasn't necessarily the best choice for a Beach Book. ;)

[genarti]

The Silmarillion is lovely -- after the first few chapters. The second chapter is Tolkien listing at length all of the Valar, and their names, and their other names, and their spouses, and their spheres of influence, and the names of the places where they live, and oh my God it is so mind-numbing even if the language is pretty. And then the Elves show up and it's somewhat more interesting, but everyone and his brother have names that all sound the same -- Finarfin and Fingolfin and Finwë and Fëanor, and they're all related to each other but they all play major roles, and I actually tried taking notes on it once. Two times I tried to read that book, and gave up in eye-blurring despair.

And then the third time I was determined to get through the whole thing, and I found that once you get past those first few chapters it picks up and becomes abruptly and increasingly fascinating. It's an epic saga and a mythological history, and I love it dearly. (And learning about their later exploits does make all the assorted F- and M- and E- fellows easier to keep straight, retroactively.) I would highly recommend it to anyone with a taste for that kind of thing, but you really do need to have faith that it'll get interesting.

[juniper200.livejournal.com]

Yeah, just skip Bombadil -- he's a worthless plot cul-de-sac. The purists will smack me around like a thing that gets smacked around a lot, but I'm not sorry I said it.

The character I found I liked more in the books than in the movies was Gandalf -- and I liked him in the movies quite a bit. But book!Gandalf has a sarcastic streak that shows up at unexpected times. (Like you ever expect sarcasm from the Wise Old Wizard.)

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

HEEEE! I am looking forward to seeing more of Gandalf (right now he's gone AWOL and the hobbits are Worried).

And thanks for the advice. :)

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

PPPS: I hope Butterbur sends this promptly. A worthy man, but his memory is like a lumber-room: things wanted always buried. If he forgets, I shall roast him.

Book!Gandalf isn't even really around yet, and I am liking him a lot already. :D (Also, I forgot to say that your icon was very, very apt)

[genarti]

Aw, I like Tom Bombadil! But I also like the merry wanderings about the Shire, so YMMV. As a general rule for Tolkien, feel very free to skim anything you feel the need to skim. You'll get the gist. (Or, if you don't, seventeen people on your friendslist will happily recount it for you at the slightest urging.)

I really love that bit with the secret-revealing, though. *grin* And the way Merry and Pippin turn out to not, in fact, be totally oblivious, and take Frodo and the reader both by surprise in that.

I love those two; they have a lot more depth than one would initially give them credit for.

And oh, Sam. Yes. Same is awesome.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

*grins* OK, I will ask my flist if I get hopelessly lost in the plot -- but I suspect that having seen the movies will help ;)

And -- yes, I love that bit too, it rings so very true to me. :D

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

You know, I am actually getting a bit frustrated with that part.

- Whatever you do, Hobbits, beware of this place.
- This place?
- Yes, this place. DO NOT GO THERE.
- This place?
- YES. DANGEROUS! FORBIDDEN!
- You mean HERE? ... ARGHHHHHHHHHH LET'S CALL TOM BOMBADIL!

so, yes. ahem. *sheepish*

Am still having good fun though. ;)

[genarti]

Yeeaaah. *snickers* Um, at least they don't go there on purpose?

It's fun to contrast the hobbits as they are by the end of the series with these early days. They're clueless farmboys and country squires here, and oh, does it show.

[bloodrebel333.livejournal.com]

I read it when I was - ten, I think. In Dutch. And I had to drag myself through a lot of The Two Towers, but I managed, because I refused to skip and I wanted to know what happened to the others. :)

But once I was finished, I wanted to go at it again.

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

Did you read it again then? :D I am amazed that you managed to make it through when you were 10 -- I would have given up I am sure.

I think I may skim the whole thing about the Ents a little.

[http://users.livejournal.com/eljay_/]

Oooo - have fun! :) I'm afraid I'm a rampant LOTR fan, who may just be able to recite bits of the book from memory.... :S

It all gets more exciting once they get out of the Shire, trust me. The hobbits do tend to wear a bit on some people.... My favourite character was always Aragorn. :)

[la-rainette.livejournal.com]

Oh good. The hobbits are driving me mad right now with their habit (which I nearly typo'ed habbit) of getting hopelessly stuck and then yelling for TOM BOMBADIL. It feels like I'll never see the end of him. :)

[muffytaj.livejournal.com]

I think there really needs to be a severly abridged version of LotR. And I say this as someone who first read it in year 4.

Though I suppose he was trying to build a world...