After Lord of the Rings

[BarbaraN]

We have two weeks before we are an official discussion group. We are marking time right now. I know it is a bit premature to discuss this but I thought we might like knock around a few ideas on what we might want to do after we finish LOTR. The Silmarillion seems like the logical choice but it is a big jump that many LOTR readers seemed to have failed to make. So maybe those of you who are waiting here with us might want to share some ideas of what other Tolkien project we can follow LOTR with and how we could best approach the Silmarillion.

[lorien]

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BarbaraN wrote:
We have two weeks before we are an official discussion group. We are marking time right now. I know it is a bit premature to discuss this but I thought we might like knock around a few ideas on what we might want to do after we finish LOTR. The Silmarillion seems like the logical choice but it is a big jump that many LOTR readers seemed to have failed to make. So maybe those of you who are waiting here with us might want to share some ideas of what other Tolkien project we can follow LOTR with and how we could best approach the Silmarillion.

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I would like to return to "The Children of Hurin" after LOTR. We put it on the schedule (well by default) for this month but only got as far as the Preface and Introduction. We never got into the book. There were not enough people left around to discuss it so it sort of died. I don't think there was any problem with the book but mainy lack of interested participants. So I think after we do the LOTR maybe we could get a discussion going about this book if there were more interested people.

[BarbaraN]

Maybe we could take one chapter a week of the Silmarillian or maybe logical chunks of chapters per week/month. A slow and studied reading seems to be the most fruitful. I do think it may be necessary to read it chronologically since it seems any chapter depends on some sort of knowledge of what happened before.

I personally think it is best if the group stays together in a paced reading, otherwise it gets very confusing. I noticed this happens with many books on the boards. People who fall behind in the reading feel left out of the discussions while others are plunging ahead making everyone feel rushed. It is also hard for people who have moved ahead to "hold" their discussions. Waiting is discouraging too. Before you know it people are dropping out of the discussion. So you get this cycle of first week enthusiasm followed by diminishing discussions and, within a couple of weeks, everyone has lost interest.

Paced reading is the way the very successful Epics etc group works (and probably the way they are doing the Riverton reading). And they keep their membership posting regularly and together for the whole period of reading. If Epics etc can get through, enjoy, and have lengthy discussions on some of the books they are reading, we should be able to get through the Silmarillion!

I actually wish we could do a paced reading of LOTR and read it at regular doable pace together rather than having one of the trilogy per month where you get the monthly cycle start-up enthusiasm followed by discouraged or bored drop-off. Taking roughly five chapters a week would allow some flexibility and it would take us about 14 weeks to do the whole thing and then finish off with the appendix. It would then be one continuous read. People would then be encouraged to stick with it and make it part of their schedule. Participants who have read it before may even find themselves rereading it and making better discussion points then working from general memory.

[niki]

I can see some advantage to paced reading. Even when a book discussion is set up by groups of chapters, you will have people posting in different parts. This is OK except if you don't have a lot of people in the group. Then your potential discussion group is all spread out. No more than two (or very few) people posting in a chapter group does not generate a discussion. They are just posting. But if you schedule a read so that the whole group is reading and discussing a certain segment at the same time, then you have concentrated the group resources and you get a discussion. It also forces people to read together and have their ideas fresh in their minds.

[niki]

I would like to see a return to the movies after we finish LOTR. Then the book will be fresher in our minds. I am finding the movies a most interesting viewpoint for discussions well beyond the usual "it is not as good as the book" "it did not follow the book," "they took my favorite part out," etc. I can make those comments about any book and movie combination without having read or seen them!

The LOTR books and movie compliment each other and are a successful art form in their own genre. Our discussion of the movies have been hindered by the fact that most of us haven't read the LOTR in years and are not very familiar with it to begin with. Just think of how productive those discussions could be after we have have actually read the books again and have more people in the group.

[Fanuidhol]

This website will either clarify or confuse the issue of what to read after LotR, lol:
http://tolkien.slimy.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~steuard/booklist.pl

Personally, I am split 50/50 on whether to read The Silmarillion or Children of Hurin, first. After those, it would be worthwhile to read Unfinished Tales. Then a re-read of LotR for a deeper understanding.

Fan

[jen04]

I think Silmarillian should be first then Children of Hurin. Silmarillian gives a shorter version of Turins life, but Children delves much deeper. Just a thought.


Jen

[leakybucket]

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jen04 wrote:
I think Silmarillian should be first then Children of Hurin. Silmarillian gives a shorter version of Turins life, but Children delves much deeper. Just a thought.

Jen

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I've been debating this in my mind as well. The Children of Hurin is at least a popular book right now and with that as our starter we might be able to lure more people in to tackle the Silmarillian. But doing the Silmarillian first does provide a better preparation history for The Children of Hurin. I don't know anything about the Silmarillian but people seem to approach it with "fear and trembling".

My impression is that it isn't something people seem to want to do in one month, though, my hard copy book has only about 300 pages. Is it reasonable to do give it in just a month? Or would we want to do it over a longer period and, if so, how would we divide it up?

I definitely would prefer to read this with a group. It would be a much better reading experience than people have had trying to read it on their own and then giving it up. As a group we can offer motivation and a good exchange of ideas that could make it far more interesting and also help sort some things out with more experienced people at hand. I can see its value in enriching future readings of the popular Ring books.

Message Edited by leakybucket on 01-27-2008 10:46 PM

[Fanuidhol]

I have been thinking more on this myself. I was split 50/50 on what book to read first -- Silmarillion or Children of Hurin. I added that Unfinished Tales would be good to read after those in my original post on this subject.
This is the dilemma. The Children of Hurin is a more reader friendly version of Chapter 21 in The Silmarillion and Section II of The First Age material of Unfinished Tales (the gaps in the story found in The Silmarillion -- Turin's childhood, etc. are covered in Unfinished Tales). So, when I read Children of Hurin a few months ago there was nothing brand new to me because I had read the previously published material. If we read The Silmarillion first, I probably won't bother reading Children of Hurin again. The other way around, I'll have to read Children of Hurin so it is fresh in my mind.
Fan

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leakybucket wrote:

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jen04 wrote:
I think Silmarillian should be first then Children of Hurin. Silmarillian gives a shorter version of Turins life, but Children delves much deeper. Just a thought.

Jen

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I've been debating this in my mind as well. The Children of Hurin is at least a popular book right now and with that as our starter we might be able to lure more people in to tackle the Silmarillian. But doing the Silmarillian first does provide a better preparation history for The Children of Hurin. I don't know anything about the Silmarillian but people seem to approach it with "fear and trembling".

My impression is that it isn't something people seem to want to do in one month, though, my hard copy book has only about 300 pages. Is it reasonable to do give it in just a month? Or would we want to do it over a longer period and, if so, how would we divide it up?

I definitely would prefer to read this with a group. It would be a much better reading experience than people have had trying to read it on their own and then giving it up. As a group we can offer motivation and a good exchange of ideas that could make it far more interesting and also help sort some things out with more experienced people at hand. I can see its value in enriching future readings of the popular Ring books.

Message Edited by leakybucket on 01-27-2008 10:46 PM

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[BarbaraN]

How about this as a solution: We read the Silmarillion through Chapter 20 the first month. Then do The Children of Hurin the next, and then return to the Silmarillion the third month and finish it up.

I would not want to speculate much beyond that point right now but, if we end up with a very good group here, we can continue our Tolkien studies beyond that. This is a Tolkien group and they will let us continue on if we keep talking. We could then put other things on the table like his poetry, the Unfinshed Tales, the other histories, or even books by other people about Tolkien. We could even do The Histories of the Lord of the Ring and read the LOTR again but at a slower and deeper level. Ditto for the other stuff. That way we can keep this first run through a bit lighter saving some of the deeper issues for when we return. If we go on long enough The Hobbit movie should be out and we begin all over again! By then I should be a unfledged "Tolkien Student" if not a "Tolkien Fanatic"!

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Fanuidhol wrote:
I have been thinking more on this myself. I was split 50/50 on what book to read first -- Silmarillion or Children of Hurin. I added that Unfinished Tales would be good to read after those in my original post on this subject.
This is the dilemma. The Children of Hurin is a more reader friendly version of Chapter 21 in The Silmarillion and Section II of The First Age material of Unfinished Tales (the gaps in the story found in The Silmarillion -- Turin's childhood, etc. are covered in Unfinished Tales). So, when I read Children of Hurin a few months ago there was nothing brand new to me because I had read the previously published material. If we read The Silmarillion first, I probably won't bother reading Children of Hurin again. The other way around, I'll have to read Children of Hurin so it is fresh in my mind.
Fan

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leakybucket wrote:

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jen04 wrote:
I think Silmarillian should be first then Children of Hurin. Silmarillian gives a shorter version of Turins life, but Children delves much deeper. Just a thought.

Jen

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I've been debating this in my mind as well. The Children of Hurin is at least a popular book right now and with that as our starter we might be able to lure more people in to tackle the Silmarillian. But doing the Silmarillian first does provide a better preparation history for The Children of Hurin. I don't know anything about the Silmarillian but people seem to approach it with "fear and trembling".

My impression is that it isn't something people seem to want to do in one month, though, my hard copy book has only about 300 pages. Is it reasonable to do give it in just a month? Or would we want to do it over a longer period and, if so, how would we divide it up?

I definitely would prefer to read this with a group. It would be a much better reading experience than people have had trying to read it on their own and then giving it up. As a group we can offer motivation and a good exchange of ideas that could make it far more interesting and also help sort some things out with more experienced people at hand. I can see its value in enriching future readings of the popular Ring books.

Message Edited by leakybucket on 01-27-2008 10:46 PM

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