LOTR: Reading Group - Introduce Yourself

[leakybucket]

I noticed that people have introduced themselves in the Tolkien group but many of those have either quit the BN boards altogether or have since joined in other more organized discussions. I don't know how many people are left who actually want to talk about LOTR, though there seems to be a respectable number of daily lurkers. So introduce yourself here even if it is just to say hi and we support you.

Bucky

[leakybucket]

One of my New Year resolutions was the read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and maybe Silmarrilion. Like many of you I first read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring when the movies came out. I also joined in the Barnes & Noble old University book reading group devoted to the four book series--can you believe all in one month! I would have liked to have spent more time. Now the whole series is just a vague memory and I am ready to reread the whole thing at a more leisurely rate and spend more time with it.

I am looking forward to participating in this group and maybe it will help me stick to my LOTR reading plan. It will be nice talking about each of the books and the movie in a bit more detail with other interested people. I hope more people find their way here.

Bucky

[lorien]

I started with the movies and that prepared me for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I did find some sections of those book very slow going in places. They were very long and involved and it would have helped if I had more background reading there as well. That is why I am looking forward to reading the whole series again and with a group. If I can pick up on some of the background with discussions of the readings, I think it would all make more sense to me.

My favorite book is the Hobbit. That one I could manage.

[luciadelabyss]

hello all!

I have serious intentions of revisiting Middle Earth...really love it..but I was distracted by the shinyness of the 6 new books I received for Christmas! I went to the B&N calendar sale Friday with the sole intention of finding the new Tolkien calendars. The prints in "Children of Hurin" are so beautiful! I didn't get the "Rise of the Witch King" one...not enough Nazgul for me. Now I have my new Tolkiensperation, and I will be around.

[niki]

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luciadelabyss wrote:
hello all!

I have serious intentions of revisiting Middle Earth...really love it..but I was distracted by the shinyness of the 6 new books I received for Christmas! I went to the B&N calendar sale Friday with the sole intention of finding the new Tolkien calendars. The prints in "Children of Hurin" are so beautiful! I didn't get the "Rise of the Witch King" one...not enough Nazgul for me. Now I have my new Tolkiensperation, and I will be around.

---

I've seen the "Children of Hurin" calendars but have the pictures in the book. I poked around for others on the online site but probably couldn't come up with a good search. It looks like you have found some and they are for sale at the store. Maybe I will make a trip there today. I have to get some walking miles on today and it is rainy!

[niki]

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leakybucket wrote:
I noticed that people have introduced themselves in the Tolkien group but many of those have either quit the BN boards altogether or have since joined in other more organized discussions. I don't know how many people are left who actually want to talk about LOTR, though there seems to be a respectable number of daily lurkers. So introduce yourself here even if it is just to say hi and we support you.

Bucky

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I'm certainly in. I even started with the reading of Tolkien's "On Fairy Tales"! For my new year exercise, I'm walking with Frodo at least as far as Rivendell and maybe all the way to Mount Doom. Now THAT's commitment!

[BarbaraN]

I've been trying to get something going in the SF group for a long time but there were never enough people interested in one thing to get a discussion group of more than two people talking about one book. Other people have tried with the same luck. Even the moderator tried and could get any sort of discussion going under the SF banner.

Besides I ordered a bunch of new LOTR related books, I've got my Annotated Hobbit and I've got the extended version of the LOTR movie! So I'm still here. We've got a rough schedule in place and we know what we are doing this month and next month, so we might as well get going "forgotten" or not! We just have to figure out how to tell the outside world we are here and still active.

[Fanuidhol]

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BarbaraN wrote:
I've been trying to get something going in the SF group for a long time but there were never enough people interested in one thing to get a discussion group of more than two people talking about one book. Other people have tried with the same luck. Even the moderator tried and could get any sort of discussion going under the SF banner.

Besides I ordered a bunch of new LOTR related books, I've got my Annotated Hobbit and I've got the extended version of the LOTR movie! So I'm still here. We've got a rough schedule in place and we know what we are doing this month and next month, so we might as well get going "forgotten" or not! We just have to figure out how to tell the outside world we are here and still active.

---

I first read LotR when I was about 15 years old. I am now pushing 50...I've been a fan of the Professor for a long time. Currently listening to The Silmarillion in the car, reading History of Middle-earth: Book of Lost Tales vol.I at lunch at work, reading History of the Hobbit vol. I and Annotated Hobbit at home. And I have to return Children of Hurin to the library tomorrow. I like to study Tolkien as a hobby, but I am not a scholar. I don't have the background for it.

I'm looking forward to participating when I can.

I'm always on the lookout for Tolkien books, so I'm curious, BarbaraN, what books are you getting?
Fan

[BarbaraN]

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Fanuidhol wrote:

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BarbaraN wrote:
I've been trying to get something going in the SF group for a long time but there were never enough people interested in one thing to get a discussion group of more than two people talking about one book. Other people have tried with the same luck. Even the moderator tried and could get any sort of discussion going under the SF banner.

Besides I ordered a bunch of new LOTR related books, I've got my Annotated Hobbit and I've got the extended version of the LOTR movie! So I'm still here. We've got a rough schedule in place and we know what we are doing this month and next month, so we might as well get going "forgotten" or not! We just have to figure out how to tell the outside world we are here and still active.

---

I first read LotR when I was about 15 years old. I am now pushing 50...I've been a fan of the Professor for a long time. Currently listening to The Silmarillion in the car, reading History of Middle-earth: Book of Lost Tales vol.I at lunch at work, reading History of the Hobbit vol. I and Annotated Hobbit at home. And I have to return Children of Hurin to the library tomorrow. I like to study Tolkien as a hobby, but I am not a scholar. I don't have the background for it.

I'm looking forward to participating when I can.

I'm always on the lookout for Tolkien books, so I'm curious, BarbaraN, what books are you getting?
Fan

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I think you probably have most everything I'm getting. I'm just building up my meager library with some basic books so I can be better prepared for the discussions. I finally decided to go ahead and get the Sibley Map Book, and I ordered the Hobbit's Travel Journal and Journeys of Frodo.

Most likely you have the rest--"The Complete Guide to Middle-earth" by Foster; Shipply - "Tolkien: Author of the Century"; the "Fiction of Tolkien" by Kocher; "Myth and Middle-earth" by Jones. Some of the others I have mentioned already.

I'll let you know about the Sibley "The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-Earth" when I get it.

[Fanuidhol]

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BarbaraN wrote:

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Fanuidhol wrote:

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BarbaraN wrote:
I've been trying to get something going in the SF group for a long time but there were never enough people interested in one thing to get a discussion group of more than two people talking about one book. Other people have tried with the same luck. Even the moderator tried and could get any sort of discussion going under the SF banner.

Besides I ordered a bunch of new LOTR related books, I've got my Annotated Hobbit and I've got the extended version of the LOTR movie! So I'm still here. We've got a rough schedule in place and we know what we are doing this month and next month, so we might as well get going "forgotten" or not! We just have to figure out how to tell the outside world we are here and still active.

---

I first read LotR when I was about 15 years old. I am now pushing 50...I've been a fan of the Professor for a long time. Currently listening to The Silmarillion in the car, reading History of Middle-earth: Book of Lost Tales vol.I at lunch at work, reading History of the Hobbit vol. I and Annotated Hobbit at home. And I have to return Children of Hurin to the library tomorrow. I like to study Tolkien as a hobby, but I am not a scholar. I don't have the background for it.

I'm looking forward to participating when I can.

I'm always on the lookout for Tolkien books, so I'm curious, BarbaraN, what books are you getting?
Fan

---

I think you probably have most everything I'm getting. I'm just building up my meager library with some basic books so I can be better prepared for the discussions. I finally decided to go ahead and get the Sibley Map Book, and I ordered the Hobbit's Travel Journal and Journeys of Frodo.

Most likely you have the rest--"The Complete Guide to Middle-earth" by Foster; Shipply - "Tolkien: Author of the Century"; the "Fiction of Tolkien" by Kocher; "Myth and Middle-earth" by Jones. Some of the others I have mentioned already.

I'll let you know about the Sibley "The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-Earth" when I get it.

---

BarbaraN, no, I don't have all of the books you mention. Tom Shippey is a well-known Tolkien scholar. (He's interviewed in the JRRT biography in the Fellowship extended version extras.) I read Author of the Century some years ago, but I don't have it. I do have a similar work of his called Road to Middle-earth.
Foster amd Kocher are GREAT additions to a Tolkien library. I don't have Myth and Middle-earth by Jones. But from the reviews I read, I probably have similar works by other authors. Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth by Marjorie Burns and Tolkien in the Land of Heroes by Anne Petty.
I'm anxious to hear about Sibley's book of maps!
Fan

[BarbaraN]

I started reading "Myth and Middle-earth" by Jones and I'm finding it very informative. After all Tolkien was an expert in Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon myths and they greatly influenced him in his construction of his new type of fantasy. It is very readable and covers a lot of the mythic connection I am not familiar with. I think it would be too lightweight for you. I am not reading it sequentially but just dipping into it as it interests me. I just read the chapter on Dragons (I'm getting very partial to dragons!) and it covered the roots of Bilbo and Smaug in Beowulf and the legends of Sigurd and how they related.

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Fanuidhol wrote:

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BarbaraN wrote:

---

Fanuidhol wrote:

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BarbaraN wrote:
I've been trying to get something going in the SF group for a long time but there were never enough people interested in one thing to get a discussion group of more than two people talking about one book. Other people have tried with the same luck. Even the moderator tried and could get any sort of discussion going under the SF banner.

Besides I ordered a bunch of new LOTR related books, I've got my Annotated Hobbit and I've got the extended version of the LOTR movie! So I'm still here. We've got a rough schedule in place and we know what we are doing this month and next month, so we might as well get going "forgotten" or not! We just have to figure out how to tell the outside world we are here and still active.

---

I first read LotR when I was about 15 years old. I am now pushing 50...I've been a fan of the Professor for a long time. Currently listening to The Silmarillion in the car, reading History of Middle-earth: Book of Lost Tales vol.I at lunch at work, reading History of the Hobbit vol. I and Annotated Hobbit at home. And I have to return Children of Hurin to the library tomorrow. I like to study Tolkien as a hobby, but I am not a scholar. I don't have the background for it.

I'm looking forward to participating when I can.

I'm always on the lookout for Tolkien books, so I'm curious, BarbaraN, what books are you getting?
Fan

---

I think you probably have most everything I'm getting. I'm just building up my meager library with some basic books so I can be better prepared for the discussions. I finally decided to go ahead and get the Sibley Map Book, and I ordered the Hobbit's Travel Journal and Journeys of Frodo.

Most likely you have the rest--"The Complete Guide to Middle-earth" by Foster; Shipply - "Tolkien: Author of the Century"; the "Fiction of Tolkien" by Kocher; "Myth and Middle-earth" by Jones. Some of the others I have mentioned already.

I'll let you know about the Sibley "The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-Earth" when I get it.

---

BarbaraN, no, I don't have all of the books you mention. Tom Shippey is a well-known Tolkien scholar. (He's interviewed in the JRRT biography in the Fellowship extended version extras.) I read Author of the Century some years ago, but I don't have it. I do have a similar work of his called Road to Middle-earth.
Foster amd Kocher are GREAT additions to a Tolkien library. I don't have Myth and Middle-earth by Jones. But from the reviews I read, I probably have similar works by other authors. Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth by Marjorie Burns and Tolkien in the Land of Heroes by Anne Petty.
I'm anxious to hear about Sibley's book of maps!
Fan

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[BarbaraN]

We will be getting our own Tolkien board and moderator in February and will start by reading The Hobbit. In the mean time, if you are new to the group, introduce yourself and join in some of our pre-start discussions. Right now we are mixed in with the F&SF posts but search out the label LOTR or Tolkien in front of the topic header.

[Nadine]

Great! We are officially starting with The Hobbit then. It is time for me to get going and start reading/listening to the Hobbit. I try to do both.

[ABI]

Hello All! I haven't read LOTR since 5th grade...lol, but I've read them..maybe three times in all. So that counts for something! *laughs* Anyway, yes, I'll be discussing the books as often as possible (I'm a student, I have somewhat limited freetime). I fell in love with Tolkien at 8 and cannot imagine a world where I might not sneak off to Middle Earth occasionally in my daydreams...especially during math class So I'm glad to be here with everyone!

[ravensilverlig…]

Well, I have read and re-read The Hobbit somewhere around...25 times? But I read the LOTR trilogy twice...about 15 years ago. Now that I've found discussions on the books, I am going to re-read and discuss, so that I can more fully appreciate them. Sheesh, that sounds so lame. But there it is.

[paulgoatallen]

Hello everyone and welcome to all things Tolkien. My name is Paul Goat Allen and I'll be your moderator for these discussions. The one thing in particular that I'm personally looking forward to is not only talking about the intricacies of The Hobbit and LOTR but also discussing the awe-inspiring influence of Tolkien on contemporary fantasy. As a full-time book reviewer for the last 11 or 12 years, I am continually amazed – and I'll refrain from using the word "rip-off" because that's too strong – at how so many contemporary epic fantasy utilize similar characters, plot lines, themes, imagery, etc. to LOTR.

As we progress in our discussions, I'll start a thread spefically about this – it's really mind-blowing if you think about how one author could singlehandedly redefine and continue to transform a genre with one (three-volume) novel more than 50 years after it was first published. It's certainly arguable that no one novel ever influenced its genre like LOTR..
Paul

[BarbaraN]

Are you going to be covering ALL 5,000 books that you have reviewed!?

We actually did have a thread started on the the influence of Tolkien on Fantasy & Science Fiction but this informal group has been knocking around somewhat directionless for the past two months. Jessica did her best to sort us out when she moved us to our permanent home but we literally have a few (lots) of loose ends. Would be best if you started your own thread in your own way. The old one didn't get too far. The existing one is at:
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board/message?board.id=tolkien&thread.id=32&jump=true

Some of these old threads should now be allowed to die a peaceful death at the bottom of the pile.

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paulgoatallen wrote:
Hello everyone and welcome to all things Tolkien. My name is Paul Goat Allen and I'll be your moderator for these discussions. The one thing in particular that I'm personally looking forward to is not only talking about the intricacies of The Hobbit and LOTR but also discussing the awe-inspiring influence of Tolkien on contemporary fantasy. As a full-time book reviewer for the last 11 or 12 years, I am continually amazed – and I'll refrain from using the word "rip-off" because that's too strong – at how so many contemporary epic fantasy utilize similar characters, plot lines, themes, imagery, etc. to LOTR.

As we progress in our discussions, I'll start a thread spefically about this – it's really mind-blowing if you think about how one author could singlehandedly redefine and continue to transform a genre with one (three-volume) novel more than 50 years after it was first published. It's certainly arguable that no one novel ever influenced its genre like LOTR..
Paul

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Message Edited by BarbaraN on 01-23-2008 06:52 PM

[oldBPLstackden…]

I already introduced myself { at too great length, I'm afraid } in the "A Christmas Carol" discussion- but I want to talk about my personal experience with "The Hobbit" { and J.R.R. Tolkien's works in general }...I first read "The Hobbit" when I was in the Third Grade of Elementary School { this would have been 1965-66, almost thirty years after the book was first published }...I was immediately transported, by the first paragraph, even, to a place I had never been before and was instantly enchanted by a story which seemed unlike any other story I had ever read before...
I actually greedily consumed the entire book in one sitting from afternoon into the evening...And then returned to read the story many times over again... { as an aside, at one point, I found an older copy, an earlier edition, of the book in the school library, which still contained the original, unrevised account of how Bilbo obtained The Ring from Gollum- and the watercolor prints that Tolkien had painted himself for the illustrations...after I returned that copy to the school, it vanished, never to be seen again... by me, at any rate }
...At the time, I had a friend who remarked something like: "You know- this all all { meaning hobbits and Middle-Earth } seems based on Tolkien's own reference point of living in England" { although those weren't the exact words he used } ...I begrudgingly agreed with him- and yet at the same time, in my own mind, I disagreed- the world of Bilbo and Gandalf and their Adventure only seemed to me to refer back to itself- its own creation, of a world that never existed anywhere, but seemed so wondrous that one would want it to exist in its own reality....
A short time later, { in the Fourth Grade } I went on to read "The Lord Of The Rings" and, subsequently, returned to read that book many times over...{ at this time, I also began C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" series, and enjoyed other works of Fantasy- but none ever held quite the same degree of intense fascination and believability for me }...
Eventually, { by Junior High School } I also found "The Tolkien Reader" with Tolkien's Short Stories, and his Essay "On Fairy Stories"...I even wound up sending away for Tolkien Society "fanzines"- But I was never a true "Scholar"...I attempted to read "The Silmarillion" eventually, but I found it was just not as "accessable" to me as the previous books had been...
I'm already pushing past Fifty now...About ten years ago, I read "The Lord Of The Rings" aloud { from beginning to end } to my then teenage daughter...In more recent years, I also read "The Hobbit" aloud to my wife...I resisted seeing the Peter Jackson Movie versions for a long time, but did in the end watch them, together with my wife, on DVDs.

[love4books]

Welcome OldBPLstackden, what did you think of the movies after you watched them? I loved the Hobbit and started the Lord of the Rings. When the movies came out on DVD my husband said I just had to watch them as they are soooooo good. I told him I would only watch the first movie since that is the only book that I completed reading in the trilogy. However, I didn't even get 15 minutes into the movie and said I couldn't watch it anymore as the characters in the movie were nothing like I had pictured in my mind.
I know that many people I know really liked the movies however, for me I just wanted to remember the characters from the books. Since you had admired the books so much when you were a child I was just curious as to your take on the movies?
love4books

[BarbaraN]

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oldBPLstackdenizen wrote:
I already introduced myself { at too great length, I'm afraid } in the "A Christmas Carol" discussion- but I want to talk about my personal experience with "The Hobbit" { and J.R.R. Tolkien's works in general }...I first read "The Hobbit" when I was in the Third Grade of Elementary School { this would have been 1965-66, almost thirty years after the book was first published }...I was immediately transported, by the first paragraph, even, to a place I had never been before and was instantly enchanted by a story which seemed unlike any other story I had ever read before...
I actually greedily consumed the entire book in one sitting from afternoon into the evening...And then returned to read the story many times over again... { as an aside, at one point, I found an older copy, an earlier edition, of the book in the school library, which still contained the original, unrevised account of how Bilbo obtained The Ring from Gollum- and the watercolor prints that Tolkien had painted himself for the illustrations...after I returned that copy to the school, it vanished, never to be seen again... by me, at any rate }
...At the time, I had a friend who remarked something like: "You know- this all all { meaning hobbits and Middle-Earth } seems based on Tolkien's own reference point of living in England" { although those weren't the exact words he used } ...I begrudgingly agreed with him- and yet at the same time, in my own mind, I disagreed- the world of Bilbo and Gandalf and their Adventure only seemed to me to refer back to itself- its own creation, of a world that never existed anywhere, but seemed so wondrous that one would want it to exist in its own reality....
A short time later, { in the Fourth Grade } I went on to read "The Lord Of The Rings" and, subsequently, returned to read that book many times over...{ at this time, I also began C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" series, and enjoyed other works of Fantasy- but none ever held quite the same degree of intense fascination and believability for me }...
Eventually, { by Junior High School } I also found "The Tolkien Reader" with Tolkien's Short Stories, and his Essay "On Fairy Stories"...I even wound up sending away for Tolkien Society "fanzines"- But I was never a true "Scholar"...I attempted to read "The Silmarillion" eventually, but I found it was just not as "accessable" to me as the previous books had been...
I'm already pushing past Fifty now...About ten years ago, I read "The Lord Of The Rings" aloud { from beginning to end } to my then teenage daughter...In more recent years, I also read "The Hobbit" aloud to my wife...I resisted seeing the Peter Jackson Movie versions for a long time, but did in the end watch them, together with my wife, on DVDs.

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THAT is quite an impressive history! It is probably time you did get back to Tolkien. I'm just a "Tolkien Reader" and read The Hobbit and LOTR when the movie came out. We haven't officially started but some of us are reading and commenting on Chapter 1. So pull out your old Hobbit and join us. I'm sure you are going to have a lot to contribute.