I have rarely had so much FUN with a book. The last time I read them I was 4 1/2 feet tall and weighed 82 pounds, and rode to school on a yellow bus. Come to think of it, I probably read some of these books ON the school bus itself.
So - woah. I am completely LOVING reading it again - after so long - as an adult. Parts of it are so complex (the historical information, the long lines of names and events, etc.) I am shocked that I was able to tolerate much of it. (However, I also read All the President's Men when I was 11 years old, and somehow kept track of Howard Hunt and John Dean and Haldeman, and memos and unwilling witnesses...)
I love looking at the maps. I love the huge indexes in my book where I look stuff up. I love the appendices.
And the story ...
I am loving getting to know the story again. It has reiterated, for me, how astonishing the films are. How much they were able to get in.
For example - the incident at "Weathertop", with the Wraiths coming upon the Hobbits. The Hobbits are then saved at the last minute by Aragorn, waving a flaming piece of firewood at the Wraiths. That scene was so truthfully rendered in the movie - and by that I mean - Peter Jackson respected the original text so much, he loved the original tale so much, that he didn't add too much to it. He didn't mess it up. The only thing he added was that Aragorn took off for a look-around, and the Hobbits lit up a fire - which attracted the Wraiths' attention. In the book, as they climb up Weathertop, Frodo begins to have an overwhelming sense of dread. He feels that something terrible is coming. Really what is going on is that the Ring is starting to work on him. The Ring is starting to sap him, and starting to make him more aware of the enemy.
I suppose Jackson didn't want the Ring to start dominating Frodo too early in the trilogy - since it's rather difficult to sustain, cinematically - especially over 3 separate movies.
But anyway - I am having the best time. With this beloved book from my childhood.
I have just finished the section where they stay at Lorien, and Frodo looks in Galadriel's mirror - and the elves give them boats to start off on their journey down-river.
I can't get enough.
Posted by sheilaI'm having quite a bit of fun reading them for the first time, but I am finding the writing style a little hard to follow.
That, and the need to consult online references just to find out what a Numenorian is.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at December 29, 2003 6:02 PMI'm getting there, though. I'm getting there. I don't find the style itself hard to follow. I like his writing very much. It is like I can SEE what he describes. It's just that I have to remind myself 5 times what the significance is of Elendil and Gil-galad. But it's starting to sink in.
It's certainly not intuitive knowledge yet, though - like some of the other readers who visit my blog definitely have.
Posted by: red at December 29, 2003 6:08 PMI have the opposite problem with the books. I skidded out of FOTR when I was 11 or so, finally read it as a teen. Since then I have read the trilogy about once a year. After so very many re-readings, I find that my eyes skip over Tolkein's rich descriptions.
I find that Tolkien does wonderfully with the slower pace of a book on tape. I can't skid out or skip ahead or jump over the middle of a paragraph, and so I wallow in the prose.
ps, I could have sworn that Merry and Pippin had cooked something on or near Weathertop.
Ted K.
Posted by: Ted K. at December 29, 2003 6:57 PMted - you mean in the book?? let me check
Posted by: red at December 29, 2003 8:58 PMTed -
You are amazing. You Tolkien whizzes AMAZE ME.
they DID build a fire - only not up on the crest, as shown in the film.
here is the passage:
"Down in the lowest and most sheltered corner of the dell they lit a fire and prepared a meal. The shades of evening began to fall, and it grew cold. They were suddenly aware of great hunger, for they had not eaten anything since breakfast; but they dared not make more than a frugal supper. The lands ahead were empty of all save birds and beasts, unfriendly places deserted by all the races of the world."
but the Wraiths do not come then - it is not like they are immediately attracted by the fire.
the Hobbits and Aragorn (who is only known then as Strider) sit around the fire and talk and Sam wants to hear about the elves, so Aragorn tells the long tale of Tinuviel, and the story of the plight of the elves.
and it is after Strider ends his story, that Frodo again feels this overwhelming dread -- and all of the Wraiths appear.
so yes - there is a fire, my friend.
Posted by: red at December 29, 2003 9:11 PMI'm re-reading the trilogy now as well. As I am, and indeed when I went to see ROTK again this weekend, I've been thinking to myself that I wish there was a way to erase the memory of having read a book or watched a film, so you could experience the excitement of it for the first time all over again.
Posted by: Emily at December 30, 2003 11:06 AM