What are You Reading Now?
- Thread starter jpmcwjr
- Start date
Before I leave this mortal coil I have to read the Lord of the Rings.... I feel like the only person on the planet that has never read it. It is not that I dislike long reads as I have read all of the "Game of Thrones," Edward Gibbons' "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," and Shelby Foote's three volume trilogy, "The Civil War: A Narrative."
But so many people have been impacted by Tolkien's classic
Is there any advice you might give someone who is considering "diving in" to the book(s)?
It's only three books. I've read them several times and thinking of reading it again. It's a great adventure and TolkIen is incredibly creative in his story. I don't think you'd be sorry for spending the time.
Thanks Larry. You've not steered me wrong yet................
My wife watched me unbox three Pearl Harbor books and she asked, oh my, how did that story end?
I said with two mushroom clouds and a surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay!
Would we do that today, or give Tojo and Yamamoto all of Hawaii, Midway, Wake, and the Philippines?
We thought there was too much ocean for them to dare.
I read Rocket Men, it was an interesting book. I learned a lot about the mining town he grew up in. What a rough way to make a living.
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As for chosing to going to the moon and the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, would we do that again today?
America used to design atom bombs with slide rules and sent a dozen men to walk on the moon using captured Nazi rocket scientists and IBM computers.
Back then we always let the world know ,
we would pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, and oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
I hope and trust we still would.
But we can’t count on the Japanese to sneak up and bomb Pearl Harbor early one Sunday morning and forget to blow up the oil tanks on the shore, to unite us all in a righteous crusade for freedom, not only for America but the entire world.
Why didn’t they destroy the oil tank farm?
Did the sneaky sons of bitches think we’d not build more ships, or were they planning to use them?
When I visited Pearl Harbor about thirty years ago that oil tank farm was still there, and onshore there were lots of Japanese couples on their honeymoons.
Maybe after the last of the Greatest Generation die off I’ll forgive and forget, but that’s an awhile yet, you know?
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Great to hear you are thinking of reading Tolkien's masterpiece! I would add: if the size of the book is daunting, get hold of it in it's three parts as separate volumes. This can have a surprising impact on how you subconsciously perceive the reading and can be helpful for people who are intimidated by larger tomes.
The only other thing I can suggest is to set aside any preconceptions about the work and enjoy reading each page. Tolkien is sometimes criticized for placing too heavy a focus on things like language and landscape. I think that this completely misses the mark. What Tolkien did was create a rich, beautiful world which the reader can explore and enjoy. The man spent much of his life inhabiting this world himself, whether through the act of writing or through the imagination and the books are an opportunity for us to enter that world ourselves. I think of reading it as a long, steady walk, similiar to the journey that the Fellowship themselves undertake. Just be sure to enjoy the scenery along the way.
Thank you for the suggestions. The size is not really a problem as I enjoy long reads.
I have been digging around for past couple of days on the material and it seems many suggest first reading "The Hobbit" for laying the foundation of the Lord of the Rings books. Would you concur with that??
You absolutely should begin with "The Hobbit". It's not long and it's an important introduction to the world Tolkien created.
Pipe Smoke, by Matthew Schultz
Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Pipe Smoke is a collection of fourteen free-verse poems, each composed of fourteen lines, contemplating the antiquated act of smoking a briarwood tobacco pipe. While some readers might consider each poem an independent rumination, others may...
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"Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers" by John Gierach, published in 2020. Mr. Gierach, who passed in October of last year at the age of 77, was my favorite fly-fishing writer, and this was his second-to-last book. His pithy prose just got better and better as he aged, and there will not be another to rival him.
It's not essential to read before LotR but LotR is a sequel to it. The main plot points of The Hobbit are summarized within LotR. The Hobbit is excellent but if you read it first do keep in mind that it was originally written for a child audience and Tolkien's world and writing style had not yet been fully developed.
This looks great but it's a shame they don't ship overseas. Have you enjoyed it?View attachment 375381Pipe Smoke, by Matthew Schultz
Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Pipe Smoke is a collection of fourteen free-verse poems, each composed of fourteen lines, contemplating the antiquated act of smoking a briarwood tobacco pipe. While some readers might consider each poem an independent rumination, others may...
I wrote it!
It is a shame they don't ship overseas! There is an option to download the pdf.
Yes! Read the Hobbit first. What I was referring to was a four book set, I mistakenly said it was three. The set I have includes the Hobbit and the three other books, the fellowship of the rings, The two towers and the return of the king. I'd recommend the four book set.
