Tolkien Re-Read, Anyone?
After my summary of Lord of the Rings for my daughter, I was immediately struck by the desire to revisit certain scenes -- Bilbo sneaking into Smaug's lair, the battle on the bridge at Khazad-dum, the Entmoot, the Battle of the Pellenor Fields, Sam and Frodo atop Mount Doom at "the end of all things." After putting my daughter to bed (which takes a considerable amount of time, mind you) I went to grab the DVD's and queue up some of those scenes. Then I stopped myself:
"Man, you have the books right there. Go get them. When was the last time you actually read them?" I couldn't give myself an answer, which bothered me. Once upon a time, I'd reread them almost annually, but I don't think I've actually read them since I did a re-read before the films came out.
Crap, that's nine years ago.
Hence, my idea: a public and communal re-read of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We could set up some sort of schedule, then engage in multiple posts across multiple blogs on a somewhat regular basis. Anyone interested?
"Man, you have the books right there. Go get them. When was the last time you actually read them?" I couldn't give myself an answer, which bothered me. Once upon a time, I'd reread them almost annually, but I don't think I've actually read them since I did a re-read before the films came out.
Crap, that's nine years ago.
Hence, my idea: a public and communal re-read of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We could set up some sort of schedule, then engage in multiple posts across multiple blogs on a somewhat regular basis. Anyone interested?
I am re-reading The Hobbit aloud to my son right now. We are about a quarter of the way through it. I haven't read the book for ~20 years. While I am enjoying it, it's not quite as good as I remember it being... The winky-wink English preciousness permeating the book is getting a bit annoying to me.
ReplyDeleteAs far as doing a careful re-reading of early British fantasy I'd probably rather spend the time on Andrew Lang or Lord Dunsany. Actually I'd REALLY like to do William Hope Hodgson, but he's not everyone's cup-o-tea.
I'm willing to give it a shot. Finding time to read is a bit tough, but so long as we aren't too overly ambitious with the schedule, count me in.
ReplyDeleteIt'll give me fodder for my blog, too. I need to finish up several posts I started that are haniging in limbo.
I used to reread them annually around Christmas, but have slipped in recent years...time to pick them up once more!
ReplyDeleteI just to reread them every few years or so, but like you I stopped around the time of the movie release. I think I'n due as well. I would like to read new stuff as well, so perhaps a chapter a week would work? To make it relevant to the blog, I could mine each chapter for previously unrealized gaming inspiration (which might be tough, given how deep the books already influence the hobby).
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, I'd be interested.
I'm in...it's been, like, forever since my last reading. But, like the first commenter, I've lost my taste for The Hobbit. Still, if you all want that as a read, I'll endure.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we need a joint blog where all can post and reply to posts along with commentary on our own blogs. Bombadil's Bloggers, perhaps?
Awesome! Looks like we have a critical mass of folks who are interested. I'll draw up a tentative schedule and post it as a new post tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWhat does everyone thing of the new blog idea? Should we do that? My original thought was do have a "featured post" about the reread. This post would rotate amongst our respective blogs. Anyone would be free do do their own as well, but we'd all link to the feature post whenever it was posted.
Bombail's Bloggers may be too good a name to pass up, though.
@cyclopeatron -- It's been forever since I've read Dunsany, and I've never read Lang or Hodgson. Maybe that could be our post Tolkien read?