following the Fellowship, TWO TOWERS begins post 281

[wombatclay]

As requested by several of the pagan mamas... we'd like to start reading the Fellowship of the Ring as a group. Right now I think the idea is to read one chapter a week and discuss, with the first chapter/week beginning on Sept 22 (Frodo and Bilbo's shared birthday). A list of all the chapters in Fellowship of the Ring can be found here but if you navigate further into that site there are chapter summaries so "spoiler alert" applies (if you don't know the book/movie).

There's plenty of information about JRR Tolkien on the web, but the wikipedia page is a good place to start. There is also the Lord of the Rings wiki page.

For more information on Tolkien and his works, there is the Tolkien Library and the Tolkien Society.

[eilonwy]

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[binkin]

Oh, I'm all over this. It's about time for my yearly reread anyway. I mean, hello? It's tattooed on the back of my neck!

[BookGoddess]

I've read the LOTR several times but count me in.

[Maiasaura]

i'm here! although technically i cheated and started early, because i'm in school and don't get to pleasure-read much. i was afraid i'd be way behind. i might have been able to handle a chapter a week, though, if i'd known!
i'm on page....oh, i dunno, like 84 or something, so i'm not too far ahead. i'll keep up with y'all someway.

[Maiasaura]

Originally Posted by binkin

Oh, I'm all over this. It's about time for my yearly reread anyway. I mean, hello? It's tattooed on the back of my neck!

that's gorgeous! now...what does it say?

[wombatclay]

Beautiful tattoo! I'm drooling. It says "Seraphim"? S i/e R a P H N/M ? I have a smaller piece (in elvish) on my wrist. My wristlette translates (phoenetically at least) to "crows".

BookGoddess- I'd hoped you'd join us... I saw you posts in last year's LoTR book group. I'm also a big Tolkien junkie. The first time I heard the stories I cried for a week that it was over and as soon as they let me into the "real" library collection I started devouring anything and everything Tolkien related. I haven't posted on any LotR sites in years though... not since the movies were first being discussed ages ago.

Mercyn- I knew so many mamas were uber busy and I thought going a chapter at a time would give quick readers more discussion time and slower readers a chance to stay with the group. Some of the chapters are pretty short though so if we all agree maybe some weeks would be two chapters? But that would totally depend on how people felt... I really want everyone to feel welcome.

And I know that these days I can read the entire series in a weekend just because I've read them so many times before (1 or more times a year from the first time my dad read then to my bro and I when I was 4-5yo). I'm looking forward to going more slowly and really examining the story as it unfolds... especially since there are parts I often skip (not so much in Fellowship, but later) and I need the peer support to dig into those feelings/responses.

[nummies]

I will join in! This is the first time that I will read these books! I have seen the movies but have always wanted to read them. Thanks for starting this!

binkin- What a beautiful tattoo! I love it.

[aweynsayl]

huzzah! i had hoped to have finished the silmarillion, but it's not gonna happen..... it really has helped though! and i'm trying to decide how far behind it will make me if i finish it and start fellowship.... mmmm.

thanks for doing this, clay!
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[eilonwy]

I'm a pretty fast reader; I'm confident that despite the four children and the cyberschooling and the rest of the miserable crap going on, I could finish the entire series in a week or two. I like the chapter a week idea, though-- it will give me time to read them with BeanBean. I'm not sure how interested he'll be (he seems to prefer books with lots of girls in them ) but it's worth a shot.

[Maiasaura]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

it will give me time to read them with BeanBean. I'm not sure how interested he'll be (he seems to prefer books with lots of girls in them ) but it's worth a shot.

LOL lots of girls-- how old is he? mine's in a kind of an anti-girl stage, but then he just did the thing where you twist the apple stem once for each alphabet letter and came up with "Niah? hmm, oh, she's cute!" (a girl in his class). he's going to be 8 at the end of january.

i would love to read these with him, but we're deep into harry potter at the moment! i'm glad to read those over again, too! did any of you read those with your kids? at 7? did you read the whole series? i can't remember enough to know if 5, 6, and 7 will be too much for ds. we're in 4 right now.

he's seen the LOTR movies though! had trouble with some of the violent parts, but mostly hung through. the books shouldn't be too bad, but he'll have to wait till we finish HP. unless-- if y'all think the later HP books are too much, and LOTR is not, maybe i'll distract him with LOTR after HP4.

[eilonwy]

We've listened to all of the Harry Potter books on audiodisc. Bean was somewhat disturbed by the end of book four, as I recall, and there were parts of five that really bothered him but both six and seven were all right. Weird, I know. I can't remember how old he was, though. He's going to be six in November.

His thing for girls is... um, consistant. A few weeks ago I got Pride and Prejudice from Netflix. I put it into the DVD player thinking he'd pass right out, bored stiff in five minutes... but he watched the entire movie with rapt attention. "Did you like that?" "Oh yeah!" he said. "What did you like about it?" "Did you see all those girls?! They were beautiful!" : He looooooves girls, especially girls with dark hair. He's quite the ladies man, too. It's an absolute riot, and borderline disturbing to watch truth be told.

As to violence, BeanBean does not mind fantasy violence, but he finds more realistic violence/emotional disturbance to be quite upsetting. For example: If you've seen the version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe which came out a few years back, you'll know that it opens with an air raid on London during WWII. This scene really upset Bean-- "They're dropping bombs on the city! Bombs can kill people, that's AWFUL!" There's a lot more violence in that book-- in fact it ends with another war-- but none of that bothered him in the slightest because it was so fantastic. Wars with lasers and space ships or centaurs and dragons don't phase him, but wars with fighter jets and bombs and guns really upset him. Swords can go over either way (he initially objected to my purchase of The Princess Bride because Westley was holding a sword on the cover).

Interestingly, Miss BooBah is just the other way around. Fantasy violence is MUCH more frightening to her than guns and bombs and "realistic" violence. She found the Sith in Star Wars absolutely *terrifying*. Bean was like, "But that's not real, it's a fictional character, it doesn't exist..." didn't matter, she threw a fit until Bean agreed just to watch the pod races over and over again.

[binkin]

wombat's got it, seraphim it is -- mostly because I think they're pretty badass and the tatt's kind of for protection. Glad so many like it.

Happy Bilbo/Frodo birthday and Autumnal Equinox! I can't wait to get started, but of course I've got work to catch up on since I took yesterday off. Blah.

I've got a copy of the Silmarillion en route, so I can finally have one to keep. I find it really fascinating, personally, because I write fantasy and world-building is one of my favorite parts. Nothing like creating a mythology....

Oh, I also play LoTRO sometimes -- anyone else? I'm on the RP server, Landroval, and I've got a few characters. I like being a Hobbit. That's party why I like the start of fall so very much; it encourages Hobbitesque behaviors, and makes me wish even more that I lived in a Hobbit-hole.

[wombatclay]

Mmmmm... hobbit holes! There were some visuals in the movies that were really off from my mental vision but the hobbit holes were perfect.

Happy Birthday All! I'll be back later with opening info... but the girls are going nuts in the kitchen so I've got a possible mess happening.

Binkin- It's gorgeous! Did you draw it yourself? I'll admit I cheated and pulled out my RotK to double check the letters (and vowels... I'm rotten at figuring out where the vowels go ).

[binkin]

Alas, no, I didn't draw it myself. I have a wonderful tattoo artist, though. This is my other tattoo, not really relevant, but uh... I like it.

Regarding the movies: I hated the first one when I saw it initially but have grown to enjoy them as a separate kind of thing. That said, I do think they got Hobbit-holes right, too. Time to go eat second breakfast for me....

[LadyAlathia]

Ooh, yay! I wanna play!

I've already read Fellowship this year, but one more time upon the hundreds can't hurt.

Oh, 18 years of obsession... now time to pass it on to MY little one. My father started me on The Hobbit when I was four years old... it can't hurt to read Fellowship to my one month old, right? ::

Best. Line. Ever.: "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

[aweynsayl]

happy birthday, frodo and bilbo (and my dh)!
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[wombatclay]

CHAPTER ONE - A LONG EXPECTED PARTY

Soooo... Happy Birthday Bilbo and Frodo!

For those who haven't read the Hobbit (which really isn't necessary to "get" the LotR, though it's a fun children's story with good "chapter book" breaks... Bilbo gets knocked out a lot ), the title of this chapter is a play on the title of the first chapter of the Hobbit... "An Unexpected Party".

In that chapter we meet Bilbo Baggins, learn that hobbits Do Not like adventure (dirty uncomfortable things ), and find Gandalf setting Bilbo up for an adventure "for his own good"... Gandalf informs a group of dwarves that Bilbo is a burglar and they should hire him to assist them in their quest to regain their kingdom from a dragon. So Bilbo has an adventure in spite of himself, finds the Ring under a mountain, and returns to the Shire.

If you're curious about the Hobbit there's a nice synopsis here. That site also digs a bit into the differences between the Middle Earth of the Hobbit and the Middle Earth of the Fellowship. Again, not really important for understanding the LotR though knowing the Hobbit does add humour/meaning to some comments and moments in the Fellowship.

[Maiasaura]

i didn't even notice that about the chapter title till you mentioned it! i thought it vaguely sounded familiar!

you know what....i forgot about this. a LOOOOONG time ago, after i'd read this series for the first time, i got a book at the library called "Bored of the Rings", which was a spoof in one small volume. it was hilarious. Frodo was called Frito, Bilbo was called Dildo, and all i else remember about it is they went to sleep one night in the forest, and got intentionally snared by a plant which ended up being a hickey plant, that left marks all over the party

eta: i can't believe i found this. i got curious after i posted: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings

[aweynsayl]

ok, that's funny, cause i just popped on here to share that i just had a google ad (freaky stuff, that) for MST3K downloadables for the LOTR flicks.... i'm SO going to have to find time for that!!!