The Lord of The Rings - The Next Book (or three) To Be Added to my Recommended Reading List
Worn and Tattered
I've been reading to my children frequently. Not every night, but more often than not. We started with The Hobbit and are now on The Lord of The Rings. I'm holding up our copy. It's a mass-market paperback that has seen better days. It's been read many times. It was a gift to my wife, so she has read it. My oldest son has read it several times. And now I am reading it out loud to all the children.
One Book Or Three?
I think that I will include this on my list as both one book and three. The Lord Of The Rings is made up of:
- The Fellowship of The Ring
- The Two Towers
- The Return of the King
So, when I make up my list I will include those three titles, as well as "The Lord of The Rings", which is comprised of those three.
Speak, "friend" and enter!
I strongly dislike when summaries of books give away too much of the plot. I will be learning the art of writing about books without trying to tell the story again. This can be done. I can write about how the book makes me feel, what it reminds me of, my observations on characters or certain details. For a book like The Lord of The Rings, this can be done thousands of times.
This evening we read about how the Fellowship entered the Mines of Moria. I enjoy how even in very serious parts of the story, Tolkien injects humor in a natural way. You find yourself oscillating between chuckling to yourself and being gripped by the action of the story. This takes considerable skill. At this point, I am much more a reader than an author, but I am noticing things that may eventually contribute to my becoming a better writer.
I enjoyed the revelation of the "simple riddle" on the door of the Mines of Moria. I notice how Gandolf often speaks with exclamation! Gandolf's impatience with Merry and Pippin is somehow endearing instead of making him look like jerk. This is perhaps because he acknowledges their contributions or comes back to them with a kind word.
The List, so far
- The Hobbit
- The Fellowship of The Ring
- The Two Towers
- The Return of the King
- The Lord of The Rings
Right now, my list just looks like a jotting down of J.R.R. Tolkien's most famous works. It will change. I expect most of my list to be non-fiction. I just picked up from the local bookstore a copy of Bulletproof Diet by Dave Asprey. It's a book, but completely different than the books that I've been reading to my children. It may make it onto my list of recommended books. I'm probably going to be adding a book to the list most every day. I won't be reading a book every day, but since I read a lot in my youth I can continue to add books that I've already read to the list for a long while yet.
I wonder if I should break my list up into sections by creating categories. I probably will.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time,