Month: May 2010

The Lord of the Rings Read-Along: The Final Installment

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Well, the Lord of the Rings Read-Along is finished. I re-read all three books and felt nostalgic about each and every one, found something new to love in each, and even came across a few things I had over looked in previous readings.

I thought about doing a review but then decided not too. A lot of people participating in the read-along wrote some great reviews and I don’t even know where to start with a review (it would have been more like a thesis than a review) so that idea was quickly thrown out. I thought about not posting anything but since I did posts for each of the others, and I like things in even numbers, I decided to do one final goodbye to the Lord of Rings after all.

So, I give you Hobbit Holes!!!

My city has some great architecture and my neighborhood in particular has some truly beautiful buildings. On one street not too far from our house there are a few little entrances that have always made me smile and make me think of Bilbo, Sam, and Frodo. I, with the help of my husband and his trusty blackberry, took a few photos to show you these little places that always make me smile.

Enjoy.

The Sunday Salon

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Is it just me or does anyone else out there have trouble believing it’s already May?

The round up this week. I read:

Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick

It’s the third book in the Pendragon’s Banner trilogy and I can honestly say I’m sorry to see this story end. I enjoyed all three books immensely and did take the last one a bit slow and it is a 648 page door stopper of a book so it took me a second to read.

The April round up. I read:

Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

A Corpse at St. Andrews Chapel by Mel Starr

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley – DNF

The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Connor McNees

Pendragon’s Banner by Helen Hollick

Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick

I’m currently reading The Ark by Boyd Morrison which is moving really fast.

I came across a funny story on NPR recently — What Does It Take for You to Give Up on a Book? It’s a 17 minute interview (You know NPR, they actually talk.) with The Chicago Tribune’s cultural critic, Julia Keller, in which she talks about her struggle with Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. I didn’t get a chance to listen to the whole interview (my player is having fits today and the other laptop is in use by the hubby) but I did get to read the two articles — When to give up on a book and Reader say when.

My experience with Wolf Hall was much the same. I struggled through it and while I was glad to have finished it, I was also GLAD to have FINALLY finished it. My review is here if you’re interested. I took the book with me on a 48 hour business trip and if I had taken another book with me, I would have packed this one in the suitcase and probably forgotten about it. Since it was the only book I had, and books in airports are a must, I stuck with it and slogged through to the end.

April brought along one more DNF for me this year. I’m usually a good sport and try to give most books the benefit of the doubt but sometimes it just doesn’t work out between us and we end up going our separate ways. I find another book and the book goes back to the library or to the far reaches of the book shelf. Oh well, so many books, only so much time.