The Lord of the Rings Read-Along – Bidding Farewell to Bilbo

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Those of us participating in the Read-Along have moved on to The Fellowship of the Ring but since Eva of A Striped Armchair, our host for The Hobbit, posted a few last questions, I thought it would be a good time to bid adieu to Bilbo.

Did you find the book’s second half consistent to the first, in tone, plotting, etc.?

What did you think of the ending?

Did your view of any character change since our last check-in?

What surprised you most in this half of the book?

What delighted you most?

Can you see yourself rereading The Hobbit some day?

Are you planning on continuing on to The Fellowship of the Ring?

Would you say that doing a group read enriched your reading? Anything in particular written by a fellow participant that stands out?

The Hobbit

Did you find the book’s second half consistent to the first, in tone, plotting, etc.? Yes and no. I find the first half of the book so much more fun than the second. The idea of going on an adventure and laughing as Bilbo trots out of the house without a handkerchief is amusing and I want to run out and join him. I expect the adventure to get dark and dangerous for the travelers but somehow when the elves are introduced, some of the, what’s the word I’m looking for, well, they just seems to suck the fun out of it. I do find joy in the story again when Bilbo starts another riddle game with Smaug.

What did you think of the ending? I love when Bilbo comes home to find everyone in the Shire and beyond rifling through his things and claiming them as their own. It’s the last thing you would want to come home to. And, maybe I’m wrong here but I don’t remember anyone welcoming Bilbo home. They were surprised by his return but no one was happy about it. Who would be if they thought they would be moving into his cozy hobbit hole. 🙂

Did your view of any character change since our last check-in? No, I still have a long and enduring love for Bilbo. Although, I found I liked the elves less than I remembered. I know I like them in the subsequent books but here I kind of felt put off by them. I’m not sure why.

What surprised you most in this half of the book? What delighted you most? Smaug was a delight. I don’t remember liking him so much but here he was this lovely, old, dragon to be admired and feared. My biggest surprise — I didn’t particularly care for the fact that a human kills him. Somehow it seems like it should be a creature of legend and not a human, who up till this point in the story, played no actual part. Can you tell I’m a bit annoyed by that. 😉

Can you see yourself rereading The Hobbit some day? Yes. 🙂

Are you planning on continuing on to The Fellowship of the Ring? Yes. 🙂

Would you say that doing a group read enriched your reading? I think it has. Each time I’ve read and re-read these books I’ve done it alone. There are always people, at least in my circle of friends, that have read the books and would be willing to discuss, but since I’m the only one re-reading the books, it’s not an easy topic to squeeze in. The opportunity to read what others found interesting enriched the reading and in many ways made me look at the story differently. I enjoyed that immensely.

Anything in particular written by a fellow participant that stands out? There was one stand out — The Misadventures of Moppet (the post – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lost Chapter) wrote about the lost chapter and it made me want to go out and find it!

Thanks for hosting Eva!

The Thirteenth Tale

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The Thirteenth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale

By Diane Setterfield

Atria Books

ISBN: 978-0-7423-98802-5

4.75 stars

The Thirteenth Tale is about ghosts, what haunts people in their worst moments, personal regrets, and most of all, it is a story about a story.

Margaret Lea is an amateur biographer who works with her father at their antiquarian bookstore. She is called upon by England’s most beloved and well-known writer, Vida Winter, to write her biography. Vida has never told her story to anyone and no one knows anything about her personal life thanks to Vida herself who leads everyone, who dares to ask a personal question, astray. She explains to Margaret her plans to tell her the story of Vida Winter — it will be done properly, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. What comes forth is a story of Gothic proportions, strange unbelievable characters, and a story that is both disturbing and beautiful. Over the weeks she spends listening to Vida’s story, Margaret finds that she has more in common with the enigmatic writer than she ever thought possible. The connection pulls her deeply into the story, a story she almost doesn’t quite believe.

This book is a story within a story. The title of the book itself is a reference to an written tome of Vida’s that fans wish that she would write and it is Margaret that gets to hear the story but it is not what she, or anyone, would ever think of. There are parallels between the author and biographer — both Margaret and Vida are recluses in their own ways, each retreating into a world full of books and stories all while hiding for fear of reviving a ghost that has long remained dormant.

In the end, Setterfield tells you a new tale and everything you thought about these characters is once more thrown into the realm of mystery. The gaps are closed but not in the way you expect and you don’t feel cheated but something like closure for the characters. While I did really enjoy this book, there are a few awkward and disturbing moments that can be a big turnoff for some readers which I think can make this a love it or hate book. I was able to push through those parts and for me it became a fascinating story of a life no one knew was lived.

Teaser Tuesdays – 3 for 1 Tuesday Special

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

1.) Grab your current read

2.) Open to a random page

3.) Share two teaser sentences from that page

4.) Share the title and author so that other participants know what you’re reading.

Be careful not to include spoilers. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!

I found myself reading three books this week which is odd since I tend to be a one book at a time person. When it came to down to picking one this morning, I couldn’t. So you’ll all be benefiting from my over indulgence down this week. A three for one special it is!

Remarkable Creatures

I began frequenting the beaches more and more, though at the time few women took an interest in fossils. It was seen as an unladylike pursuit, dirty and mysterious.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, page 19. I’m really enjoying this book. The two women, Elizabeth Philpot and Mary Anning, are wonderfully rebellious for their time (around 1810) and I’m enjoying that aspect of the book.

The Fellowship of the Ring

Frodo felt sleep coming upon him, even as Gildor finished speaking. ‘I will sleep now,’ he said; and the Elf led him to a bower beside Pippen, and he threw himself upon a bed and fell at once into a dreamless slumber.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, page 83. I’m participating in the LOTR Read-Along and have been trying to read only 2-3 chapters a night. So far I am succeeding but I don’t think I will be making it the whole month. I’m just about to start book two and I have a feeling I will be racing through to the end.

The Magicians and Mrs. Quent

The image of the princess was not a typical illustration but rather an impression. From what Rafferdy understood, there were some illusionists who could hold an engraving plate in their hands and concentrate upon it, working an enhancement so that what they imagined in their minds appeared on the plate, rendered with an accuracy that caused the subject to appear clearer then in the most skillful painting.

The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett, page 68 on my ereader. I was browsing the shelves yesterday in the bookstore and came across this once and decided to try it out. So far, it’s not too bad but moving a little slow. I hope the magic I’ve been promised shows up soon…

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

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The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery

Europa Editions

ISBN: 978-1-933372-60-0

5 stars

Renée Michel is the concierge at number 7 rue de Grenelle, a luxury apartment building in Paris. She is short, self-described as ugly, and can be onerous. She’s also brilliant. An autodidact, with interests in philosophy, art, and Japanese culture, she spends her days watching and ruminating about the building’s tenants. Ever careful to keep her secret hidden, she goes about playing the dumb concierge and scrutinizing others in her diary.

Paloma Josse is a precocious 12 year old girl who lives on the fifth floor of number 7 rue de Grenelle. She has come to the realization that life is not worth living and on her thirteenth birthday, she will end it all and, to punish her family for making her life such drivel, will burn the apartment. Much like Renée, she goes about her life hiding her talents from the world, finding it easier to just be plain and ordinary in terms of knowledge. She begins a diary of profound thoughts to convince herself that her plan is sound and explain why life is not worth living.

When a new tenant moves into the building, everyone’s life is changed. Ozu is Japanese and quickly finds a kindred spirit in Renée and also Paloma who both unknowingly share a deep interest in Japanese culture.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is one of those rare books that makes you stop and look around. We move through life so fast that we sometimes don’t appreciate the people around us that we see everyday. Renée and Paloma are those two people. They’re both hiding from the world because they don’t believe that anyone can appreciate them and it’s sad to think that they’re hiding what is most important, not only to them, but to others. In a way they don’t want people to know who they truly are but when they find their lives intersecting, it becomes all the more wonderful.

The first 100+ pages of this book contain a lot of rather dry philosophy. I have never been one to read philosophy, so I will admit that some of the profound nature of there theories was lost on me and made me wonder when it would move on. When that change takes place, it happens fast, and you become fascinated by the characters in this book. Everyone with their own problems hurrying to get somewhere always passing Renée as if she were invisible and, in some cases, barking orders as if she were nothing more than a dog. Her observations are insightful and wonderfully funny.

When I finished, I felt sad that things at number 7 rue de Grenelle had changed the way they did. Renée, Paloma, and Ozu are immensely likable characters and they way they hide from everyone else is part of their mystique. You revel in getting to know them and how they react to the rest of the tenants.

While the beginning is a bit slow and sometimes dreary, I thought The Elegance of the Hedgehog was one of the best books I have read in a while. It’s witty, funny, and smart. Barbery’s writing style is wonderful and I have added Gourmet Rhapsody to my reading list which features characters from The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

The Sunday Salon

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The roundup this week. I finished:

The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

And I continued reading The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m trying to reign myself in and only read a few chapters at a time since this is supposed to be a read-along and not a devour the book in one afternoon reading session. Unlike The Hobbit, I plan to make this one last till the end of the month, if I can. I make no promises…

Reviews/discussions posted:

Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell

Nook review

The Fellowship of Rings, discussion 1

I hope to start Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier today or tomorrow but I don’t think I’ll be getting much reading in with all the cooking we’ll be doing this afternoon. My husband and I don’t go out for Valentine’s Day but we do cook a big fancy meal at home. This year I have planned a 5 course dinner — salad, soup, roasted pork, a cheese course, and a chocolate and strawberry cake to top it off. I’m really looking forward to dinner tonight! I baked the cake last night and it looks pretty good. Although I will admit to having to channel my grandmother and use a bit of icing to fix the slightly lopsided top. Thanks Gram! 🙂 I’m hoping to get a head start on the rest of dinner this afternoon so we can relax and enjoy it without getting too stressed.

This coming week I hope to get started on a few books that have been sitting around my house namely The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. I also have Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel that I want to read and a few books by Helen Hollick that are also sitting on the shelf waiting for my attention. Who knows, maybe that will be this month’s reading.

Happy Sunday and Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Enjoy the day. I’m off to cook! 🙂

Friday Finds – Whales, Romance, Vikings, and 18th Century Queens

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It seems a lot more books are making it onto my TBR list than I am reading. I will be the first to admit it has gotten out of hand, but what can I say? There are so many books out there that I want to read so I just keep adding and hoping that someday I get to them.

Here are a few I recently added thanks to a lot bloggers out there. Honestly, I wish I had kept better track of where I heard about these books but I didn’t. I made a promise to myself to be more careful about that so the next time I will be sharing links to where I found them as well.

The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare. Hoare is obsessed with whales and using Herman Melville’s Moby Dick as inspiration, goes in search of the magnificent creatures. It’s a story about whales and whaling and for some reason I find this stuff fascinating. Not so much the whaling part but whales themselves.

O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell. I have a soft spot for Romeo and Juliet. In a high school English class, we were all assigned a part in the play and had to read it out loud. I was Mrs. Capulet. She doesn’t have many lines at all so my part wasn’t all that interesting but the tragic and wonderful story was and I have been in love with it ever since.

The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman by Nancy Marie Brown. I, for reasons unknown, am utterly entranced by anything Viking. There is no logical reason for this but I find myself seeking out shows on the Science channel that talk about Vikings all the time and when I saw this book, I knew I needed to read it.

Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund. I love anything Marie Antoinette. She’s such a polarizing figure in history and one that has been written about so often. I read a biography of her a few years ago and will now read pretty much anything that mentions here because I find her and her life so intriguing.

The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea

O, Juliet

The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman

Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

So there we have it this week — a list of all my strange fascinations and temptations, at least where books are concerned.

Anything good make it onto your TBR list this week?

Friday Finds is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Leave a comment here with a link to your own finds, or share your answers at Should Be Reading. Happy Friday.

Stonehenge

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Stonehenge

Stonehenge

By Bernard Cornwell

HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN: 0-06-019700-5

3.75 stars

A stranger appears one day at an old unused temple near Ratharryn. He is not a member of any of the local tribes. He is also injured, and with a little help from the two who found him, soon dies from his wounds. This stranger carried gold with him and it is this gold that will bring forth a feud that will tear brothers apart, inspire religions, and cause war among the local tribes.

Brothers Lengar, Saban, and Camaban have little in common. Lengar is strong, defiant, and always willing to fight; Saban is the peacemaker and builder; and Camaban is unacknowledged by his father and cast out of the tribe because of a deformed foot. Lengar uses fear and brutality to eventually take over the tribe, overthrowing his father and virtually enslaving his own people. He casts Saban out but is unaware of a plan by Camaban to keep him safe until he can return to rule the tribe. In the end, it is Camaban who cleverly uses religion and sorcery to inspire the building of Stonehenge and bring about the near destruction of his people. Saban, who unwillingly shares his brother’s vision for the temple, is the one that is able to finally bring it to fruition and peace to his people.

As with most Cornwell novels I have read, there is usually a long list of characters and this one is no exception. There are several tribes, sorcerers, gods, and places to keep track of in this book. He manages to blend the stories of the different people well and it feels cohesive even when several events are taking place at the same time.

I put this book down at one point and wasn’t sure if I would go back to it. Eventually I did and once a certain character was out of the picture, I found I liked the book much more and found the remainder quite interesting. The building of the temple was fascinating — the way the stones were moved, fashioned, and positioned was a story unto itself. The religious aspect and invoking of several gods was also intriguing. The superstitions and rituals were so ingrained in the characters that it felt very natural for some of the events to take place even if they were barbaric and not something one would consider necessary for religion.

I didn’t like this book as much as other Cornwell books I have read but found it rather interesting in terms of the religious aspects portrayed here and how the societies were torn apart by gold and gods. Cornwell’s imagining of the building of Stonehenge is engrossing and made me want to find out more about it in the end.

Lord of the Rings Read-Along – The Fellowship of the Ring

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I’m a little late posting and a little late starting but better late than never, right? The Lord of the Rings Read-Along is continuing this month with The Fellowship of the Ring. Clare from The Literary Omnivore is hosting the discussion for this book and has posted the first set of questions for all of us participating.

1.When did you first hear of The Lord of the Rings?

2.Have you read The Fellowship of the Ring before?

3.What’s your plan of attack, now that we’re dealing with more “mature” literature?

4.Have you ever seen the movies? If so, do you think they’ll influence your reading? If not, well, why haven’t you seen them?

As I said, I haven’t started yet but that will be changing tonight. We’re going to be getting another 10+ inches of snow here in DC and it seems like a good evening to curl with a book. 🙂

On with the adventure…

The Fellowship of the Ring

I first heard about the Lord of the Rings in high school. I remember reading the books but I don’t remember being all that impressed. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that now! I absolutely loved The Hobbit which I read in grade school but just didn’t get into the following books. I did pickup the series in college again after an English professor mentioned the books in class and I loved them the second time around. I re-read the series a few years ago when the movies came out as well.

My plan of attack is going to be different this time — I plan to take my time and savor this re-reading. I flew through most of The Hobbit in one afternoon and I plan to take things slowly and meander through this time. A quick look at my book tells me there are 22 chapters and I plan to read 2-3 a night. I’m going to give myself a little leeway because I know I will probably read more than my allotment each night. 🙂 I have trouble stopping sometimes when I get into the story. Middle Earth is a captivating place isn’t it? The characters are just amazing and once I start, I sometimes don’t stop until I find myself at the end. I’m going to try for a slower pace but we’ll see…

Yes, I have seen the movies and I did enjoy them all. But, for me, the books are still better. (This is almost always the case with me. :-)) Oddly, and I’m sure a lot of people have the same problem, all of the characters in the book now look like the characters from the movies in my head. I don’t find this to be much of a problem but the people I imagined and used to know in this book are gone now having been replaced by everyone from the movie — just to clarify, this is only in the way they look. I don’t think the movies have influenced my reading, other than the whole new people to imagine while reading though.

How about you? Have you read The Fellowship of the Ring? Any thoughts you’d like to share?

If you’d like to sign up for the challenge, click here.