Bringing this thread back because my local Tolkien book club is reading The Silmarillion this year and so far it's been quite fun. We're an interesting mix of first time and re-readers so there have been some very different perspectives about events so far. It's hard not to be mad at Feanor and his sons when they first take the Oath if you know what happens later. We're about to read the Beren and Luthien chapter, and they are my favorite.

I have heard some people say that Tolkien’s books are almost perfect (especially The Lord of the Rings), but even though they are great I don’t think I would go as far as to say that they have no flaws.  He is slower paced than C.S. Lewis and demands more patience to read.  Whether it is a flaw that an author takes more time to tell his story may be something that is determined by a reader’s taste. Some authors like Dickens are kind of long winded, but you can forgive them for being that way.  Tolkien was old fashioned and usually was not in a rush to tell his stories. It is remarkable that people today are not bothered by the length of his stories (especially The Lord of the Rings) when many people currently have an accelerated lifestyle. Modern technology has not caused a decline of interest in his books. 

I have never regretted my decision in 2001 to emulate the late Christopher Lee and read LOTR every year.

I've fallen into the pattern of starting on 22 March (the same season as when Bilbo and Frodo had their birthday), and aiming to finish by 22 September. That gives me 2 months per volume, 1 month per book! Today I must finish the last 25 pages of FOTR.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Last night, we went to the movies to see The Lord of the Rings: the War of the Rohirrim. We quite enjoyed the movie, about Helm Hammerhand, and Wulf, a Dunlending chieftain, who had an eye to take over Rohan. At first, I wasn't too sure which tale was being told, but as the story developed, it became more familiar, when it fleshes out a tale from the Lord of the Rings appendices.

I finally got around to watching War of the Rohirrim this afternoon.

I really enjoyed the fact that it felt like a consistent part of the Peter Jackson film universe, in terms of things like the music, title cards, design cues, etc. Even the more anime inspired parts of the design weren't as distracting as I thought they would be, and I did find myself fully immersed in the universe as if it were live action.

I will though admit that the story perhaps wasn't as interesting as I hoped it would be? (Not a Tolkien lore expert, so had no idea what to expect).

Brian Cox was excellent, and his character of Helm Hammerhand was great, but the rest of the characters perhaps felt a little too formulaic, with lots of Game-of-Thrones type politics and standard action adventure tropes.

Still, an enjoyable enough watch overall. 7/10.

I just started reading Unfinished Tales of Numenor & Middle Earth. I think at least some of the tales may be just fragments.  It is definitely material that is less known than The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It does require a lot of time and patience to read it, and I would not recommend rushing through the stories.  Tolkien fans should enjoy the unusual stories, which mostly are only available in this book.  🙂

It's Hobbit Day in NZ already, so HAPPY HOBBIT DAY to you all!  

I'm wearing my Bilbo's Burglar Contract tee shirt. My gardener has left the garden nice and tidy; his name starts with S, but isn't Sam.

Yesterday I finished my annual reading of LOTR.   

Posted by: @narnian78

I just started reading Unfinished Tales of Numenor & Middle Earth. I think at least some of the tales may be just fragments.  [...]  Tolkien fans should enjoy the unusual stories, which mostly are only available in this book.  🙂

There are indeed many fragments in Unfinished Tales (published in 1980). Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkiens son, who is editor of the book, says in the Introduction,

The narratives in this book [...] taken together they constitute no whole, and the book is no more than a collection of writings, disparate in form, intent, finish, and date of composition (and in my own treatment of them), concerned with Númenor and Middle-earth.

Christopher later made a more extensive treatment of his father's writings, publishing books that are even less consistent and coherent as narrative stories than Unfinished Tales. In these books, the 12 volumes of History of Middle-Earth, there are even more footnotes and comments from the editor, and even more fragments included. (Most of the UT texts will probably also be found in the HoME books, but with more comments.) The last of these books was finished in 1996.

Even later, in the new century, Christopher went back to treating some of his father's stories as more coherent narratives (although not completely without footnotes). Two of those books deal with the stories that are found in Part 1 of Unfinished Tales. They were published as The Children of Hurin (2007) and The Fall of Gondolin (2018).

Both books are well worth reading (although I must admit I haven't finished them yet). The third book (not included in UT) is Beren and Luthien (2017).

So what in 1980 was only available in Unfinished Tales, is now also available in other books.

Does anyone else here have this book: The Making of Middle Earth: The Worlds of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings?  It is beautifully illustrated and includes much background on Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. It also has much information on Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy. It is not very expensive for a hardcover book.  
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1454944757?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

@narnian78 No, but I do have the two guidebooks to Middle Earth, showing all the locations used in NZ for LOTR and Hobbit. 

They're by Ian Brodie, and are great.

Gasp! I have just read that Hugo Weaving has had a birthday, and turned 66.
Shock, horror, I'm older than Elrond!   

I'm reading Fellowship of the Ring. 

The four hobbits are in the Old Forest, and have arrived at the house of Tom Bombadil. At supper they've drunk 'clear cold water' , which 'went to their hearts like wine and set free their voices '. 

I realised for the first time that this is not unlike the bowls of water in another Forest many miles eastward. 

Posted by: @coracle

I realised for the first time that this is not unlike the bowls of water in another Forest many miles eastward. 

Very interesting and I hadn't thought of that similarity before — although we're not told this particular drink makes them grow taller than the average Hobbit...  

@courtenay no, but it was good for them.

Could you picture Tolkien sitting in movie theater watching Peter Jackson’s films of The Lord of the Rings?  He probably would not have liked the idea any more than C. S. Lewis would have liked computers. Or maybe he would have been curious to see what Peter Jackson did with the story. Medieval knights seem out of place with modern technology, and Tolkien had a lifestyle similar to that time in history.  Modernism is an anachronism which seems inconsistent with Tolkien’s and Lewis’s personalities. 🙂

Posted by: @narnian78

Could you picture Tolkien sitting in movie theater watching Peter Jackson’s films of The Lord of the Rings?  He probably would not have liked the idea any more than C. S. Lewis would have liked computers. Or maybe he would have been curious to see what Peter Jackson did with the story.

I very much doubt he would have liked it. Cinemas and films were of course part of popular culture during most of his lifetime (1892 - 1973) — they didn't yet have the technology to do justice to such a magnificent fantasy epic, of course, but even if it had been possible, I get the strong impression that Tolkien would never have been happy with anyone else's efforts to portray his world and his characters and their stories on the screen. Christopher, his son and literary heir, didn't have much good to say about the Peter Jackson films, so I can only imagine his father (whom Christopher naturally knew better than any modern commentators can claim to) wouldn't have approved of them either.

That doesn't stop me and many other fans from enjoying the Jackson trilogy for what it is — aside from a few flaws and shortcomings, I reckon it is easily THE definitive screen adaptation of Middle-earth and probably will be for a very long time to come — but I do always bear in mind that the books are the "real deal" and the movies are at best an interpretation!

Medieval knights seem out of place with modern technology, and Tolkien had a lifestyle similar to that time in history.  

How do you mean, exactly? Tolkien was an expert in medieval languages and literature, but I've never seen any evidence that he adopted any kind of "medieval" lifestyle. I doubt he watched films or even television (I don't know for sure), but as far as I know, he definitely didn't reject modern technologies and comforts. I'm sure he made good use of trains and buses and electric lighting and central heating and all those other things that didn't exist in medieval times. He certainly didn't live in an unheated stone tower or a monastic cell, writing with a quill pen on parchment by candlelight, or riding on a horse or a mule to get around...  

Modernism is an anachronism which seems inconsistent with Tolkien’s and Lewis’s personalities. 🙂

Not sure what you mean there, either. There are a lot of definitions of "modernism" (academic as well as popular), and while both Tolkien and Lewis were both definitely conservative in their tastes and lifestyles, neither of them actually tried to re-enact the medieval world in their own lives, as I was saying.

Also — I'm genuinely curious and a bit confused — what do you mean about modernism being an anachronism?