Lord of the Binge

[dreamflower02]

If you haven't seen this article yet: The quest to binge-read "Lord of the Rings"

It's very funny, a little inspiring, and makes me nostalgic for the experience of reading it for the first time. Some of the conclusions he draws about modern readers make me kind of sad though.

Comments

[marycatelli]

Reading it now I do so more slowly to pick up more of the stuff.

Also having read the Silmarillion helps there. Some is clear. Some is speculative: is Elrond set against the Fellowship's swearing an oath because he lost two grandparents, two uncles, his parents, and then his foster father because of ONE oath?

[dreamflower02]

Yes, re-reading is an amazing thing--there is always something new to consider each time. I've been reading it on a regular basis and always discover something new every time. I recall a few years back, when I suddenly realized that in Bree, Aragorn (the heir of Isildur, and future King of the West) essentially pledged fealty to a rather naive young hobbit!

And I LOVE your observation about Elrond! That's one I never thought about, although I have explored his similarities as both a foster son and a foster father to both Frodo and Bilbo.

And I've done a poem, a set of vignettes, and an essay exploring the connections between Arwen and Frodo when they began to occur to me a few years back.

But that oath thing? Amazing! Thank you!

[shirebound]

That was an interesting read. I like his line, "the slow-burning wonder of literature." I really do think it's sad that the book may find itself ever more deeply buried under movies, TV adaptations, and collectibles. It all makes me appreciate even more the rarely-respected world of fan fiction, where we who love, research, and strive to enhance a story that inspires us have left our small, canon-based treasures for anyone who wants to find them.

[dreamflower02]

Oh, that's a nice way to think about it!

Yes, it saddens me that future readers will probably never come to the story totally unspoiled. I recall what a delight it was a few years ago to take part in "Mark Reads" when he was reading TH and LotR for the first time; that was about ten years ago. But now, with all the reruns and memes, just about everybody has at least a passing familiarity with the movies, at least.

They may not know what a hobbit is, but they know "they are taking the hobbits to Isengard"!