Chris Newton's Blog, page 2
January 17, 2024
Lothlórien
Lots of reading on the 15th! The most since September. Having read daily snippets of the journey from Hollin on the 8th, I suddenly read the end of A Journey in the Dark, all of The Bridge of Khazad-dûm and most of Lothlórien. Still reading from the wonderful editon illustrated by Tolkien.
Having just met Galadriel and Celeborn - we rest here until February and The Mirror of Galadriel on Valentine's Day. I'll take the month long break to write a lengthier reflection on the Ring's journey south...
I didn't write about the fall of Gandalf- for me the grief is still to near, a matter for tears and not yet for blogs!
Having just met Galadriel and Celeborn - we rest here until February and The Mirror of Galadriel on Valentine's Day. I'll take the month long break to write a lengthier reflection on the Ring's journey south...
I didn't write about the fall of Gandalf- for me the grief is still to near, a matter for tears and not yet for blogs!
January 13, 2024
The Doors of Durin
For the end of The Ring Goes South and the beginning of A Journey in the Dark, I had to return to the one volume The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by the Author hardback, which not only comes in this beautiful box featuring Tolkien’s own depiction of the Elven Door, but also contains some of Tolkien's artwork I haven't previously seen.
I've been looking forward to this section since I bought this edition back in March, but I resisted reading ahead. Tomorrow I will finally get to pour over the pages from the Book of Mazarbul, which Tolkien intended to include in the original book, but their reproduction proved too expensive...
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I've been looking forward to this section since I bought this edition back in March, but I resisted reading ahead. Tomorrow I will finally get to pour over the pages from the Book of Mazarbul, which Tolkien intended to include in the original book, but their reproduction proved too expensive...
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January 12, 2024
Snowstorms on January the Twelfth
... he heard Bilbo's voice speaking. "I don't think much of your diary..."
Speaking of which - while I'm planning my reading in my 2024 diary, here's my diary from 2004!
I said in my first blog post that I almost certainly read An Unexpected Party in 2006 - here's some proof that this is a decades long obsession!
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Today, I'm reading my oldest copy of Fellowship, a 1966 editon of the wonderfully strange The Fellowship of the Ring - the "official" US edition following the pirated edition scandal!
This was my mum's copy of Fellowship - which she told me she gave up on after The Council of Elrond. I actually found a bookmark halfway through The Ring Goes South, on the "His arm has grown long" page. I thought it only right to pick up reading from where my mum abandoned it over 30 years ago!
Speaking of which - while I'm planning my reading in my 2024 diary, here's my diary from 2004!
I said in my first blog post that I almost certainly read An Unexpected Party in 2006 - here's some proof that this is a decades long obsession!
image upload
Today, I'm reading my oldest copy of Fellowship, a 1966 editon of the wonderfully strange The Fellowship of the Ring - the "official" US edition following the pirated edition scandal!
This was my mum's copy of Fellowship - which she told me she gave up on after The Council of Elrond. I actually found a bookmark halfway through The Ring Goes South, on the "His arm has grown long" page. I thought it only right to pick up reading from where my mum abandoned it over 30 years ago!
January 8, 2024
Hollin
"Only I hear the stones lament them: deep they delved us, fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone. They are gone. They sought the Havens long ago."
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January 3, 2024
The Foothills of the Misty Mountains
In early January 2023, I was feeling depressed about taking down the Christmas decorations, so I bought a LOTR themed diary and began planning my epic re-read of The Lord of the Rings.
I can't quite believe it's been a whole year - but here I am once again, poised and ready with my 2024 LOTR diary - somewhere in the Misty Mountains, five days away from Eregion, having set out from Rivendell on Christmas Day.
I didn't write a full blog post on Christmas Day (Been bizy - as the North Polar Bear would say!), but I did read a few pages of The Ring Goes south - appropriately in The Ring Goes South - the second volume of the six volume box set, which I was last reading from when the Ring set out back in September.
I thought I would take this opportunity - Tolkien's 132nd Birthday - to write a few words before toasting the professor this evening.
I'll almost certainly never embark upon a re-read like this again, although I enjoyed reading the hobbits' departure from The Shire throughout September as the year waned so much that I think I will probably make reading up to The Old Forest an annual September tradition in future!
As you can probably guess from the first sentence of this blog, I find January hard. When the decorations come down and and the darkness is no longer illuminated by fairy lights, I often think of Gandalf's line in the film "we must face the long dark of Moria." (The line is slightly different in the book!) Now I begin January literally heading into Moria. (Well, okay, maybe not literal Moria ... but literary Moria!)
Obviously there is a religious significance for Tolkien to have the fellowship set out on the 25th December, but it also really struck me as being about hope in the darkness. They are heading into the darkness of both winter and Moria with no guarantee of survival, and only the hope that the Ring can be destroyed / light will return. I talked briefly about this with Alan Sisto, who I was honoured enough to join on his wonderful podcast, Today's Tolkien Times, for his 'Fandom Friday' episode which will be released this Friday! https://tolkientimes.com/
It's wonderful to be sat here with my 2024 diary planning which chapters to read in the coming months (there is a lot of reading in March!) in anticipation of Spring and new life. (And the downfall of Sauron...)
Here's to Spring and new beginnings and, more importantly on this day, here's to the Professor!
https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events...
I can't quite believe it's been a whole year - but here I am once again, poised and ready with my 2024 LOTR diary - somewhere in the Misty Mountains, five days away from Eregion, having set out from Rivendell on Christmas Day.
I didn't write a full blog post on Christmas Day (Been bizy - as the North Polar Bear would say!), but I did read a few pages of The Ring Goes south - appropriately in The Ring Goes South - the second volume of the six volume box set, which I was last reading from when the Ring set out back in September.
I thought I would take this opportunity - Tolkien's 132nd Birthday - to write a few words before toasting the professor this evening.
I'll almost certainly never embark upon a re-read like this again, although I enjoyed reading the hobbits' departure from The Shire throughout September as the year waned so much that I think I will probably make reading up to The Old Forest an annual September tradition in future!
As you can probably guess from the first sentence of this blog, I find January hard. When the decorations come down and and the darkness is no longer illuminated by fairy lights, I often think of Gandalf's line in the film "we must face the long dark of Moria." (The line is slightly different in the book!) Now I begin January literally heading into Moria. (Well, okay, maybe not literal Moria ... but literary Moria!)
Obviously there is a religious significance for Tolkien to have the fellowship set out on the 25th December, but it also really struck me as being about hope in the darkness. They are heading into the darkness of both winter and Moria with no guarantee of survival, and only the hope that the Ring can be destroyed / light will return. I talked briefly about this with Alan Sisto, who I was honoured enough to join on his wonderful podcast, Today's Tolkien Times, for his 'Fandom Friday' episode which will be released this Friday! https://tolkientimes.com/
It's wonderful to be sat here with my 2024 diary planning which chapters to read in the coming months (there is a lot of reading in March!) in anticipation of Spring and new life. (And the downfall of Sauron...)
Here's to Spring and new beginnings and, more importantly on this day, here's to the Professor!
https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events...
December 25, 2023
The Ring Goes South
"Then with one glance at the Last Homely House twinkling below them they strode away far into the night."
October 25, 2023
The Council of Elrond
Continuing the 'Rivendell Cover' theme, for the Council of Elrond, I am reading from this beautiful Centenary Edition box set I found in a charity shop for £3!
I hadn't even taken them out of the box until today! The cover art for The Fellowship of the Ring features a John Howe painting of Gandalf and Frodo looking down into the valley of Imladris.
I hadn't even taken them out of the box until today! The cover art for The Fellowship of the Ring features a John Howe painting of Gandalf and Frodo looking down into the valley of Imladris.
October 24, 2023
Many Meetings
I an in the House of Elrond, and it is October the 24th, if you want to know!
After 6 months, I have reached the beginning of Book II. Given that the first edition of
The Fellowship of the Ring I ever read featured Tolkien’s own depiction of Rivendell on its cover, it seemed appropriate to revisit that edition.
It doesn’t feature any internal illustrations and, as much as love the work of Alan Lee and John Howe, I'm very glad that my first exposure to Middle-earth was influenced by nothing more than Tolkien's own words. I still have my own Middle-earth earth in my head distinct from the films. Apart from Gandalf, of course. Ian McKellen always was and always will be Gandalf! And Christopher Lee as Saruman...
I've had this paperback for 22 years, and it was published 27 years before that. This may be the last time I read it, the back cover is beginning to fall off... but it will always be my favourite.
This chapter veers back towards being "The New Hobbit". Bilbo is back! And we see Elrond and Glóin, and hear about Dáin and the descendents of Bard and Beorn. It's something of a last hurrah for that Hobbit-tone before it vanishes forever after athe Council of Elrond.
I wrote about the verses before, but one of the most enjoyable things about re-reading the Lord of the Rings is giving full attention to the poems - especially the ones I skipped on first read. And this chapter features one of the best. And they're most enjoyable when read aloud to really get a sense of the rhythm and the worldplay.
"...A wanderer escaped from night
to haven white he came at last,
to Elvenhome the green and fair
where keen the air, where pale as glass
beneath the Hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere."
In the first Book at Breakfast episode on The Lord of the Rings, we spent about quarter of an hour comparing Eärendil to the Doctor - an immortal traveling in his ship in the sky, bringing hope to all.
"...for ever still a herald on
an errand that should never rest..."
In the end, we cut it from the episode, deciding that a discussion on Eärendil was possibly a bit too much for the first 10 minutes of an episode aimed at the causal reader.
Perhaps it's time to release that deleted scene...
After 6 months, I have reached the beginning of Book II. Given that the first edition of
The Fellowship of the Ring I ever read featured Tolkien’s own depiction of Rivendell on its cover, it seemed appropriate to revisit that edition.
It doesn’t feature any internal illustrations and, as much as love the work of Alan Lee and John Howe, I'm very glad that my first exposure to Middle-earth was influenced by nothing more than Tolkien's own words. I still have my own Middle-earth earth in my head distinct from the films. Apart from Gandalf, of course. Ian McKellen always was and always will be Gandalf! And Christopher Lee as Saruman...
I've had this paperback for 22 years, and it was published 27 years before that. This may be the last time I read it, the back cover is beginning to fall off... but it will always be my favourite.
This chapter veers back towards being "The New Hobbit". Bilbo is back! And we see Elrond and Glóin, and hear about Dáin and the descendents of Bard and Beorn. It's something of a last hurrah for that Hobbit-tone before it vanishes forever after athe Council of Elrond.
I wrote about the verses before, but one of the most enjoyable things about re-reading the Lord of the Rings is giving full attention to the poems - especially the ones I skipped on first read. And this chapter features one of the best. And they're most enjoyable when read aloud to really get a sense of the rhythm and the worldplay.
"...A wanderer escaped from night
to haven white he came at last,
to Elvenhome the green and fair
where keen the air, where pale as glass
beneath the Hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere."
In the first Book at Breakfast episode on The Lord of the Rings, we spent about quarter of an hour comparing Eärendil to the Doctor - an immortal traveling in his ship in the sky, bringing hope to all.
"...for ever still a herald on
an errand that should never rest..."
In the end, we cut it from the episode, deciding that a discussion on Eärendil was possibly a bit too much for the first 10 minutes of an episode aimed at the causal reader.
Perhaps it's time to release that deleted scene...
October 20, 2023
Flight to the Ford
Having started reading in March - or September 2006, depending on your point of view! - I have finally reached the end of Volume One: The Ring Sets Out!
It's easy to let the Jackson films replace swathes of the book in your mind, and it's always incredible to remember how heroic Book Frodo is in this moment:
"By Elbereth and Lúthien the fair, you shall have neither the Ring nor me!"
It's easy to let the Jackson films replace swathes of the book in your mind, and it's always incredible to remember how heroic Book Frodo is in this moment:
"By Elbereth and Lúthien the fair, you shall have neither the Ring nor me!"
October 18, 2023
Stone Trolls
The significant date on most of the timelines of Frodo's journey is the 20th of October, when Frodo crosses the Ford. However - there isn't a huge amount to read for that day, so I'm writing this on the 18th, when Strider and the hobbits come across the stone trolls before meeting Glorfindel.
As this is Flight to the Ford, I'm reading from the one volume movie tie-in edition The Lord of the Rings depicting the Nazgul attempting to cross the Bruinen.
"To Mordor we will take you!"
But we're not at the Ford yet! We're at the stone trolls - and it would be remiss of me not to read along to this recording of Tolkien himself singing Sam's troll song...
https://youtu.be/68GDPaywiS4?si=sp4Cu...
I also couldn't resist dipping back into the Alan Lee illustrated edition The Fellowship of the Ring, and noticed that one of the hobbits is wearing some sort of hat - is this Sam's "shapeless felt bag"?? See, he DOES wear it all the way to Mordor, after all!
As this is Flight to the Ford, I'm reading from the one volume movie tie-in edition The Lord of the Rings depicting the Nazgul attempting to cross the Bruinen.
"To Mordor we will take you!"
But we're not at the Ford yet! We're at the stone trolls - and it would be remiss of me not to read along to this recording of Tolkien himself singing Sam's troll song...
https://youtu.be/68GDPaywiS4?si=sp4Cu...
I also couldn't resist dipping back into the Alan Lee illustrated edition The Fellowship of the Ring, and noticed that one of the hobbits is wearing some sort of hat - is this Sam's "shapeless felt bag"?? See, he DOES wear it all the way to Mordor, after all!
