From the Bookshelf of Mythgard Academy…

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)

J.R.R. Tolkien

Discussion: The Fellowship of the Ring

Why we're reading this: Year 1, Book 1 of Mythgard Academy
[close] Year 1, Book 1 of Mythgard Academy

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 1 of 1 topics — 1 comment total

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring: General Discussion
By Tripp · 1 post · 7 views

last updated Apr 21, 2014 01:33PM

What Members Thought

Feb 28, 2022 Tara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, mythgard-academy, tolkien

I generally tend to write reviews as much for myself as for potential readers or other fans. They serve to remind future me what I particularly loved or disliked about the book, or what had affected me most while reading it. This is why I find it so difficult to write reviews for books that were just middling to me. What is there to say in that case? But I struggle to write a review for The Lord of the Rings for entirely different reasons.

I first encountered this saga not through the books, but I generally tend to write reviews as much for myself as for potential readers or other fans. They serve to remind future me what I particularly loved or disliked about the book, or what had affected me most while reading it. This is why I find it so difficult to write reviews for books that were just middling to me. What is there to say in that case? But I struggle to write a review for The Lord of the Rings for entirely different reasons.

I first encountered this saga not through the books, but the Peter Jackson films. I'm not really much of a fantasy reader and hadn't heard of Tolkien in my teenage years. But to say that I was obsessed with the films is an understatement. I have seen them countless times (extended version only please), as well as the hours of behind-the-scenes content. I recently re-watched Fellowship, and while it still holds up 20 years later, the impact is no longer the same. Why you ask? Well, having read the books many times over the years, you tend to see where they went wrong. And here I don't mean the excising of Tom Bombadil or making Frodo much younger and naiver. I feel as though they missed the real strength and beauty within the spirituality of the world. Despair and hope, falling to temptation and then finding redemption, leaning into the fortitude that faith can provide when you yourself have none, how good ultimately wins out over evil because God's plan cannot be overthrown. Those are the hallmarks of these books for me. And reading them has fundamentally changed my life. It sounds hyperbolic, but it is nonetheless true. How can one adequately "review" such a book? There doesn't seem to be much point really, other than perhaps to help me crystallize my thoughts and feelings into more coherent ideas.

Like so many other readers, I feel as though I could live in this world, and I didn't want the book to end. This book is a comfort to me when I need to find a place of solace. I often fall asleep listening to it, as I find it rhythmic and calming. I haven't read it cover to cover for a few years now but moving forward I intend to read it every year, just as Christopher Lee did, as you can never read this book too many times. Every time you read a book you can discover something new about it. Something that strikes you in particular due to your mood or what may be going on in your life that time. Or perhaps you are just attending to different parts more closely and catching bits that you had skimmed over in the past.

So, what struck me most forcefully in this reading? Sam is far and away my favorite character in The Lord of the Rings. He is perhaps best known for his qualities of loyalty and steadfastness, literally carrying Frodo when he could no longer go on. But there is so much more to him than just that. He is also highly perceptive and sensitive. I was touched by the times when Sam openly wept, once when they had to leave behind Bill the Pony outside the gates of Moira, and then when Frodo was determined to abandon him, along with the rest of the Fellowship, to carry on with his burden alone. Far too often in modern times, tears are seen as weakness, or a lack of masculinity. But I see it as a sign of openness. Sam lives his life out in the open. He feels what he feels, and he says what is on his mind. And I think this clarity and openness gives him a sense of peace that no one else in the Fellowship seems to have. It is remarked time and time again how sound and untroubled his sleep is. While others lie awake or have nightmares that haunt them, Sam is dead to the world. I also don't know that I ever noticed before how he single-handedly saves Frodo from the Watcher in the Water. He sprang to action while everyone else was frozen in horror and dread. Quite a mighty soul in such a small (yet sturdy) body. My favorite part of the trilogy as a whole is the journey of Sam and Frodo in Mordor, but I will save my thoughts on that for when I get to The Return of the King (or The War of the Ring as the professor would have had it).

I have so much more I could say about this book, but I think I will leave things here. Until next year at least... ...more

Like · see review