From the Bookshelf of Modern Good Reads…

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

J.R.R. Tolkien

Start date: August 1, 2014

Finish date: August 31, 2014

Why we're reading this: BOTM August
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Nov 18, 2016 Angela Blount rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

I went back to re-read this as an adult (because I didn’t feel comfortable saying I’d read it when I was 13—knowing how poor my attention and comprehension was at that age.) I’m glad I did. I truly couldn’t appreciate the scope and grandeur of this book the first time around.

Loyalty, adventure, legacy, wisdom, underdog heroes, good vs. evil, angry quasi-sentient trees… This “I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

I went back to re-read this as an adult (because I didn’t feel comfortable saying I’d read it when I was 13—knowing how poor my attention and comprehension was at that age.) I’m glad I did. I truly couldn’t appreciate the scope and grandeur of this book the first time around.

Loyalty, adventure, legacy, wisdom, underdog heroes, good vs. evil, angry quasi-sentient trees… This story has so much going for it, though it’s truly just the setup for an overarching masterpiece. While it still may be my least favorite of the trilogy simply for its unhurried pacing, I still have to bow to the utter brilliance of Tolkien. Not only did he invent an entire language (Elvish), world history, and vast variations in cultural nuances, the amount of music he includes (all culturally and racially distinct) is beyond impressive.

Note: I wholeheartedly recommend listening to the unabridged audiobook at some point, regardless of if you’ve read the standard version before. Beyond the narration being of radio play quality, the many music pieces that are actually sung add a striking layer of depth and richness to this already superb work of fantasy.
(When I first read this at a young age, I breezed through the musical portions while processing them as poetry. This new level of comprehension has stuck with me far better.)

I won’t pretend to dissect Tolkien’s prose or otherwise do such a master an injustice. I will only say that I enjoyed it far more now that I have a more extensive list of literature under my belt. And I hope that anyone who might have found tedium in his sprawling literary style early in life give him a second chance later on down the proverbial road.

Favorite Quotes:

-“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

-“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."

-“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”

...more

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Nov 14, 2016 Angela Blount rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, classics

2.5 Stars

This full cast dramatization is extremely abridged from the actual book--which unfortunately annoyed me to no end, even though it largely follows the material excised for the movies.

For me, the problem was twofold.
The voice acting wasn't close enough to the movies to satisfy my now ingrained bias, true... but I also found some of the voices deeply irritating. The hardest to listen to were Sam and Merry. There was a shrillness about them that made me want to quit and find a different ve ...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Claude Forthomme rated it it was amazing

A total masterpiece: it started the whole genre of historical/medieval/magical fantasy and nobody has ever been able to better Tolkien (in my humble opinion)

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