Bingo Chart Reading Challenge: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I had been looking forward to re-reading this classic as I remember enjoying it quite a lot the last time I read it. But once I got started I was actually a little bit disappointed. But first things first. If you don’t know “The Lord of the Rings” it is an epic trilogy about a dangerous quest to destroy a powerful ring coveted by an evil entity out to take over the world. We meet hobbits, elves, dwarves, knights, wizards and living trees just to name some of the creatures that inhabit this world. 



As I said I was a little disappointed, but that should by no means stop you from picking up the series. It is a great fantasy series with well-rounded characters, a cohesive world and an ever moving plot. I just seem to have forgotten that Tolkien does tend to wax poetic about the history of this world and its peoples. And I found myself to be a little bored when it came to those passages, I must confess. Like the whole Tom Bombadil bit seemed a bit unnecessary to me, and all the songs and poems about love and life and stars twinkling. I’m not really a poetic person so I must confess I skipped some of the longer songs…But you have to admire a man who can dream up such a rich world complete with centuries of back story for all the different kinds of creatures living in it, including the “ordinary” humans.  


I had originally planned to re-read the entire series, but now I just don’t know. I might just stick to the movies, but the second book was my favorite last time I read the series, so I might pick that one up at some point. I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 on Goodreads and actually deducted a star from my latest rating, just because I found myself bored so often. But still, I think it is a wonderful story and it has stuck with me in such a degree that I could remember a great deal of what was about to happen, which might be part of the reason I was slightly bored by it. If you haven’t already I encourage you to read it! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1000 Places to See Before You Die 20 - Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Image
You cannot go to Athens and not go to the Acropolis. It is a staple on any sightseeing tour and is likely to be crawling with tourists at any given point in time. Still, it is definitely worth it to brave the masses and see the fortified citadel above the city of Athens for yourself.   The word acropolis means the highest point of the city, and there are a number of these acropoleis scattered throughout Greece, but the one in Athens is so well known that it is simply called “The Acropolis”.  There is evidence that the area on the rocky outcropping overlooking the city was inhabited already in the 4th millennium BC, but it was Pericles who started construction on the many famous buildings in the 5th century BC. These famous buildings include the Parthenon, probably the most iconic of the buildings, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. These buildings were all seriously damaged in 1687 AD when the Venetians had sieged the city and used th
Read more

Reading the classics: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The book The book first appeared in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890, and the year after it was released as a book in a revised edition. As I am working on this post, I discover that the book is not necessarily considered a classic….great choice for the kick-off post for the series then! However, in my experience, it does usually appear on “classics” lists, so I am going to count it! At the time of the first publication in 1890 it was considered immoral, by a lot of people, but Wilde took offense to that and defended his story. When it was published in book form though, he had changed some things and added a preface, that stated that books cannot be moral or immoral, only well written or badly written.  The author Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was Wilde’s full name, but he later changed it to Oscar Wilde because, as he said, the name was too long for someone who was going to be famous. He was born on October 16th 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He went to Trinity Co
Read more

Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Image
This is the first book in a series, but I have no intention of continuing on with this series. The plot evolves around two young people, Amy and Elder. They live on a spaceship that has left Earth to find a new planet to populate. Amy was part of the cryogeniccaly frozen people on board, meant to be woken up upon arrival and using their skill set to populate the new planet. Elder, meanwhile, is part of the population that has been keeping the ship running whilst it travels towards its destination.  One day Amy is woken up from her frozen sleep and now she must learn to live on this spaceship, without her parents, slowly learning the culture and the secrets of this ship. It turns out there is an abundance of mysteries on board this ship, like who is waking up (and killing) the frozen people, who is the mysterious deceased Elder, what is the current Eldest up to and what’s with the “crazy” people and their medication.  Eventually all these mysteries are solved, but is
Read more