Wednesday, October 29, 2014

104:120 Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

A group of hobbits, a wizard, a rouge, an elf, a dwarf, and a human go walking into the woods....

Yeah, I know, you've heard this one before.  This is my third time reading this book since 2008 and at this point, with the movies having been out for so long and the new Hobbit trilogy currently going strong I really kind of figure that everyone knows the plot of these books and if they don't, it's because they really don't care in the slightest.  

Once again, I'm reading these for my 8th graders literature course and once again, they are managing to draw me with the language.  He is having a bit harder time with it but I'll bet anything that his interest will pick up more as we hit Two Towers and things really get moving.  That seems to the be way of it with the 13yr old boys of my house (and hey, I wasn't all that enamored of them when I was a teen either).  

Here's a previous review of them I did when I first reread this in 2008 with my oldest:

I last read these books back in 1991-1992, something like that.  I remember enjoying them but also being put-off by the intense descriptive scenes which didn't seem to move the plot along (please, no flames on this, I was like 16 at the time, teenagers are stupid).  I've moved them several times and always meant to give them another chance, especially after the movies, but there always seemed to be something new to read or worlds where I didn't remember being so bored so I kept putting it off. 

Until that is, I found the LOTR curriculum and went "Wow! This is way cool! I gotta do this with Christopher!"  And I'm of the mind that if my kids are reading something for school, well, since I'm their teacher I should read it too.  So we are reading it together.  I stay about a chapter ahead of him and then stop (which surprisingly is starting to annoy me LOL).   Now that I'm enjoying it with him and reading it with better appreciation for literature, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  I can't add much to what has already been said about it by so many thousands of other people in the world except that if you tried it years ago and found it dry, try it again.  Don't give up on it.  It's truly worth the read.  And even better, read it with someone you love and enjoy discussing it together.  It just adds to the experience.

Honestly, this still holds true.  I'm glad I have an excuse to read them again every couple of years with a fresh pair of eyes to discuss them with.  It just adds something to the entire experience.

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