Books 2nd Edition, Foreword by m0r1arty Options

[Atara]

Tolkien wrote all wrong. I love the books, but find Fellowship a struggle since the films.

[Ade]

Songs! Songs! So many dreadful songs!

Nasty elves wroted them, they burns our earses!

Tolkien wrote all wrong.

Indeed. As a Professor of English Language and Literature, he just didn't have a clue how to write.

Wink. Nudge. Eh.

[Zoe]

As a Professor of English Language and Literature, he just didn't have a clue how to write.

A background that certainly had its advantages, like cribbing Old English to give the impression you've created a whole new language.

[Ade]

A background that certainly had its advantages, like cribbing Old English to give the impression you've created a whole new language.

The crafty ol' bugger.

[Chapman Baxter]

A background that certainly had its advantages, like cribbing Old English to give the impression you've created a whole new language.

Not quite fair. He did use Old English for the language of the Rohirrim, but he did invent in more or less detail several languages, most notably Sindarin (which was aesthetically modelled on Welsh) and Quenya (Finnish).

I'd agree his prose style is uneven and at times clunky, but as a work of imagination I'd say The Lord of the Rings, and the myths and legends that lie behind it, has few equals.

[maian]

I'd agree his prose style is uneven and at times clunky, but as a work of imagination I'd say The Lord of the Rings, and the myths and legends that lie behind it, has few equals.

Definitely. It's a hugely ambitious work and he did an amazing job at crafting an entire world and several cultures, it's just a shame that, at times, his efforts to create that world get in the way of the actual plot.

[sweetbutinsane]

Yeah, I agree that the story itself and Middle-earth are just incredible (and Gollum, of course). Some bits of the books I quite liked, and when it got to the action it was great. I can't even remember what it was now that made me find the books boring, but I'm thinking it was along the lines of too much walking.

[maian]

After reading this:

'This Book will save your Life', A.M. Homes.

Finished this last night and I can't recommend it enough. It's utterly compelling from the first page and written in a style so clever and unusual it draws you in effortlessly. It's so easy and fun to read it's not hard to forget how skilled the use of language and narrative complexities are. The pace is fantastic, never dwelling on one instance for too long, moving with the desire of the reader from one moment in our protagonist's life to the next. Every character and situation is believable (no matter how fantastic or far fetched) and you genuinely care what happens to each and every one of them. More than that it's wonderful to read a really life affirming piece of contemporary fiction, it leaves you feeling better about human nature than when you started reading it.

If you don't believe me, believe Steven King:
The only downside is the title and the fact the cover is decorated with lots of frosted donuts (relevant to the plot). You look like you're reading a self-help book for fatties.

I've picked up a copy and it's the next thing on my reading list after I finish Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, which is excellent but the plot seems a bit more muddled than The Big Sleep. No less arresting a story, though.

[sweetbutinsane]

Finished The Silver Chair this morning.

Now onto The Last Battle, and I'll have finally read the Chronicles of Narnia.

[thirtyhelens]

Just a scant handful of pages left in A Dirty Job, and I have no idea where it's going. I love it when good books do that...

[Starscream`s Gho...]

Watchmen

Just finished this. One word:

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark.

[NiteFall]

A linky to a .PDF of O.J. Simpsons If I Did It...

[rebelstar]

Just finishing Mark Thomas' As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade which I've had lying around for a while. Not too bad - pretty one sided, obviously, but a decent enough read. He has his critics but he seems like quite a personable chap, and he's quite entertaining live - he's no Mark Steel, though.

[maian]

Picked up Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels at the airport yesterday and I'm tearing through it. Very good at the moment.

[Ade]

Excellent. Which reminds me, I must get to reading Something Rotten very soon. And I believe The Fourth Bear is out on paperback in the UK, like, any day now.