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The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!
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spoltz
Posted 2015-01-05 5:25 PM (#9169)
Subject: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



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Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Welcome everyone!

I decided to create this challenge because there are many of us who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but not much else. I'm hoping this challenge may motivate some of you to read more of what Tolkien published, as well as the volumes that his son has published in the years since his death. And I'm asking for reviews because there are almost none for those posthumous works. It would be great is we could get a few posted over this next year.

Because some of his works are a little to get through, I'm going to try to use some online resources to help me understand some the more complex books. Specifically, someone turned me on to The Tolkien Professor. He has a set of lectures available as downloads and on iTunes specifically for The Silmarillion, which is what I'm most concerned about. The link is here:

http://tolkienprofessor.com/wp/

I'd like to thank galleyangel for contacting me about it.

So have fun reading the person who turned many of us onto this genre of books, movies, and games. Feel free to post as much or as little as you'd like, but I enjoy hearing how other folks are progressing, whether slowly or quickly. And feel free to share other resources you may find that help you through this challenge.

Thanks!!

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ManyMoons
Posted 2015-01-05 5:44 PM (#9170 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



Member

Posts: 28
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Location: suburb of Minneapolis, MN		I actually finished my first Tolkien the other day. I started Fellowship of the Ring through Kindle Unlimited program so that I could listen to it. I think it was easier as an adult than as a 16 year old (last time I read it). I'm on budget constraints this year, but since many of the books are included in the KU program, I should be able to make a good stab at it. I am limited to what is available electronically, either audiobook or ebook, due to vision problems, but more may show up by the latter half of the year.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-01-05 6:25 PM (#9173 - in reply to #9170)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



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Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Hi MM,

Check your local library too. Mine has the unfinished tales and the Silmarillion on ebook. That may save you some money, though here, you are limited to three weeks, like a regular book.
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thereddeath
Posted 2015-01-06 5:48 PM (#9188 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



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I own The Children of Hurin and Unfinished Tales (unread), as well as LOTR, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion (all of them due a re-read). I also want to read Tolkien's translation of Beowulf and maybe some volumes of The History of Middle-Earth. I can't wait.

Edited by thereddeath 2015-01-06 5:49 PM
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gallyangel
Posted 2015-01-08 3:47 AM (#9213 - in reply to #9170)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



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Location: The Wilds of Washington
ManyMoons - 2015-01-05 3:44 PM

I actually finished my first Tolkien the other day. I started Fellowship of the Ring through Kindle Unlimited program so that I could listen to it. I think it was easier as an adult than as a 16 year old (last time I read it). I'm on budget constraints this year, but since many of the books are included in the KU program, I should be able to make a good stab at it. I am limited to what is available electronically, either audiobook or ebook, due to vision problems, but more may show up by the latter half of the year.


About 2001 (or was that earlier?) Recorded Books brought out a complete unabridged audiobook of the LOTR. I've been through the thing about three times in the past decade. Rob Inglis does an amazing job as the reader. If you can find that version, I'd highly recommend it.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-01-28 11:37 AM (#9377 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		I feel guilty so I need to confess...I watched the LOTR trilogy extended edition, then with director/screenwriter commentary, then the behind the scenes documentaries. My ex was out of the apartment for the whole weekend so I just indulged myself. I ate a lot of cookies too. I plan on beginning reading LOTR in about a week, after I finish "To Say Nothing of the Dog" for the Read It Again Sam challenge and Zelazny's "A Night in the Lonesome October" for book club. I hope the movies didn't retaint me.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-02-01 10:02 AM (#9437 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



Uber User

Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Hi folks! I added the new levels feature to the challenge so you can choose how many books you want to read for the challenge. So now you can set your level to read 3, 6, 9, or 12 books to complete the challenge for the level you want. I increased the master level to 12 since you have the option of choosing journeyman level with 9 books. I really like this feature because now I can join a few other challenges without having to worry about adding a daunting 12 more books for each challenge to my reading list for the year.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-02-01 10:24 AM (#9443 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



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Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		I was inspired by other hosts renaming their levels. So now, you can go from Frodo to Aragorn to Galadriel to Gandalf!
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spoltz
Posted 2015-02-17 12:00 PM (#9668 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



Uber User

Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Just finished Fellowship and started Two Towers. I've been reading slowly, but I'm enjoying really paying attention to the details this time. Having the movies fresh in my head, it's been fun really focusing on the detail that was omitted for the film. It's also been interesting because I don't necessarily have the actors from the movies in my head when I visualize the characters. I still carry the images from the Brothers Hildebrandt calendars from the 70s floating around in my head. I can kick myself for not getting their coffee table book I saw at B and N 10 years ago. I think it had almost all their collected works. I keep looking for it whenever I go to Powell's here in Portland, but haven't seen it.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-03-17 10:19 AM (#9906 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



Uber User

Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Finished The Silmarillion. I loved it. It was a lot less daunting than I thought it'd be. I had some help though. A friend on WWE suggested tolkienprofessor.com. So I listened to the Silmarillion lectures from an undergraduate survey of Tolkien class and it helped a lot. I also found it easier to read by getting into a mode as if I was reading something like the Bible. This helped me not fight the narrative style and ease me through it. The last resource I had was the Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad from the library. It helped keep the travels and battles a little more clear in my head.

Next a few books for other challenges, then I think I'm on to The Tolkien Reader, which is actually a compilation of The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son, On Fairy-Stories, Leaf by Niggle, Farmer Giles of Ham, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, which I've owned since the 90s, but never completely read. I'll either add this to the WWE database or just mark the books already in this database that have these works.

I hope everyone is doing well and having a good time with their reading challenges!

Edited by spoltz 2015-03-17 10:22 AM
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spoltz
Posted 2015-03-29 12:10 PM (#9959 - in reply to #9169)
Subject: Re: The Tolkien Reading Challenge - Read, You Fools!		Quote Reply



Uber User

Posts: 370
100
Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Hi gang! I added several Tolkien works to WWE database (yay!):
Humphrey Carpenter's Tolkien bio
The Letters of JRR Tolkien
The Tolkien Reader
Tales from the Perilous Realm
Beowulf - A Translation and Commentary
Sigurd and Gudrun
The Fall of Arthur
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, [and] Sir Ofreo

I finished The Tolkien Reader and the stories in Tales from the Perilous Realm that were not in Tolkien Reader. I'm about to listen to the discussion of some of these works on tolkienprofessor.com. He also has a set of 10 discussions (2 hours each) on The Unfinished Tales. I don't know if I'll get to all 20 hours of these, but since the tales are unfinished and complex with all the commentary by Christopher Tolkien, I may give it a whirl.

Edited by spoltz 2015-03-29 12:11 PM
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