Date: 2008-01-04 09:46 am (UTC)
I read Lord of the Rings when I was fifteen. I read half of The Fellowship of the Ring on a long bus ride from Toronto to Parry Sound, and the rest on arrival, because by the time I got to Bree I couldn't put the book down. I don't remember why I loved it so much at that time, though I know why I love it subsequently:

(1) it evokes the thinking of a pre-modern age better than any other fiction I can think of

(2) I love the relationships between the characters - in a series almost totally without sex, there are personal links of love between all the characters, one way or another

(3) there's a beautiful sense of language

...Though I'm not sure I noticed #3 on first reading, or even on tenth reading, except that I was absorbing it.

The pacing is odd. Very odd. I always find that the first half of Fellowship is like reading a sequel to The Hobbit, which I didn't like much at all. Except for two chapters, or parts of two chapters. But at and then after Bree, I fell in love with Aragorn, and the whole high-toned early-medieval dark lyricism, and the evocation of cultures. I got a whole new appreciation of what Tolkien was doing after I read Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey.

I love the movies too. There are places where I love the books a lot more - the movies messed up some of my favourite scenes, but enhanced others - but equally there are places where the movie is better. The Balrog, for example. I always found him a boring anti-climax in the book. In the movie, he's terrific.

he under-30 set imprinted on Legolas, and us more mature ladies imprinted on Aragorn [g].

Not that I have anything against Legolas [g].... But yes, Aragorn is the substantial one.

I never noticed the turtleneck bit in the coronation scene - why did you think it anachronistic? My general impression is that the costuming was as close to perfect as I have ever seen, with the beauty of the Elves and the toughness of the Men and the cuteness of the Hobbits. And the exquisite quilting on the cloak of Gandalf the White.




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