Raven

Spoilers! Saw this yesterday before I had a chance to watch it!

Well, as everyone else seems to be copying me, so I will as well: - I do like the way the journey unfolds as the Hobbits make their way from Hobbiton to Crickhollow. I'm so used to the films that it was odd to have Pippin tagging along, but at the same time his presence adds more depth to Frodo's character, in that he has so many friends who are willing to help him (I suspect he is so popular because of all the lad's nights he organised round at Bag End, quaffing vintage Old Winyards with sherry chasers, but we won't go there...). - The growing menace of the Black Riders adds palpable tension to the Hobbit's flight. From the one that appears behind them at the top of the hill they stopped at over night in - I think - Three is Company, to the really unsettling one sniffing the jetty at Buckleberry Ferry, the lack of an explanation of what they are all adds to a genuine sense of dread and foreboding. The story is building nicely... - ... until it hits a brick in the road, or more accurately the Old Forest. I'll post more about this when commenting on next week's chapters, but although I like the whole Old Forest and Tom Bombadil sequence for the most part it stalls the wider story and doesn't really have any right being there. From a book I read parts of many years back, at this point (and largely until the group reach Rivendell) Tolkien was making it up as he went, ala the Hobbit, although he did go back and heavily rework it once he got into gear with what the wider story was all about - i.e. The Ring!). - I've never quite looked at willow trees in the same way, since originally reading about Old Man Willow twenty odd years ago... - Fun Fact! Frodo was called Bingo in early drafts of the book (thank heavens Tolkien changed his mind!) There's more on this later in the book, but Hayley is correct; Sauron finds out where The Ring is from Gollum.

It has taken a while to get going, but I have been enjoying it and I think episode 4 pulled the different plot threads together quite well (I'm looking forward to this week's episode!). I think a lot of people were expecting Boba Fett to be all bad-ass, but that would have just been a re-run of The Mandalorian, so I can see why they have gone the way the have, but is it a story that needed telling? This is all working to a very big long-term objective, though, that is going to cover all of the Disney+ Star Wars series they are making, so we'll just have to wait and see how it all fits together. Due to being housebound with COVID I finished The Clone Wars last week. Overall it's very hit and miss, but the last four episodes were very good. Onto Rebels now, and nearly at the end of season one. Seems to be aimed at a younger age group than The Clone Wars, but I think the individual stories are generally better!

Okay, we'll stick to four a week for now, so the next chapters up for discussion from tomorrow (or, now, really, if you want too!) are: 4. A Short Cut to Mushrooms 5. A Conspiracy Unmasked 6. The Old Forest 7. In the House of Tom Bombadil I'll let someone else go first this time!

Ah, I read that as Frodo being unwilling to give up the ring (or the ring sensing(?) it was going to end up in the fire?) It's difficult to ascribe motivation to a corrupt wedding ring!

Interesting review! I've been skirting around Becky Chambers for a while now (her books, not the author - I don't need another restraining order...) I read her novella To Be Taught, if Fortunate at the beginning of last year - review here: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/3119-ravens-reads/&do=findComment&comment=507248 I enjoyed it enough to have another go at some point, but I'm still waiting for A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet to pop up on Kindle for 99p (annoyingly, all her other novels have in the last 12 months!).

And aside... Are people happy with doing four chapters a week, or would you rather do three? I've realised that some of the chapters in The Two Towers appear to be longer than the ones in Fellowship, how fast do people want to go?

Did it? I've missed that on two reads of the book! I've always felt that Gandalf, knowing what he was dealing with, was reluctant to go near the thing least he be seduced by The Ring's power. I've never got the notion that the ring itself was trying to manipulate events - where are you getting that impression from? I'm be interested to go back and re-read it again!

The Complete Novels of George Orwell, published by Penguin, are £2.99 on the Kindle today.

I think I skipped over a lot of them the first time around, but I've been trying to read through them this time as they sometimes contain relevant information (and it's interesting to see what got into the films as well). I actually think they are more creepy in the book!

Concerning Hobbits (and the other sections in the prologue) are in the wrong place; I personally think they would fit better in the appendix at the end of The Return of the King. A section on pipeweed really isn't the best way to start off a three-volume story! I don't know which imprint of the book you are reading, and whether there is an introduction (and whether you read it), but I think Concerning Hobbits is where it is because Tolkien was being asked for more information on Hobbits, after the success of the The Hobbit, and he's basically addressed that literally - you wanted information on Hobbits, here it is! I think another author may have worked that information into body of the book, and got on with the story, rather than having it as a separate section. I think Fellowship is very much a book that expects you to have read The Hobbit, where - again - I think a different author may have given a bit more thought to someone coming to the book cold (especially when he was writing this book for an adult audience, rather than for children).

My experience of Christie novels and watching Poirot etc. is that you generally don't have enough information to identify the killer yourself by the end of the story - Christie always arranges it so that the detective either has some special insight or has found out something via an off-page/screen enquiry that is only revealed at the end.

And we're off! J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - Group Reads - Book Club Forum Closing this thread.

Right open for discussion! Warning! This thread - by definition - will contain spoilers if you have not read the books! Spoiler tags won't be used as they will disrupt the flow of the discussion! I didn't realise I'd missed the prologue off the list last week, so I will hold A Short Cut to Mushrooms over to next week. Prologue: Concerning Hobbits 1. A Long-expected Party 2. The Shadow of the Past 3. Three is Company To get discussion going (From my blog...) Main thoughts so far: - Having the book open with a section on the history of Hobbits might be good for people who have read The Hobbit and want to know more about them, but coming to it cold must put a lot of people off the book (I know it put me off the first time I tried to read it). It also has a number of spoilers for what happens later in the book, although I must admit that I never picked up on them first time through. - It is all a bit twee; similar in tone to the start of The Hobbit. I know it changes as it goes along, and I know the reason why it is like this, but I think the films set the tone far better than the book does (there will probably be on-going comparisons with the films, as I'm quite familiar with them!) - The lack of urgency when it comes to Frodo leaving the shire feels... wrong - especially when you know what is after him! Gandalf knows Sauron has risen in the east; he knows Sauron knows the ring still exists; he knows Sauron knows someone called Baggins has the ring and where he lives. "Should I leave now, Gandalf?" "Nah, I doubt they will be along for a few weeks yet..." "Can I still have a Birthday Party?" "Of course!" *Ruffles Frodo's hair...* - The Black Riders at first appear to be fairly ordinary, but each time they reappear they become more and more sinister - I hadn't remembered that Pippin is with Sam and Frodo when they leave Bag End, and that Merry doesn't come into it until later.

No probs!

No worries! Hurrah!

Sounds like a good plan. Anyone else taking part? @virginia @timebug @Madeleine

I keep forgetting about this, but I did read a few chapters of The Two Towers, last night.

Hope you've all started! Tick-tock! So who is taking part? Sound off below!

Mcvities Victoria; got given a box in a Christmas hamper from work. Ordinary biscuits, poor chocolate. Plain chocolate Hob Nobs are so much better!

Milk chocolate biscuits are so insipid.

I locked this last night, but then realised there was nowhere for people to ask questions, so I have unlocked this again in case anyone has some!

The thread for this group read can be found here: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - Group Reads - Book Club Forum

Starting this Saturday (08/01/22) the aim will be for participants to read 4 chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings every week, and to then comment on them as they go along! Starting with The Fellowship of the Rings, the first four chapters open for discussion from 15/01/22 will be: 1. A Long-expected Party 2. The Shadow of the Past 3. Three is Company 4. A Short Cut to Mushrooms Disclaimer! The films might come into this occasionally as well. This thread will be locked for comment until the 15th.

Time to take the lead...