Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!​

Pictured: Top left, Wize. Bottom right, all the people who said they were keen for LotR bookclub but haven't posted yet, hiding from Wize.

Again, writing my thoughts as I read through. This week's reading is really quite casual in how it treats the passing of time. 17 years quick as you like, and it's just waved on, with nothing of great import happening. The hobbits continue to remind me of Petunia, especially Lobelia.

The departure from the Shire is really quite hobbitish. You can really feel the character of them coming through in their preparations and how they go about it. The Shire really reads like some ideal of countryside England. I wonder how Tolkien would feel now that when people think 'Shire' they're thinking of one of the colonies.

Apparently we're going to get a quick glimpse of the PoV of a random fox. Blink and you miss it, but it was there, and we know that he never got answers as to what the hobbits were doing traipsing around so strangely.

It's also apparent that the Nazgul do more than hiss and snarl, showing themselves capable of interrogating people and only having a strange manner of speech remarked on. I wonder how much agency they have, how much of their minds are left.

"...hobbits are so dull," quoth the elves, circa Third Age. They do seem clued in to the dangers of the Black Riders though.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." This is a fucking Tolkien quote?? I had no idea.

I quite like how the Elves are portrayed; it really gives you a glimpse into them. One moment they're singing in the fields, and talking down to the hobbits, the next they're ushering them along to safety, then partying again, then discussing the Enemy with Frodo. But then this bit: "...if any of those Black Riders try to stop him, they'll have Sam Gamgee to reckon with, ... and they laughed." What the Elves would think if they knew what Sam would achieve.

With Farmer Maggot we get a testimony of the Nazgul's speech, too. Interesting that they seem to find humour in his threats.

There's something to be said for the way Tolkien wrote dialogue, with the almost overwrought (by modern standards) declarations and promises. You couldn't use it easily today, but I think I like it. "My dear and most beloved hobbits!"

I think the movies did Merry and Pippin a disservice in portraying how they came to join Frodo and Sam. There's a rather different spin on the original.

I think the end of Chapter Five brings with it the first opportunity for a fanfic divergence - Fatty Bolger. Five hobbits on the quest instead of four? Sounds like a self insert.

It's interesting that we're almost 150 pages in and we've not yet left the Shire. Tolkien really wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere, and we've read about the equivalent to two thirds of Philosopher's Stone. I don't think LotR would find a publisher today, too quickly passed over for not fitting the mould.

I think next week's chapter is going to involve a lot more singing.

 

Chapter 3:
He sold bag end???? I don't remember this at all.

"Go not to the elves for counsel, for the will say both no and yes." I love this line, and I'm going to use it more often.

"'ere all is ended, you, Frodo, son of Drogo, will know more of these Fell things than Gildor Inglorion." boy and how was Gildor right.

4
"I am going with him, if he climbs to the moon." I just love how earnest Sam is in this. I am also surprised by how much the moon gets referenced in the book so far.

Finally! Merry joins. And with that we have everyone's rough character: Pippin is the bard of the party, doing all the talking and socializing, Sam is the distrustful reserved one (except where elves are concerned), and Frodo is competent and focused on doing this job.

5
Frodo's dream here, is this the gray havens, or Minas Tirith? He never goes to Minas Tirith if I remember right, so I think this must be the gray havens? But i really don't know, and would love other thoughts.

Overall impression- I found this a real slog, and when the hobbits are alone together I found myself rereading the same page 4 times without paying enough attention. Thank god for the elves to add some spice to it. All in all the pacing is very slow, and i'm desperate for some actual tension instead of this far off vague dread. It works to get them moving and add some scare value, but its boring.

(also, i'm out of town next week, anyone willing to post my comments? I've read ahead to be ready.)

 

Sam is elfweeb confirmed

 

Catching up with this, and one scathing line about Lobelia Sackville-Baggins sticks out enough that I interrupted my reading to have a little giggle.

"Frodo did not offer her any tea."

 

Okay, these are the first ones I'm reading rn since I didn't go back to the first two which I read many months ago.

Top level thoughts is that I really love Sam, the depiction of the elves, and the way that Merry and Pippin join in the quest. Fully agree that the movie version, while a lot more time efficient, does them a disservice. Their little conspiracy from way back and Sam being an informant who got caught rather than randomly overhearing was great.

One small quote that I loved about Sam:

He's just such a delight.

---

The next set of highlights from me are about the elves, I'd forgotten just how removed from it all they feel in the books. The movies do an okay job showing them as different, but I don't think there's any way to carry just how ethereal they feel in the books into the screen.

I also loved Sam's reflection on his interaction with them, and his renewed motivation:

 

That's a good point about how Maggot really does a good job of putting a pretty bow on the shire, and how we will fondly remember it.

 

Getting my shit together while listening to the LOTR sountrack - no better way to spend my off day apparently

As someone who's not from the same culture, I love the little touches that I notice on my 7? 8th? reread, but first one as an adult
"frodo did not offer any tea" - love how this was a way to show you dislike a person in british sensibilities

"I could take a lot more yet, sir. My packet is quit light" said Sam stoutly and untruthfully - I relate so much to Sam here as a heavy packer. I always think I'm not prepared enough for trips

"Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and other will dwell here again hobbits are no more." - a nice reminder of the transient nature of all things, even events in lord of the rings.