Book 2, Chapter II, where all book clubs die.

But the courage of men shall not fail this day.

As Elrond says in a fair bit: "You may tarry, or come back, or turn aside into other paths, as chance allows."
So I refuse to accept this setback as a a defeat, and shall forge on ahead:

This chapter is a monstrous beast, and has all the pacing of the middle 3 hours of a nascar race.
But I still like it anyway.
This chapter does a lot to introduce the bigger cast, and to demonstrate Gimli's appropriateness of trying to murder the ring. Not only does this help show the ring is invulnerable, but also a great insight into Gimli's character.

I also like how our first introduction to Legolas is his mea-culpa on behalf of the mirkwood elves for losing Gollum. And then Gandalf throws his own mea culpa in.

Next week we do chapters 3 and 4, and finally get to Moria.

@TheWiseTomato @LostInThought

 

Chapter 2:

• The exchange between Dáin and the emissary caught my eye, when Dáin says the time of his thought is his to spend and they reply "for the present". Like damn, way to show that you want absolute control
• Boromir traveled 110 days by himself. Hot damn I went mad after 90 days of lockdown and I could still talk to ppl.
• Bilbo wanting to write down Frodo's story and saying there's whole chapters of stuff before getting here is esp funny given that technically there's a whole book before getting here
• Huh Saruman made a rink. Had totally forgotten that.
• I'm not sure if in the movie it's made clear (or even if it happens) that Gandalf was so close on their heels on their journey to Rivendell, or that he's the reason only five faced them in the camp rather than all nine
• It's interesting to me how often they call the ring "the Ruling Ring", I don't think it's ever called that in the movies
• Bilbo volunteering is adorable and a reminder of why we love him. He's very much a bit of an everyman out of his depth for all of The Hobbit, but never failed to rise to the challenge