Lianne’s Comments (group member since Apr 19, 2012)

Lianne’s comments from the J.R.R. Tolkien group.

I'm quite excited for Tolkien's Beowulf coming out this May (I may or may not have gasped out loud and flailed when I first heard the news). I only got around to reading Beowulf a few months ago (I got all of Penguin Classics' "Legends from the Ancient North" series for Christmas so I've been pouring over them) so I'm only familiar with Michael Alexander's translation of the poem. Looking forward to Tolkien's version of the poem! :)

I read this book a few weeks ago...I greatly enjoyed the poem, took a little getting used to (compared to The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun; different style and all) but there was some fantastic imagery used. I too wished it was longer or had been completed.

The essays were interesting enough but I wished Christopher had brought on some scholars from the field to add further context and information about the legends and where JRRT's poem fits in. I suppose the essays are good for those not so familiar with the tales but I would've enjoyed a more definitive analysis of the piece.

Stefan wrote: "I'm interested in what Christopher has to say in his essays on the piece, however, I almost feel that with the brevity of the work of JRRT included here, that this could have been included in a collection of works or paired with something else at the very least."

I agree! I was talking about this book with a fellow book blogger and we were thinking along the same lines...

I am ridiculously excited to get my hands on this and read it (though I haven't pre-ordered my copy yet); I enjoyed (re-)reading The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún so I'm curious to see how Tolkien handled the Arthur tale =)

Jacquel Chrissy Pattinson wrote: "If George R.R. Martin had written Lord of the Rings, he would have killed off more characters than you could count, write the books using everyone's POV, and create a disaster known as the Others t..."

Haha, I was thinking of the same thing when I first saw this thread. Very few characters would make it to the end...and LOTR would probably span a number of books in total

Chris wrote: "The Lord of the Rings by Jane Austen:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young hobbit in possession of an evil magic ring must be in want of eight companions to go with him on a heroic ..."

Love this!

Temitope wrote: "Nobody wanting to know more about the history of the dwarves?"

Definitely! You get bits of the story here and there in The Hobbit, Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings but there's definitely a whole lot more about the dwarves that I wish we got to learn more about.

I've been meaning to re-read The Children of Hurin so I might pop in when I get the chance to re-read it (still working through my re-read of LOTR and a few other books on my to-read pile atm). I read it when the hardback came out and read it after The Silmarillion; like Beth, I think it works well as a standalone. I'm looking forward to re-reading it!

I'm definitely looking forward to The Hobbit movies--been looking forward to them for years, haha! I was initially a little skeptical when the news broke that the book being broken down into 3 films instead of 2 but then again part of me would love to see more of Middle Earth on the big screen anyways so my enthusiasm hasn't really dampened down or anything.

Interesting to know Michael! I found the lyrics to ROTK's "Bilbo's Song" online; apparently it was sung in Sindarin (very cool, I love all of the elvish songs from the movies) but yeah, I have no idea if it was from "Bilbo's Last Song." I'm looking forward to getting a copy of the song sometime in the coming weeks...

Wow, I never actually read this! I'm going to have to check it out as well, thanks for the details.

Out of curiosity, there's a song at the end of the complete recordings for the ROTK movie called "Bilbo's Song"...is this the poem they based the lyrics from, you think? =)

I first read LOTR a few weeks before the first movie was released. I had heard of the novels for the longest time but hearing that a film adaptation was coming out prompted me to finally check out the books. From there I read The Hobbit, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. I've been meaning to revisit The Silmarillion, I don't think I quite appreciated the style that Tolkien had written it in though I was amazed by the scope and detail of the stories.

David wrote: "I've never read it, but have been curious about it since first hearing about it. It's on my long list of epics to read :)"

I hope you get a chance to! It's a lot more adventurous and entertaining than I first thought (and yeah, you could see some of the themes and elements that inspired Tolkien) =)

Thinking on the subject a little further, I would have loved it if Tolkien had written a short story or something on Eomer's experiences after the War of the Ring. I was always impressed that he was able to rebuild Rohan on his own/through his guidance.

Gundula wrote: "This might be a bit different, but I really wish that Tolkien had written an English translation of "The Kalevala.""

That would've been amazing! I am currently reading The Kalevala and it's just so rich visually and in lore, it would've been interesting to see how he would have translated it.

Dorothy wrote: "Who are your non-Tolkien favorites?"

My favourite non-Tolkien fantasy authors include Tad Williams, Brandon Sanderson, Terry Pratchett and George R.R. Martin. I haven't read the second volume yet but I enjoyed Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind and I imagine I'd add his name to the list once I read the second volume. Same with Daniel Abraham =)

Welcome Maria, Kev and Elle! =)

Maria wrote: "Hello to the fans of Tolkien, my name is Maria and I haven't read any Tolkien books yet, I will read these four once I order them:

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/10...

I've decide..."

Nice! I've been meaning to purchase a hardback copy of LOTR for myself xD

I've read:

The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
The Silmarillion
The Unfinished Tales
The Children of Hurin
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

I used to read The Lord of the Rings every year but I seem to have fallen out of that practice towards the end of my undergrad. Perhaps I will re-read it this year (if I can somehow make my to-read pile shorter) =)

Hi everyone! My name is Lianne and I'm glad I found this community =) I first read The Lord of the Rings in high school (right before the first movie came out; figured it was time to read the books) and he has been my favourite author ever since (amongst other authors, of course). Other books of his I've read are The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Children of Hurin and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun as well as The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. I also hope to get around to reading The Histories of Middle Earth at some point.

Anyways, I look forward to chatting with everyone here! =)