Re-Reading with the Discussion Project

[Valandil]

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to make the effort to re-read 'The Lord of the Rings' along with our Discussion Project. It's a nice easy pace, so I think I can work it in along with everything else and even other readings (what does it come to - just about 12-15 pages per week?).

In fact, I've been wanting to do a re-read with highlighters in hand for some time. I'd like to highlight a certain color all the 'wise sayings' of Gandalf, Elrond, Aragorn... and others, which can carry over into 'real life'. Then I might use other colors to pick up certain other things (one for forshadowing, one for historical information, etc.).

Several years ago, I had sort of set myself to re-read the books about every 5-7 years. It turned out I was already in a re-read when I heard about the movies in 1999, so I finished that one and then did another complete re-read in 2001, before seeing FotR to get it all fresh in mind. For the last two installments, I just re-read those particular segments (TT and RotK).

So... anybody else with me? I thought it might help make our discussion much more informed and intelligent (at least on my end... I get rather forgetful these days! :p :D )

:)

[Bombadillo]

I will do that. It's terrible, but I think I might actually have to to remember a lot of the information and know what I'm talking about in the thread. I've always wanted to annotate, too, but when I pick up the book I feel like I just can't deface it so.

It sounds difficult for me to read so slowly, but come to think of it I've ussually read at that pace anyway. A bunch of chapters, lose the book for half a month, a couple more chapters, lose the book for another while, find a good part and read a lot of chapters at once and kind of marvel at it for a month, and so on. This should be good.

[Artanis]

I was already in the process of re-reading it when this project came up. I've read LotR every year for 7-8 years now. :)

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Artanis
I was already in the process of re-reading it when this project came up. I've read LotR every year for 7-8 years now. :)

So you're gonna just 'lap' the rest of us a few times around, while we're at it, eh? ;)

[Earniel]

I'm in! It's the perfect excu- er opportunity to reread LoTR. :D

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Eärniel
I'm in! It's the perfect excu- er opportunity to reread LoTR. :D

Er... was I THAT transparent?? :p

[Earniel]

Neh neh neh. If you are, then there's two of us.:p

[azalea]

I plan to do that. It's what I had hoped for, that everyone would be reading it at the same time, just because I thought it would be fun. I'm glad some of you are actually going to try it!:)
But I admit it may get hard not to read ahead at some parts.:D

[brownjenkins]

i've read it an awful lot of times, but still plan to do the read-along, paying a lot of attention to detail

i plan to read each part along with the discussions (though, i'll probably read other books at the same time)

[Earniel]

Originally posted by azalea
But I admit it may get hard not to read ahead at some parts.:D

Ooh, you're right. Very difficult. That's going to demand some self control and dicipline, I'm afraid. Darn, just the thing I don't have...

I'll probably do like brownjenkins and read several books at the time.

[hectorberlioz]

im in!
I've been slacking off lotr and reading other books (crime & punishmnet, david copperfield, evenings with the orchestra; by youknowhwho). but its high time to refamilarize myself with lotr.

[Lady Ravyn]

12-15 pages doesn't sound too hard; that way i can keep reading the other book i started already :)
when do we start? this week?

[Nurvingiel]

That sounds fun! I really should be reading textbooks, but I'm sure I can keep up. :)

[The Gaffer]

This is a great idea, and indeed, the perfect excuse to re-read for, in my case, about the 5th or 6th time. (How sad is that?)

One of my friends is reading it for the first time. It made me think that we might want to label these threads "beware of spoilers" or something so that we can discuss things that haven't happened yet, if you see what I mean.

Why do we get so much out of this book by re-reading it?:D Every time I've read it I've got something new and different out of it.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by The Gaffer
Why do we get so much out of this book by re-reading it?:D Every time I've read it I've got something new and different out of it. Perhaps it's because the book is so complex, so full of details, and subtle hints to the old mythology. And every time I read it anew I know a little more of Tolkien's world and tend to see things in another way.

[azalea]

Originally posted by Lady Ravyn
12-15 pages doesn't sound too hard; that way i can keep reading the other book i started already :)
when do we start? this week?

Yes! Start now. I read (and made notes on, since I'm intro'ing it) the Foreword last night, and plan to read the Prologue tonight and tomorrow night (taking longer than it normally would because I'm taking notes for the intro). I'm going to be posting the intro Thursday, if all goes well. :)

[Radagast The Brown]

Well, of course I'll re-read it. I thought it was obvious. :rolleyes: I might even try to read it in English, but it would take me much more time.

[Artanis]

Just one thing - why are you calling it Forward, and not Foreword? I thought first it was a typo, but it seems to be consequent. :confused:

[Nurvingiel]

Don't you mean consistent? :D I think you're right about "Foreward" though.

[azalea]

Oh, yeah, just point it out to everyone, now! ;)
It's a spelling error on my part. It's happens sometimes.:) I don't think it looks right a certain way, so I keep spelling it the way I think it should be. :) I'll change it, though. I guess it's something about the e being in the middle like that. I always want to drop those es.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Nurvingiel
Don't you mean consistent? :D I think you're right about "Foreward" though. LOL! Yes, I mean consistent.
That's how it goes when I put my nose up too high. :rolleyes: :D

[crickhollow]

Originally posted by azalea
I always want to drop those es. that's funny--ever since I took Chaucer last year, I add es to the end of a lot of my words.

yay for reading lotr! And at a very nice, slow pace so that I don't have to worry about it taking the place of homework ;) (wait...what did Earniel say about discipline? I think that applies to me, too)

[azalea]

Read the PS in my post in the other thread -- forward vs. foreword.:)

[Rían]

Funny, I just started re-reading it two weeks ago. I'm almost done with FOTR. What a great book! (but you guys know that!)

I know this brings in the movies, but as I was re-reading, it was really interesting to see the lines that are in the movie, but given to a different character, or spoken at a different time. Is there a thread for that? I'd be interested in compiling that info just for fun. Could we make a small note in our posts in this thread when we hit a line that is in the movies, or should we just start another thread?

[brownjenkins]

i'm excited... i get to start chapter one tonight! :D

i forget... is it once a week or once every two weeks?

[Valandil]

Originally posted by RÃ*an
I know this brings in the movies, but as I was re-reading, it was really interesting to see the lines that are in the movie, but given to a different character, or spoken at a different time. Is there a thread for that? I'd be interested in compiling that info just for fun. Could we make a small note in our posts in this thread when we hit a line that is in the movies, or should we just start another thread?

I'd say separate thread... in the movie forum. Maybe do a search on it first, then start it up with some of the ones you noticed. :)

[azalea]

Originally posted by brownjenkins
i'm excited... i get to start chapter one tonight! :D

i forget... is it once a week or once every two weeks?

Every two weeks. So if you're "playing along at home," you should aim to read chapter one by next Friday (the 26th). :)

Rian, I think there might be a suitable thread in the movies forum, but if you can't find one, it would be fine to start one. That does sound fun.:)

[Rían]

I looked a bit, but didn't see one, and I just came across another fun quote from the book tonight - I think it would be fun, too :)


*official sounding voice* We interrupt this thread for an important announcement - it is the civic duty of all Mooters, no matter how many times they've read LOTR, to start reading it again, in order to support this important civic project that will have a huge positive impact on global peace and the ozone layer! Citizens of Entmoot - do your duty!

We now return you to your thread :)

[Lady Ravyn]

you know, now that i really think about it, i don't remember evr reading the foreward or prolouge before...*ducks angry mooters throwing stuff* sorry! i just...never noticed them! *ducks more flying objects* :o

[azalea]

Well, now's your chance! Read them and comment in the discussion thread!:)

[Lalaith_Elf]

Hey, I'm in!!!
A oppertunity to re-read the books instead of doing essays.:) But I don't know about highlighting the books.... I just don't think I can bring myself to deface Tolkien.:eek:

I'll start to re-read tonight - hopefully s-l-o-w-ly, I normally read books quite quickly.

[azalea]

Just to remind everyone: if you are doing this, chapter 2 should be read by no later than APRIL 9.:)

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

aaahh u dont leave me much time, do you?

i have to re read up to the end of chapter 2 within the next 11 and a half hours

[Elvengirl]

I'm in. I just reread them before the movies came out, but this will give me a good excuse to go over them again and pay attention to the details. And who better is there to discuss the books with than ouy guys. :)

[azalea]

Section 4 will be due on April 30, so if you're reading along, plan to have chapters 3 and 4 read by then. I plan to read chapter 3 this week, and chapter 4 the following week, to keep an even pace.:)

[Valandil]

Argh! It's been hard to stay consistent with the start-and-stop reading! I'm only about half-way through chapter 3. So now I need to wrap up 3 & 4 (I have almost 30 pages to go) THEN get 5 and 6 by next weekend. Too bad I just seem to have something every night and can't get to it. *sigh*

[azalea]

Yes, I'm behind as well, but I'll get caught up this week. (We all had a stomach flu last week, then my son's third b'day and a baby shower for a friend over the weekend, doctor appt, swim lesson sign ups...WHEW! Now things are calm again, at least for a while.)
I haven't even started 3 yet, but I'll get them both read by the weekend, and will be able to post in the thread. Plus I need to post in the ch. 2 thread -- I have all my notes, I just never was able to get anything posted there. But I'm sure no one will mind revisiting it if they want to respond to anything I write about it.:)

So here is where it stands: ideally, you'd have ch. 5 read by this Friday, and ch. 6 by the following Friday (May 14), when the chapters are due to be posted. But those of us who are behind can at least make it our goal to have them both read by then:)

You know, it's not the reading. It's the note taking that makes it harder than it normally would be, at least in my case. I take too many notes, but there is just so much in there to make note of!:D

[brownjenkins]

i'm not much of a note taker... i just try to read it at lunch a day or two before the due date so it's fresh in my mind... though i may have to do it a bit sooner when my chapters come up ;)

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Lalaith_Elf
But I don't know about highlighting the books.... I just don't think I can bring myself to deface Tolkien.:eek:

Well... I've started doing it - and it's OK! I actually had similar reservations about highlighting in the Bible some years back. Not that I felt there was anything really wrong with doing it - it just didn't feel right! However, I just thought it through and came to the conclusion that the 'sacred' aspect of scripture was how it would become learned by our minds and shape our attitudes and actions - not the ink printed on paper... so maybe you can conclude something similar (though maybe a bit less 'sacred' :p ) about LotR. :)

Happy, happy! Had a chance to do some catch-up reading this weekend. Finished chapter 4, read all of 5 and have started into 6. Hope to have 6 done by the 20th - JD's target day to post 5 and 6! :D

[cassiopeia]

I 'defaced' my copy of the LOTR by adding FÃ*riel as the daughter of Elanor and Fastred in Samwise's family tree. I think I got that from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and added it to the LOTR because it's not mentioned. :)

[azalea]

Okay, everyone -- now that ch. 5&6 are up, we can read on, that is IF anyone is still "with me!":)

Chapters 7&8 are "due" on July 8. Happy reading!:D

[Valandil]

Originally posted by azalea
...Chapters 7&8 are "due" on July 8. Happy reading!:D

Zoiks! It's almost upon us! :eek:

Good thing we in America have a 3-day weekend... if we can squeeze the chapters in between barbeques and fireworks! :p