The Works of JRR Tolkien

[fishman65]

Its wonderful to have a fellow Tolkien geek that I can engage in intellectual sparring. There's nobody in my family that's interested. I tried to inspire my daughter when she was younger, but she's 23 now and way too cool. I'm definitely going to read the Silmarillion again, just as soon as I finish this Putin book. He'd get on well with Sauron.

[Darksky]

This is true. There’s no one for me either.

I know people who have read the books but that’s as far as they go. Finding people who really ‘feel’ it, is rare. So yes, this is an absolute pleasure for me too.

I went mad with the books back in the day…I’ve got his official biography. The book of all the letters he wrote. His book of paintings. The various volumes of Lost Tales…and I swear to God if I found a book ‘Teach yourself Quenya’ I would buy it

[fishman65]

Crikey delving into a created language takes dedication. I've never felt the urge to go quite that far Darksky. I forgot to mention the Radio 4 production of LOTR that was performed sometime during 1980 or 81 if I remember correctly. Yes 1981 it was. I think it used to be on every Sunday at 12 noon. Sir Michael Hordern played Gandalf and Ian Holm was Frodo as opposed to Bilbo in the Movie.

Towards the later episodes I was on holiday in the Scottish Highlands. While my Mum had gone around Inverewe gardens, I stayed in the car listening to LOTR on this little yellow plastic radio. The reception was poor but I couldn't miss an episode. Surrounded by natural beauty wasn't enough to drag me away from it.

While I think of it and being on the topic of 'fantasy literature', have you read any of Stephen Donaldson? I read his first six books in a doubly trilogy but have since found he's written more.

[Darksky]

Mae Govannen Fishman

No, I haven’t read any of those Stephen Donaldson books. I’ve just done a quick Google and I think I may well give them a go. Apparently he’s heavily influenced by Tolkien and uses archane language. There are 10 novels in the series. I’ll have a mooch on eBay.

Theres another set of novels, but I’m blowed if I can remember what they are called. Apparently they are quite good too. The main character is a black elf called Drizzt or something like that?
I knew a chap who was obsessed with them, he even called his dog Drizzt…a black lab funnily enough. He said they were very much worth reading. He was a nerdlinger too, could talk for hours about these books….which he did….frequently.

You see Fishman, these people walk amongst us and we never know.

Off topic…. 4-0!!!! This is getting embarrassing.

[Darksky]

Found them…I knew I wasn’t imagining it….

They are by RA Salvatore…the first ones are The Dark Elf Trilogy.
If I remember rightly from my endless conversations with the geek…Drizzt is the dark elf…he has black skin and white hair and I think he gets exiled from his home to start with. It’s been a while so I’m a bit sketchy.

They we’re spoken very highly of so maybe worthwhile putting in our library?
After you have read The Silmarillion of course.

I was thinking about our conversation re it needing to be fleshed out. Then I realised that’s why I like it so much…I can flesh it out and do so.
Our imaginations can kick in and we fill it out exactly as we want. I bet my finished book would be very different from yours. I love the biblical way it’s written and all the thee, thine and thou. Is this the way Donaldsons books are written?

[fishman65]

Good grief you're even greeting me in Elvish now!! Stephen Donaldson has a reputation for coming across as a misogynist. So I hesitated to mention him. However I was only about 17 or 18 when I read them, so that 'tone' was probably lost on me. However I'm certainly NOT a woman hater, I think you are gorgeous creatures that should be adored and running every government on the planet. There would be no wars.

Anyway slightly digressing there. When I finished the final book as it was at that time (White Gold Wielder), I sat on my bed and sobbed. Literally.

Probably like you did yesterday after Man Utd's 4-0 hammering by the mighty Brentford. What on Earth has happened to them? Time was when Man Utd would be default winners of the Prem unless someone could come up with a better team. They've never been the same since Sir Alex retired have they. Everton lost again but that's expected. Finishing halfway up the table is considered success at Goodison Park.

[Darksky]

Apparently ETH had the buggers in for training today when it was supposed to be their day off. He made then run 13.8 km, which is the exact amount that Brentford ran more than them yesterday. Paddy Power have them 25-1 being relegated. Worth a punt I think.

No wars with women? Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands. TBH Liz Truss scares the pants off me with her inexperienced sabre rattling. I sure Elizabeth the first was in a few.

Anyway about misogyny, it’s funny but although Tolkien couldn’t be called one at all, he has been criticised for all his main protagonists/antagonists being male. Women were written as bit parts. Even Galadriel. I think The S. was worse for this but if you think of his influences you can see why he followed the pattern. Also he was criticised for all the fellowship being like boarding school boys. All were sons of someone bigger/more important. This was just someone opinion, all geeks have one, don’t we?

[pulisa]

I think you 2 could sign yourselves up for Mastermind with "the Works of JRR Tolkien" as your specialist subject?

[Darksky]

What, with our anxiety Pulisa?!

Under stress I forget my own name.

[pulisa]

Pity you can't forget which team you support?