Our individual plans

[Nóm]

I'm opening this for all of our members to give their Tolkien history if they wish, and more importantly to tell what approach they are taking to the books, and plans for the future of their enjoyment of these books. Also, to tell us what specific things in Middle-earth interest them most... which era, which people... what type of discussion topics... and so forth.

We have a lot of newer members, and people that I have not got to interact with yet, and I'd be interested in knowing what they have to say and what their interests are.

Also, any suggestions as to how we can work together as a group to aid eachother in our studies. But such suggestions can also be placed in our "Happenings" thread.

As is probably obvious, I think essays would be a great way for us to learn because it allows us to work alone if we wish, but also to seek aid from others.

I am thinking that each person has their own preference, and some may rather just discuss than write up an essay.

I am wondering what other members would like to do within the guild.



Within Middle-earth my interests are The First age, pre-first age, the elves, Melkor, and philosophical topics.


I started reading Tolkien a year ago with The Hobbit, and then The Lord of the Rings, then several months ago I read The Silmarillion and that is what really pulled me into all of this. I am now trying to work my way through The HoMe books, but I am not reading them in order, as I maybe should? But am rather just picking out the things that most interest me and reading them First. I have finally read all of Morgoth's Ring, and various sections of other books. It is my intention to eventually have read all of these books and have a good understanding of the evolution of the tales (such as the 5 versions of the Ainulindale, for example) and knowledge of the chronology of the Middle-earth writings.

Right now I am starting to look at the Silmarillion outline in Shaping of Middle-earth, and the Noldorinwa, Next I will read the Quenta Silmarillion in The Lost Road. I have read the first portion of Later Quenta that is in Morgoth's Ring.

I tried to learn Quenya with a group here at TTF, but found that I could not stick to the plan, and would probably be better doing this on my own time, but have since decided not to worry about the languages yet.

[baragund]

Nom,

This is a great idea! As a new member, I certainly appreciate this chance to get to know my fellow scholars. I sense I am in the company of some pretty dedicated fans and am looking forward to hearing your stories and perspectives.

As for me, I have been ejoying these stories for over 25 years. I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was in the 6th grade back in the mid 1970s, and I was instantly hooked. I went right to LOTR after that and I can still recall how absolutely engrossed I was that first time I read it. That first time, I read it over summer vacation and I remember looking forward to rainy days so I could spend the whole day with my nose buried in the books.

I attempted The Silmarillion when it was first published, but it was too dense for me as a 9th grader. Same thing with Unfinished Tales. I bought the first editions of both books, but my copy of The Silmarillion got lost in a move (yes, I am still kicking myself for that!!). I still have my first edition of Unfinished Tales.

My interest kind of tailed off in college, but was rekindled when my wife bought me the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Hobbit and a nice hard-bound edition of LOTR for Christmas back in 1987-88. After reading through the entire published works, including The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales this time, my interest dropped off again until New Line's movies came out. I am now reading The Hobbit to my 4 year old (editing the more graphic passages as I go along, of course) and she seems to be enjoying it a lot. My 8 year old is more into Harry Potter at the moment.

My attitude toward re-reading and discussing the stories is something akin to revisiting an old friend. Each time I read the stories, I pick up something new and it is interesting to notice how my reaction to particular story line elements and my attitude toward characters change over the years. I enjoy getting into details of Middle Earth, and I enjoy all of the ages, races and characters more or less equally.

I am flexible about how we discuss the books. I am thoroughly enjoying my first debate with Gondorian, Inderjit and Mirabella but simple Q&A discussions and essays are fine too. I have a number of questions in my head about the workings of Middle Earth that I look forward to posing to the group. My only request is to keep things light, don't take ourselves too seriously and remember this is all for fun.

Enough babbling!! Looking forward to hearing from you.

Jim Z.

[Nenya Evenstar]

My history. . . . :D

When I was around four I remember looking at the cover of The Hobbit while my Dad read it. I was fascinated with the big eagle and "all the little people" pictured there. When I was nine I finally read the book myself and then went on to read The Lord of the Rings. The four books became my favorite books to read and I've been reading them ever since. When I was twelve I read The Silmarillion for the first time but unfortunately forgot most of it. I then re-read it before the first LotR movie came out. I became an avid PJ supporter of the first movie and began to look into Tolkien's books more when I found this site last August. I joined and since then have re-read the series, re-read The Silmarillion, started The Letters, and started BOLT I. I have Unfinished Tales, BOLT II, and a few of Tolkien's non-LOTR related works to read as well. I seem to spend a lot of time reading Tolkien, though not as much as I'd like to spend, and enjoy every minute of it. I enjoy reading the books out loud and find that with each new reading comes new emotions, and I very nearly cry every time I read Tolkien. My little "reading sessions" are enhanced sometimes by listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtracks. :p

I enjoy discussing Tolkien, writing essays on Tolkien, basically doing anything Tolkien-related that will cause me to learn more. I have found that the best way to learn more is to debate. I will eagerly try any new type of Tolkien discussion . . . as long as my schedule allows it. :rolleyes:

That's me. :)

[Elendil3119]

I also appreciate the opportunity to share my Tolkien "history".:) About 4 years ago, I was introduced to The Hobbit by some friends, and soon after, I began reading LotR. Since then, I've read The Hobbit too many times to count, and LotR 7 times or so. Right now, I'm reading it again. :D Last year, I picked up The Silmarillion, and started reading it. It was a tough read, but I got through it. More recently, I bought a used copy of BoLT1 (1984 1st American edition), and read that. It was also a little hard to read, but I'm sorta used to that. ;) Right now, I'm planning on buying the rest of the HoME series one-by-one, and reading them during the summer, when I get school off. The part of the Sil that I most enjoy is the section starting with Beleriand and its Realms, and continuing through Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. I'm really on fire to read Unfinished Tales too. That sounds like a neat book. My favorite book of LotR is The Fellowship of the Ring, because it is a little more light-hearted than the other two. TTT is also very good, but RotK is a little sad, because it ends the story. :( Oh well, I'll end my rambling now.... :)

[Inderjit S]

Well...here's my history....
It all started when I heard of a new movie based on a book I once *tried* to read a few years back, when I was 12, named Lord of the Rings, but me then being in the age in which that sad stage of a boys..oops, sorry MANS ;) life which is called puberty, I decided to stop reading after I was half way through the book.
Anyway, after hearing about the movie in Feb. 2001, whilst munching on my bowl of tasty Corn Flakes, I decided that a film with so much blood and gore couldn't be all that bad, and a film in which Elijah Wood may even make a competent performance (cough *The faculty* cough*) I decided to read the prequel of LoTR be "borrowing the Hobbit for a unlimited time from my school library, without their consent". An action otherwise known as stealing. I prefer the former.
I enjoyed the Hobbit, with its squeaky clean humour and endless tirade of quirky one lines, so I decided to invest my money in a copy of LoTR for Christmas. Or rather to wisely invest my mom and dads money for it.
After reading LoTR, and pondering whether Sam and Frodo were well...y'know, and what the hell Sauron was, I read it again. And again. and well you get the picture.
Then one beautiful summers morning, I decided to buy that "silmar-thingy" and "Unfinihsed Tales, in which some god meets a man, or something". Eagerly unwrapping my err..carrier bag, I read The Sil. Slightly puzzled I read it again, and then U.T, whilst at the same time falling in love with both Finduilas and Krisin Kreuk of Smallville. How my heart was torn in two...:( ;)
After gathering a *general* knowledge of the 1st age, and being somone with about as much time on his hands as Gandalf is grumpy, (As you can see by this post) I decided to go the full blown distance in being a anally retentive Tolkien fan and began HoME. History of Middle Earth that is. I've now happily developed my knowledge of HoME and have read volumes 1,2,5,6,7,10,11,12 and reading, oops sorry STUDYING HoME is one of my main hobbies next to mowing the lawn and eating popsicles. Thank you.

[Ithrynluin]

I first heard of Tolkien, and fell in love with his works, way back when...I watched Ralph Bakshi's animated version of LOTR, at the age of 6 (almost 16 years ago). I of course wanted to read the book but there was no translation and my knowledge of the English language wasn't exactly brilliant. So I waited and waited and watched Bakshi's cartoon for over a hundred times more (no, I'm not kidding - I love it, though most people feel the opposite). At the age of 15 I finally got my hands on a translation, as well as the English version and I became obsessed with it at once. Shortly afterwards I read the Silmarillion, the Hobbit, Unfinished Tales, and some other non-ME works, like "The Smith of Wooton Major" and "Leaf by Niggle".

I haven't read any HoME volume fully, I only read some sections that interested me the most.
Personally, I found "the History of the Lord of the Rings" (HoME VI-IX) to be quite tedious, so I haven't finished it.

I also enjoyed Tolkien's letters immensely, though I haven't read those that don't concern Middle Earth.

I am fascinated by almost anything concerning the Ainur (especially those that had to do with Middle Earth), and the Elves (for example: their artifacts like the Rings of Power, the Mirror of Galadriel, and the Silmarils). So you see, I am most of all interested in the immortal, "high and mighty" aspects of Tolkien's works. And to be honest, anything concerning Men bores me endlessly (such as "The New Shadow" in HoME 12 for example) , with a few exceptions.

Texts I enjoy A LOT (other than LOTR and the Sil):

- The History of Galadriel and Celeborn
- The Istari
- The Druedain
- The Palantiri
- Myths transformed (concerning Sauron and Melko)
- Last Writings; of Cirdan, Glorfindel, and the Blue Wizards
- Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
- numerous letters of the professor

[Elendil3119]

Oh yes, the History of LotR. I really enjoy those books, even though I've only read the first one, The Shadow of the Past. The books are helpful in gaining insight into what the book might have been, and how the story evolved. I skimmed a few books of the series The Quenta Silmarillion, but I hadn't read The Silmarillion yet, so I didn't understand much of it. :rolleyes:

[Inderjit S]

The Shadow of the Past.

It's Return of the Shadow, BTW.

[Elendil3119]

Oops, sorry. :o I knew I had something wrong...:rolleyes: Anyways, its a good book, and I would encourage you all to read it. :D

[BlackCaptain]

I read the Hobbit in 6th grade for a book report, then read the LOTR when I was in 7th grade, but never ended till early 8th cuz i was just so damn slow. I then got the Sil, but stopped halfway thru cuz i was lost... I re-read the LOTR, and am now about halfway done with the chapter Turin Turambar in the Sil... The book I own are:

-The Hobbit x
-The Fellowship xx
-TTT xx
-Return of the King xx
-The Silmarillion ›
-Unfinished Tales
-Lost tales V. I and II
-Letters of Jrr Tolkien
-Lays of Belriand
-Lost Road
-Shaping of ME

Ive placed an x next to the books ive read, 2 if ive read them twice, and a half x if im half done...

I really wanna get the Return of the Shadow, Treason of Isengard, and War of the Ring.

Does anyone know where to find Morgoth's Ring???

[baragund]

Morgul King,

I saw a REALLY nice bound edition of all 12 volumes of The History of Middle Earth offered via the UK's version of Amazon.com. It is being published in three volumes, but they ain't cheap:(

[Elendil3119]

'Morgoth's Ring' is available (in the US) here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395680921/ref=pd_ser_asin_10/104-0680655-9851115?v=glance&s=books). :) I'm sure its also available in U.K. somewhere. :D