Reading LOTR changed our lives // book discussion w/ @emmiereads

@emmiereads and I were so excited to FINALLY discuss Lord of the Rings, and we're even more excited to share our thoughts with you!

Hi friends,

Just a little warning: this book discussion does have spoilers!

If you joined in, thank you so much for reading this brilliantly beautiful book with us! We hope you loved it as much as we did!

Please feel free to share all your thoughts with us in the comments! We'd love to hear from you :)

Best wishes (fellow hobbits),
Carolyn and Emma

My Social Media: CarolynMarieReads

***About me -
I'm a freelance illustrator and writer who graduated (in May of 2021) from The Fashion Institute of Technology with my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration with a minor in English/Writing.
My greatest passion in life is combining my three loves: illustrating, writing, and reading!

Happy Reading :)

Chapters:
Hello fellow hobbits - 00:00
General thoughts - 00:30
Book 1: Fellowship - 01:11
Book 2: The Two Towers - 08:59
Books 3: The Return of the King - 15:19
The ending(s) - 27:03
Middlemarch? - 35:16
Other reads and finals thoughts - 35:55

#bookdiscussion #bookreview #lotr

[robertpearson]

Your desire to know more about Sauron’s backstory makes reading the Silmarillion a necessity. Wanting to know more about the world and the characters is one of the great strengths of the story, it speaks volumes about the quality of the world building.

[raakii]

Please read The Silmarillion. Don’t dare miss it

[carlosbranca]

Girls, i am so glad to see you got how special LOTR is. I'm 51 years old from latin America. I have read my fair share of fantasy but nothing compares to Tolkien. Read it at least 4 times and plan a few more before i die. I always tell everybody that reading The Hobbit and LOTR is good for the soul. Take care and keep up the good work.

[jasonmeade]

If you read the Silmarillion (and I hope you do), here's a little advice:
Read it in small portions. Doing it all in one go is likely to be too much.
Take a break for a minute when you get to something great to digest it. Re-read those parts.
Don't worry too much about names. The most important will be repeated many times. Remember many characters end up with more than one name as time goes on.
Plan on reading it more than once. You will be surprised how much deeper things can get with every read.
Have a map or three handy. Especially a detailed map of Belariand. Refer often while reading.

[clairebott]

The separation of the characters over lengthy reading periods mimics in an excellent way, the way that those characters would know nothing of what the others were doing or even where they where geographically. I love that structure 🎉🎉🎉. Xxx Claire B.

[WillBTeeVee]

Some of my favorite passages from the books (forgive the length, this was a very inspiring discussion!):


From "The Fellowship Of The Ring" - Chapter VI: Lothlórien:


"At the hill's foot, Frodo found Aragorn, standing still and silent as a tree; but in his hand was a small golden bloom of elenor, and a light was in his eyes. He was wrapped in some fair memory: and as Frodo looked at him he knew that he beheld things as they once had been in this same place. For the grim years were removed from the face of Aragorn, and he seemed clothed in white, a young lord tall and fair; and he spoke words in the Elvish tongue to one whom Frodo could not see. Arwen vanimelda, namarië! he said, and then he drew a breath, and returning out of his thought he looked at Frodo and smiled.

'Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth, ' he said, 'and here my heart dwells ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we still must tread, you and I. Come with me!' And taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill of Cerin Amroth and came there never again as a living man."

From "The Two Towers" - Chapter VIII: The Stairs Of Cirith Ungol:

"And so Gollum found them hours later, when he returned, crawling and creeping down the path out of the gloom ahead. Sam sat propped against the stone, his head dropping side-ways and his breathing heavy. In his lap lay Frodo's head, drowned deep in sleep; upon his white forehead lay one of Sam's brown hands, and the other lay softly upon his master's breast. Peace was in both their faces.


Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee - but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they had beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing."

From "The Return Of The King" - Chapter VI: Many Partings:


"Here now for seven days they tarried, for the time was at hand for another parting which they were both to make. Soon Celeborn and Galadriel and their folk would turn eastward, and so pass by the Redhorn Gate and down the Dimrill Stair to the Silverlode and to their own country. They had journeyed thus far by the west-ways, for they had much to speak with Elrond and with Gandalf, and here they lingered still in converse with their friends. Often long after the hobbits were wrapped in sleep they would sit together under the stars, recalling the ages that were gone and all their joys and labours in the world, or holding council, concerning the days to come. If any wanderer had chanced to pass, little would he have seen or heard, and it would have seemed to him only that he saw grey figures, carved in stone, memorials of forgotten things now lost in unpeopled lands. For they did not move or speak with mouth, looking from mind to mind; and only their shining eyes stirred and kindled as their thoughts went to and fro."


I'm glad you both found these books as affecting as I did - the ending always hits hard and I like to think of the films complimenting the books and vice versa, in many ways. Regarding Sauron, I kind of like that we never see him in a way, I think it adds to his menace, a kind of painted force that is projected as an existential threat that goes beyond anything our heroes have faced before.

I think of him as representative of the end of the world itself, a kind of almost Lovecraftian evil in a way, and less of a manifested threat that can directly interfere with our heroes face to face. I think it was an interesting choice on Tolkien's part to go down this road with him and, paraphrasing, he described Saruman and he this way. "I've never known a Sauron but I've known plenty of Saruman's". Saruman perhaps represents the more "known" evil, the evil of people who deem themselves superior and by in doing so, their curiosity gets the best of them and they become consumed with power itself, a dynamic that runs all the way through the trilogy and through Tolkien's works I would say.

I agree in regards to the traveling as portrayed in Fellowship, it really adds to a great sense of how real this world feels and how vividly Tolkien painted it, and for me the sense of the journey really does immerse you as the reader into the world so as to create a sense of connection that will later pay off big time when we get into more serious territory. It also underscores the value of this world and what a loss it would be if Sauron were to destroy it.

Frodo and Sam's relationship is really the heart of the books for me, and to have such a pure love of two beings who are committed to each other no matter what makes the ending all the more heartbreaking as well, knowing that they might be reunited in time (as suggested in the appendices), but at the same time knowing Frodo can no longer exist in what he once saved, having in many ways made the ultimate sacrifice.

So much more I could say but this was a wonderful discussion and it's always great to see people digging into these books and discovering the treasures therein.

[TheRASDEL]

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" is my favorite quote of all time and such powerfull words that I trully believe hide the real meaning of happiness.

[thecaptain]

I'm not with you ladies on the battle scenes. Maybe it's just because I'm a guy, but I absolutely love the battle scenes. I don't really care for the action scenes in most fantasy books, especially modern fantasy books, because the authors tend to get overly descriptive and literal in their battle scenes, usually laying out in minute detail everything that happened in the battle, or describing every detail of the choreography of the fight between two characters. It becomes boring and bogged down in too much detail. But Tolkien's battle scenes are told in such a magnificent, poetically rich way, you can't help but feel the grandiosity and the heroism of it all. He has such impeccable artistic and poetic flair in his writings that it brings the battles to life like no other author I have ever read. And there is also a rawness and a realism to the battles that is rare in most fantasy writing, probably due to the fact that Tolkien undoubtedly drew from his very IRL experience of war in World War I. In my opinion, Tolkien is the best writer of battle scenes that there has ever been. Which is probably why he is still the uncontested king of fantasy even all these years later.

[joychalaby]

Just had to say, Emma, the way you described Frodo's suffering and the way he deals with it quietly, but also with grace. Ok now im gonna cry 😭👌 👏

[haleythewhitaker]

Okay yeah catch me crying literal tears when you read the quote about a far green country under a swift sunrise 😭💔❤️

[seanmcmurphy]

I have to say I prefer the _Lord of the Rings_ to all the endless superhero movies, and also _Game of Thrones_ . In superhero movies, the world is menaced by villains, we humans are helpless, and the only thing we can do is find someone with super powers to be a vigilante. The underlying message of all superhero movies is _"ordinary people don't matter"_ . While in the LotR the goal is to destroy power. The most humble creatures, the Hobbits, are the ones who can save the world, because they desire power the least. I think this is a message the world needs to hear.

[shovas]

This deliciously blissfully unaware of what awaits you in the Appendices, The Silmarillion, and the rest of the Middle-Earth legendarium. You are on the start of a narrative journey that will stick with you your entire life.

[StashaA.]

I am so happy that you read LOTR together and we got to se this beautiful discussion. You both made my heart and soul full. I had a smile on my face all 37 minutes as you both managed to make us feel what you felt when reading it. And Carolyn, I know that you are self proclaimed hobbit, but in this video you totally look like the most beautiful elf. 😊🧚‍♀💖

[gcsegovi]

could we please have a part 2 discussion where you go through all of the unanswered questions possibly? because this discussion was so so wonderful I didn't want it to end, I even got emotional near the end listening to you both talk about the ending and I immediately went to watch this video again. And I just would love to keep watching more LOTR thoughts!

[joelharris]

Morning! morning 🔆! Any discussion of J.R.R. Tolkien or his magnificent work brings a warm smile to my face, every time. It's wild to think he committed to a lifetime of meticulous world building just so he can come home from Oxford and relate swashbuckling bedtime stories to his children. But it is also true he wanted a national mythology for his beloved country, the way the Norse had Odin, and the Greeks had the Iliad. It's funny you should talk about his poetry. Tolkien never felt he was taken seriously as a poet in his own lifetime. You would think someone like Tolkien would be on top of the world for creating LOTR and The Hobbit, but deep down, more than anything else, apparently he sought recognition for poetry. Harper Collins is set to release "The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien" this month, if I'm not mistaken. This might interest you. As as poet myself, this interests me🧡✌Thanks for sharing Emmie and Carolyn

[krishnalelis]

Now please read The Silmarillion, it's such an awesome book!

[brandonatchison]

LOTR is my favourite fantasy novel, and possibly my favourite work of fiction in general. The book had a massive impact on me and holds a special place in my heart for two reasons. My parents separated when I was young, and one of the few times we spent together as a family was going to see The Fellowship of the Ring in the cinema. Thankfully, my parents got back together the following year. The next year, we went on a two-week camping trip around the UK, and my grandma gifted me an old one volume copy of LOTR for the trip.

[palantir]

I started to read these books, The Hobbit, The lord of the rings, Silmarillion etc. about fifty years ago and I’m still in love with these books. I reread TLOTR every 3-4 years and still discover new insights.
The Silmarillion is a bit more difficult to read but the stories are so satisfying. They provide you with the history of Middle Earth.

I can recommend you the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

[Jane]

I really love the new format of your discussions now. It gives it more of a podcast vibe.❤

[KevDaly]

Frodo is better developed and has more agency in the books - think of the way he defies the Ringwraiths -- in the films he tends to get turned into Frodo Baggage rather than Frodo Baggins.
Good and Evil as absolutes is precisely the point: not that individual people aren't complex mixtures of both, or that it can't be hard to discern which is the right choice to make, but that Good does exist, Evil does exist, and they are more than just sides.