Whatcha reading?

[diane bartels]

Lord of the Rings.

[Ezra Lb.]

Lord of the Rings.

Diane is this your first time or is this a reread? All I ever hear about the old classics like LOTRs is from fanboys. When you finish I'd really like to hear your take.

[Rick Keeney]

Lord of the Rings.

Diane is this your first time or is this a reread? All I ever hear about the old classics like LOTRs is from fanboys. When you finish I'd really like to hear your take.

Diane has a wonderful journey in store.

I am no kind of fanboy Ez, so take it from me: When I read LOTR for the first time I was in my 40s. I was mesmerized. It is quite the achievement. I remember thinking at times, "J.R.R. has to say the right thing in this next paragraph or this story will fall apart." or "That was one of the most carefully thought out sentences I've read in a while." Beautiful storytelling.

To me fanboys take all the fun out of books like this.

[Rick Keeney]

Where are you in the story, Diane?

[Steve Evil]

I was an LOTR fanboy, until the Jackson films came out. Not only did they not "do it" for me, but seemed to forever alter how the books would appear in the public imagination. Into something I could no longer identify with. . .

[Ezra Lb.]

I was going to wait to hear from Diane before I made any comments of my own about LOTRs but I will say this much.

I received the first two volumes from my then girlfriend when I was in high school as a birthday gift. (I've occasionally wondered if there was any intended symbolism in only giving me the first two. Looking back it may simply be she was unaware there was a third.) I was transfixed. For two weeks I couldn't put it down and I never wanted it to end. I've never been quite as breathlessly absorbed in a work before or since. However, a few years later when I read it again I was strangely...less impressed. How can this be? Well having read a lot more since and having read LOTRs a couple more times over the years, I think I can explain why but it would require spoilers and I want to hear what Diane thinks.

I thought the movies were probably the best we were going to get and it could have been a lot worse. What Jackson & co did was take one aspect of the book and accentuate it over all the others. Also I thought the first volume of the book was the best part and I thought the first movie was the weakest.

[Rick Keeney]

I'm also interested in DUNE. Where are with that, Duane. I picked it up for a reread recently and was sucked right back into the milieu. Utterly absorbing storytelling, even if the science does at times get a bit clunky.

[Douglas Harrison]

I'm also interested in DUNE. Where are with that, Duane. I picked it up for a reread recently and was sucked right back into the milieu. Utterly absorbing storytelling, even if the science does at times get a bit clunky.

I have a Dune Bookcase Game from Avalon Hill. It's detailed and complex, and although I tried to play it a few times more than thirty years ago, I hadn't read the book yet, so I put it aside--and now I have no one to play with!

D.

[Rick Keeney]

Douglas, Do you listen to books on tape whilst driving?

That sounds like a fun game. This one?

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/121/dune

[diane bartels]

Read them first about a dozen years or so ago. Liked them a lot. Haven't seen the movies yet. And I am half way though the first book of the three. Haven't read the Hobbit at all yet.
The book is good. This time around I am paying more attention to the craft of the book, the way it builds. The first read the characters just amazed me. It seems this time around, I can see more of it.I like these books a lot. When young, I read fantasy novels of Lloyd Alexander. Loved them. Found myself wishing the world was like that, good fighting against evil, white against. That was one of the things I liked first about LOTR; the fight for good. But the story is wonderfully textured. So I an enjoying it a lot.

[Douglas Harrison]

Douglas, Do you listen to books on tape whilst driving?

No, I find they require too much of my attention. I've got to keep a close eye on the four-wheelers.

That sounds like a fun game. This one?

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/121/dune

That's it, all right. Dates to 1979, I see, not long before I got into D&D.

D.

[Ezra Lb.]

I've got to keep a close eye on the four-wheelers.

You mean the ones whose drivers are cruising along listening to audiobooks?

[Douglas Harrison]

I've got to keep a close eye on the four-wheelers.

You mean the ones whose drivers are cruising along listening to audiobooks?

Those among all the others. Driving a rig in heavy traffic is like jogging in a cat stampede.

D.

[Rick Keeney]

Douglas, Do you listen to books on tape whilst driving?

No, I find they require too much of my attention. I've got to keep a close eye on the four-wheelers.

That sucks. So tunes and talk radio for you.

[Rick Keeney]

THE JOHN COLTRANE COMPANION: FIVE DECADES OF COMMENTARY- Carl Woidek, ed.
COLTRANE ON COLTRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE INTERVIEWS- Chris DeVito, ed.

This is when I wish I had more musical training.

Two years of elementary school clarinet cut it not.