Posted on 07/29/2014 3:38:10 AM PDT by Perdogg
Just great writing.
And he ridicules those on the good side that won’t pick up a sword to defend their freedom, or those out of despair, want to surrender.
But before the line you mention it says:
“His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it
reached out LIKE two vast wings.”
Hence the great flame war! The main arguments for both sides can be seen at http://tolkien.slimy.com/ , under the “Creatures’ Characteristics” section. You can also follow the debates over the great issues of of our time such as, “Did Dwarf women have beards?”
Indeed, The Silmarillion has all the back stories and more. Yet I would recommend listening to it in 13 parts on YouTube.
Download them and listen to them as an audiobook. I did and it came alive after I had stopped trying to actually read the book. Tedious beyond belief is an appropriate description.
But listening to it as audiobook is sooo much more enjoyable.
Ha! That’s awesome. Funny how my memory only retained what it wanted to. Wait; that’s my typical M.O. ....
Maybe I’ll get the CD of Moby-Dick. I’m almost through my current batch of library books.
There are three versions. May I recommend the one with Gregory Peck as Ahab?
It is not as “True” to the book, but it is a better movie, IMNSHO.
Wow I never knew he spent so much time creating back stories for his characters.
I’m sorry it’s not clear to me from what you posted here: are these back stories published?
A huge amount of his additional materials have been published, largely thanks to his son Christopher. The first of these is The Silmarillion, which was edited by Christopher Tolkien and published posthumously. Another collection of mostly new background material is called Unfinished Tales. There is also a collection of his letters (including a lot of correspondence with readers in which he answers the readers questions about the story and history) that has been published. And then, if you are really interested, there is a multivolume series (I think currently at about 13 volumes) called The History of Middle Earth. A lot of the material in this is carefully footnoted early drafts of Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, but there are bits of new material sprinkled throughout. The one with the most new material is one of the last volumes of this series called Morgoth's Ring.
I meant the recorded book. However, I’ll keep your suggestion in mind if I decide to watch a movie after the book.
Oh my...I would LOVE to hear the recorded book!
Wouldn’t it be nice if it were narrated by someone’s voice that we know and love...like Charlton Heston! :-)
I am not familiar with his voice, but I used to love to listen to the King James Bible read by Ephraim Zimblast Jr. He had a wonderful voice.
I have a couple of DVDs of Charlton Heston reading Genesis and Exodus in the Holy Land. Very impressive, and it reminds me that until quite recently, most people experienced the Bible by hearing, not reading.
Even today, there are something like 700 million illiterate people in the world.
Excellent point - and some of them are administering major urban school systems!
But seriously, that makes me wonder, when I think about all the Bibles that are distributed in far-off places by Voice of the Martyrs and other organizations, how many additional people who can’t read are reached.
So then, Faith cometh by hearing! :-)
True!
:’) Thanks Perdogg!
Tedious?
It is the one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read.
I’ve read phone books with better plots (and fewer characters).
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