Thank you
Margret
, thankfully one of the blankets is heated! Enjoy your reading, too!
Margret
, thankfully one of the blankets is heated! Enjoy your reading, too!-
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All Things Books And Reading Thread - 2018
- Thread starter jcat
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My library has the e-book for Nothing To Envy so I've put it on my "wishlist" to read someday, as I know very little about North Korea. Except of course for all the stuff in the news.
I was thinking the same thing. Even with the electric blanket, the rest of the house must be freezing! Keep an eye on your pipes. Don't want them freezing.
I'm working on "A Deadly Tail," by Dixie Lyle. It's the fourth book in the Whiskey, Tango and Foxtro series, and the last one that I actually own. There's a fifth. Drat it. I'll get it eventually. I'm going to miss this series, a LOT! Of all the talking cats I've encountered in books, Tango is perhaps the most essentially "cat" of them all.
I'm really enjoying Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, learning a lot about body disposal too.
Okay, back on the subject of Tom Bombadil.
I just finished chapter 7 of the first book of Fellowship, "In the House of Tom Bombadil." Here is Tom talking about himself (all emphasis mine):
'Who are you, Master?' he [Frodo] asked.
'Eh, what? said Tom sitting up, and his eyes glinting in the gloom. 'Don't you know my name yet? That's the only answer. Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself and nameless? But you are young and I am old. Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless — before the Dark Lord came from the Outside.'
And from Appendix F, "OF OTHER RACES" (Note: Italics are used in this passage; bold face is not except for the title. Assume that anything in bold face is emphasis from me.):
Ents. The most ancient people surviving in the Third Age were the Onodrim or Enyd. Ent was the farm of their name in the language of Rohan. They were known to the Eldar in ancient days, and to the Eldar indeed the Ents ascribed not their own language but the desire for speech. The language that they had made was unlike all the others: slow, sonorous, agglomerated, repetitive, indeed long-winded; formed of a multiplicity of vowel-shades and distinctions of tone and quality which even the lore-masters of the Eldar had not attempted to represent in writing. They used it only among themselves; but they had no need to keep it secret, for no others could learn it.
Ents were, however, themselves skilled in tongues, learning them swiftly and never forgetting them. But they preferred the languages of the Eldar, and loved best the ancient High-elven tongue. The strange words and names that the Hobbits record as used by Treebeard and other Ents are thys Elvish, or fragments of Elf-speech strung together in Ent fashion....
From this I conclude that there is no real conflict about who came first. Ents are the most ancient people (presumably used in the sense "race of people") surviving in the Third Age, but Tom Bombadil, who is an individual, not a people, remains the first. And if I haven't misunderstood, Tom Bombadil claims that he was there when Oak trees were (at the very least) imported into Middle Earth, in the form of an acorn; either that or he was there when they were created! Unless, of course, Tom is indulging in poetic license, though that doesn't seem to be his style.
And I'm giving up for the night and heading to bed.
Margret
I just finished chapter 7 of the first book of Fellowship, "In the House of Tom Bombadil." Here is Tom talking about himself (all emphasis mine):
'Who are you, Master?' he [Frodo] asked.
'Eh, what? said Tom sitting up, and his eyes glinting in the gloom. 'Don't you know my name yet? That's the only answer. Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself and nameless? But you are young and I am old. Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless — before the Dark Lord came from the Outside.'
And from Appendix F, "OF OTHER RACES" (Note: Italics are used in this passage; bold face is not except for the title. Assume that anything in bold face is emphasis from me.):
Ents. The most ancient people surviving in the Third Age were the Onodrim or Enyd. Ent was the farm of their name in the language of Rohan. They were known to the Eldar in ancient days, and to the Eldar indeed the Ents ascribed not their own language but the desire for speech. The language that they had made was unlike all the others: slow, sonorous, agglomerated, repetitive, indeed long-winded; formed of a multiplicity of vowel-shades and distinctions of tone and quality which even the lore-masters of the Eldar had not attempted to represent in writing. They used it only among themselves; but they had no need to keep it secret, for no others could learn it.
Ents were, however, themselves skilled in tongues, learning them swiftly and never forgetting them. But they preferred the languages of the Eldar, and loved best the ancient High-elven tongue. The strange words and names that the Hobbits record as used by Treebeard and other Ents are thys Elvish, or fragments of Elf-speech strung together in Ent fashion....
From this I conclude that there is no real conflict about who came first. Ents are the most ancient people (presumably used in the sense "race of people") surviving in the Third Age, but Tom Bombadil, who is an individual, not a people, remains the first. And if I haven't misunderstood, Tom Bombadil claims that he was there when Oak trees were (at the very least) imported into Middle Earth, in the form of an acorn; either that or he was there when they were created! Unless, of course, Tom is indulging in poetic license, though that doesn't seem to be his style.
And I'm giving up for the night and heading to bed.
Margret
~creeps away with her cozy mystery, feeling decidedly unliterary, despite having read LOTR and associated books more than a half dozen times...~
In all fairness, the BookBub newsletter seems to me to be both longer and better than Early Bird Books. At the very least, I find myself buying more from it. Also, it allows you to "Bookmark" specific books that you want, so that when they come on sale you find out about it. Early Bird Books just lets you tell them what kind of books you prefer.
Margret
Margret
Don't feel unliterary, I have a bad habit of discussing LOTR with anyone who has ever read it. Most of the people I know around home are not readers.
Margret
is making me pay closer attention this time around by her wonderful posts.
I'm currently reading A Wartime Nurse by Maggie Hope.
I am still reading LOTR and about 4 other multi-book sets, mostly free from BookBub. I just got another free 5 book set this morning. Good thing I put a 128GB micro SDHC card in my Fire.
Just ordered Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc-yes, I'm a huge nerd, and I can't wait to read it!
Sounds good. Where did you order it?
Amazon, from a third-party seller with a slightly better price.
I heard an interview with her on NPR yesterday or Tuesday. She broke a lot of molds in Science Fiction. I need to read some of her books again.
I've never read any of her books. She sounds interesting.
I'm still reading Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. It's quite sad in parts, where she explains what happens when they have to cremate babies or small children and how different that is to cremating a large adult. It's making me think a lot about why people pay to have a body embalmed and made up and placed in an expensive casket, only to have the whole lot incinerated. Fascinating stuff.
I'm still reading Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. It's quite sad in parts, where she explains what happens when they have to cremate babies or small children and how different that is to cremating a large adult. It's making me think a lot about why people pay to have a body embalmed and made up and placed in an expensive casket, only to have the whole lot incinerated. Fascinating stuff.
I had to give up on Sweet Bitter. It was absolutely vapid.
I replaced that title with a short YA targeted book about the early American medical practices. The title is kinda gross so I've forgotten it for some reason. But I'll let you guys know what it is when the book is within my reach again.
Scrolling back, I see that many of you read the most fascinating books ever. I really enjoy the exchanges of thoughts and short, unspoiler-y summaries given here more than the long winded unhelpful reviews you can find on that one popular book review site I won't dare name.
I replaced that title with a short YA targeted book about the early American medical practices. The title is kinda gross so I've forgotten it for some reason. But I'll let you guys know what it is when the book is within my reach again.
Scrolling back, I see that many of you read the most fascinating books ever. I really enjoy the exchanges of thoughts and short, unspoiler-y summaries given here more than the long winded unhelpful reviews you can find on that one popular book review site I won't dare name.
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