A-Z Bookish Questions

Like half the blogs I read have done this, including Flowers of Quiet Happiness, Lady of the Manor, and Reading in the Dark.  I finally have time!  Hooray!  I've been wanting to do this meme for like two months now!


Author you've read the most books from:  Probably Rex Stout.  I love his Nero Wolfe mysteries!  And he was a very prolific author.

Best sequel ever:  I don't know about "best ever," but Christopher Paolini's Brisingr was sooooooooooo much better than Eragon and Eldest.

Currently reading: Middlemarch by George Eliot for the first time.

Drink of choice while reading:  Hot chocolate.

E-reader or physical book:  Physical book.  I don't own an e-reader.

Fictional character you probably would have actually dated in high school:  I would have loved to have gone out with Ponyboy Curtis from  The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.

Glad you gave this book a chance:  Captain Wentworth's Diary by Amanda Grange.  I wasn't sure I'd like Austen pastiches, but I discovered an author I now like so much!

Hidden gem book:  An Antic Disposition by Alan Gordon.  Brilliant retelling of Hamlet that utilizes elements from the original Scandinavian story of Amleth.

Interesting bookish question you wish this meme include:  What's a book you wish you could un-read?  For me, it's Longbourn by Jo Baker.  Awful mess.

Just finished:  Betsy-Tacy by Maude Hart Lovelace -- for the first time!

Kind of books you won't read:  Smut.

Longest book you've read:  Probably Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  Unless you count The Lord of the Rings as one book.

Major book hangover because of:  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  I was so loathe to leave the world that I promptly read it all over again.

Number of bookcases you own:  Seven full-size, six smaller.

One book you read multiple times:  ONE?  Okay.  I reread The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin every few years.  I have to let at least 4 years go by between readings so I forget some things and have some surprises while I read.

Preferred place to read:  My teal rocking chair.  It was my grandma's, and passed down to me when we got married.  It's sooooo comfy.

Quote you like from a book you read:

Reading regret:  Not having more time to read.

Series you started and need to finish:  Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.

Three of your all time favorite books:  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, The Black Stallion by Walter Farley -- those are my top three.

Unapologetic fangirl for:  Raymond Chandler.  Absolute favorite author!

Very excited for this release more than all the others:  Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King -- the next novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes!

Worst bookish habit:  Turning up my nose at books just because they're popular.  Sometimes they're actually good.

X marks the spot:  Is this supposed to be about bookmarks?  I love bookmarks!  I used to collect them, and I still have loads.  My favorites include a metal bookmark with a picture of Boromir on the front and a Sherlock Holmes one I made myself that bears the quotation "Education never ends, Watson.  It is a series of lessons, with the greatest for the last."

Your latest book purchase:  Just bought The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook used online this morning.

Zzzz snatcher book:  I remember lying awake thinking about Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle while I was in the middle of it.

Tolkien Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to all the winners!  By now, you should have received an email from me, asking for your mailing information so the donors can send you your prizes.  If you don't reply to my email by Sunday, Oct. 5, I will choose another winner and award your prize to them instead.

(EDIT:  A couple of winners didn't claim their prizes, so I chose two new winners for those items.)

US Only:

The Hobbit poster -- James Starslayer
Middle Earth candle holder -- Heidi P.
Two LOTR quote prints -- Jamie Lynne
Bag End bookmark -- Ruby Danderfluff
Five-inch clay pot -- Joanna
Burlap bag and thank-you cards -- Jess D.
Arwen Evenstar iron-on patch -- Kat B. Ruby Danderfluff
Twig soap -- Sarah Rees
Tolkien quote postcards -- Elizabeth Anne D.
Doors of Durin mug -- DKoren

World-Wide:

The Hobbit bingo -- Audrey Counts  Lydia
Hobbit door jewelry -- Ruby Danderfluff
Tolkien wisdom print -- Lydia
Elvish Christmas cards -- Reyna Nicole
LOTR word search -- Elizabeth Anne D.
Thorin's Company bookmark -- James Starslayer
Bilbo bookmark -- Joanna
Gandalf bookmark -- Heidi P.

Thank you to everyone who joined the party this year!  I know I had lots of fun setting it up and reading everyone's posts, etc.  I hope to host this again next year :-)  For now, I will say with Gandalf, "Go where you must go, and hope!"

Answers to the Middle Earth Locations Crossword Puzzle

Here's the answer for the crossword puzzle!  How'd you do?

Don't forget that today is the last day to enter the giveaways!  I'll be announcing the winners tomorrow.

Thank you, everyone who's joined the party!  It's been lots of fun :-)

Answers to the Middle Earth Costumes Quiz

You people are really good at this.  I'm impressed!  Anyway, here are the answers to the costumes quiz, and below those are the scores for all participants.  Well done!

1 -- Boromir

2 -- Saruman

3 -- Frodo

4 -- Legolas

5 -- Merry

6 -- Pippin

7 -- Aragorn

8 -- Theoden

9 -- Denethor

10 -- Eowyn

11 -- Bilbo

12 -- Elrond

13 -- Sam

14 -- Gandalf

15 -- Faramir

16 -- Arwen

Scores:

Elizabeth Anne D. -- 16
Reyna Nicole -- 16
Sarah (of Sarah'Sword) -- 15
Manette -- 14
Joanna -- 11

Answers to the Tolkien Quote Game

Here are the answers to who said what in the quote game!  And below the answers are everyone's scores :-)

Answers:

1.  "Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall."  -- Aragorn, (TTT)

2.  "Many that live deserve death.  And some that die deserve life." -- Gandalf (FOTR)

3.  "Stir not the bitterness in the cup that I mixed for myself." -- Denethor (ROTK)

4.  "String, or nothing!" -- Gollum (TH)

5.  "If I hear not allowed much oftner, I'm going to get angry." -- Samwise Gamgee (ROTK)

6.  "Wherever I have been, I am back." -- Gandalf (TTT)

7.  "Forth now, and fear no darkness!" -- Theoden (ROTK)

8.  "Don't go where I can't follow!" -- Samwise Gamgee (TTT)

9.  "We are a failing people, a springless autumn." -- Faramir (TTT)

10.  "That was an eye-opener, and no mistake!" -- Samwise Gamgee (FOTR)

11.  "Go where you must go, and hope!" -- Gandalf (TTT)

12.  "Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing?" -- Boromir (FOTR)

13.  "One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters." -- Aragorn (TTT)

14.  "May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!" -- Gandalf (FOTR)

15.  "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." -- Thorin (TH)


Scores:

Lynn M. -- 15
Lydia -- 14
Sarah (of the Ring and the Lion) -- 13
Manette -- 10
Hannah Mary -- 8
Elizabeth Anne D. -- 6
Sarah (of Sarah'Sword) -- 5
Joanna -- 4

Well done, everyone!  I'm glad you had fun with this :-)

Middle Earth Locations Crossword Puzzle

Ta-da!  My annual Tolkien crossword puzzle :-)  Like last year, you can copy this image, paste into a program like MS Word, and print it out.  I tried to use mostly place names that are in the movies too, and no obscure ones like Celebdil or anything :-)

I'll post the answers on Saturday!

(I created this crossword puzzle on Puzzle-Maker.com)

Middle Earth Costumes Quiz

Relatively simple game today.  These are screencaps I took from Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy, and you just have to tell me who the characters are!  I did try to do a few tricky ones that are costumes I might not recognize right off myself, but I assure you these are all major characters (no Eothains or Gamlings), and that no characters are used more than once.

I'll post the answers on Saturday, along with people's scores.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Sorry that this is a day late.  Thanks for all the party participation so far!  Please don't forget you can get the questions to answer on your own blog here, and enter the giveaways here!

We Interrupt This Blog Party to Bring You... Gall Stones?!

Um, yeah, so the reason there was no game for the Tolkien party yesterday was because Tuesday afternoon, I ended up at the ER after a sudden onset of abdominal pain.  Turned out I had gall stones, so I had my gallbladder out yesterday.  So unexpected!!!  But I do have a family history of gallbladder problems going back several generations.  Anyway, um, I'm still in the hospital right now, but should be going home later today.  Meanwhile, I'm posting a game!  Happily, I got most of this party set up before it even started, so I don't have to do anything but hit "publish" on the games :-) 

Thank the Lord that this was not something unfixable, that I can live without a gall bladder, that I only had to spend two nights in the hospital.  I was pretty scared when I had the attack, that it might be something way more serious like a heart attack.  But I'm doing really well, and enjoying having some cable TV to watch :-)  I'm on my fifth straight episode of NCIS, only two of which I'd ever seen before, so that's been fun!  Even got to watch an ep of Sean Bean's new show Legends last night.  Always a silver lining, right?

Just wanted to let you know that the party is NOT over!  Just had a little glitch.

Tolkien Quote Game

This is a simple game, though not necessarily an easy one.  Here are fifteen quotes from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings -- the books, not the movies, though I've tried to use some that would be familiar from both.  There are a couple instances of multiple things said by the same character.

All you have to do with the game that has been given to you is tell me who said each one.  I'll post the answers and scores on Saturday.

I'm switching my comments to "moderated" for the rest of the week so that your answers will remain a secret until the games are finished.


1.  "Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall." 

2.  "Many that live deserve death.  And some that die deserve life." 

3.  "Stir not the bitterness in the cup that I mixed for myself." 

4.  "String, or nothing!" 

5.  "If I hear not allowed much oftner, I'm going to get angry." 

6.  "Wherever I have been, I am back."  

7.  "Forth now, and fear no darkness!" 

8.  "Don't go where I can't follow!"  

9.  "We are a failing people, a springless autumn."  

10.  "That was an eye-opener, and no mistake!"  

11.  "Go where you must go, and hope!" 

12.  "Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing?" 

13.  "One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters."  

14.  "May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!"  

15.  "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." 

Don't forget to join the party here and enter the giveaways here!

The Tolkien Party Giveaways!

Here they are!  The giveaway portion of the Tolkien Blog Party of Special Magnificence!  There are two of them, as some of the donors said they could only ship to US addresses.  Since they're giving this stuff away absolutely free, I am not going to argue with them!  

The main way to enter these is to participate in the party, in other words, to copy the questions I posted (here) and answer them on your own blog, then add your post's link to the Mister Linky widget at the bottom of the official party kick-off post.  You can also earn extra entries by visiting the Etsy shops that are donating prizes.

You will notice that a lot of the entry options ask you to leave a comment on this post containing certain information, like what your favorite item is from a particular shop.  You Do Not Have To Leave Me 90 Comments!  One comment with all that info from all those entries is fine.  If you have an Etsy account yourself, actually "favoriting" your favorite item in those donor shops would be really nice of you, as a way to thank them for their generous support of the fun we're having, but it's not required.

I should also note that, with the exception of the Hobbit movie bookmarks, these are not being sent to the winners by me.  They're being sent by the donors.  The winners will give me their mailing address and I'll give it to the donors.  I promise that I will then discard those addresses, and you'll never get junk mail from me at your mailing address or your email address.  

PLEASE make sure your information for the giveaway widgets includes your current email address so that if you win a prize, you'll get the email informing you that you won!  If you don't reply to my email by Sunday, Oct. 5, I will choose another winner and award your prize to them instead.

Here we go!

US-Only Prizes:

The Hobbit poster -- 9"x12" print from Jeff Langevin

Any Middle Earth candle holder -- your choice up to $12 from Celtic Steam

Two Lord of the Rings quotes -- 5"x7" prints from Celebrative Design

Bag End bookmark from Elf Script

5"-tall clay pot and lid decorated with stars and LOTR-movie quote "there is still hope" 
from The Ring and the Lion

One burlap bag decorated with a Mallorn leaf and filled with cards that say "Thag you very buch," from the Ring and the Lion

Arwen Evenstar iron-on patch from Lynellen's Embroidery Creations

One bar of Twig soap from the Shire Collection at Moss Hollowe

Set of Tolkien quote postcards from Jethro & Henrietta

Doors of Durin mug from Caesar's Forum

a Rafflecopter giveaway


World-wide Prizes:

The Hobbit Bingo party game -- digital download from Wormwood Apothecary

Hobbit door earrings, pendant, or pin -- your choice from Celtic Steam

Tolkien Wisdom Print -- digital download from Jennifer Dare Designs

Elvish Christmas cards -- pack of 4 from Erika Rae Heins

Lord of the Rings word search -- digital download from Virgo Sunlight Studios

Three Hobbit bookmarks:  1 of Thorin's company, 1 of Bilbo Baggins, and 1 of Gandalf.  
These are three separate prizes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!