Okay, I'm going to do this! I'm going to host a second read-along of The Lord of the Rings. You are hereby invited to join me! Whether you've read LOTR many times, or never read it. Whether you read it and liked it, or read it and hated it. I welcome all comers who want to read and discuss and learn!
There is no "sign up" process for this, but if you want to share a button on your own blog, or leave me a comment saying you plan to participate, go right ahead!
If you've never participated in one of my read-alongs and are curious about how they work, basically I will write a post for each individual chapter. Each post will contain my own thoughts on the chapter, some favorite lines, and a discussion question or two that I think people might want to ponder. All participants are then invited to discuss the chapter in the comments, both with me and with each other. You don't have to stick to the questions I ask!
I realize that NaNoWriMo begins that same day. I myself am planning to Nano in a small way, with the aim of knocking out the first draft of my next fairy-tale-reimagined-as-a-western. I intend to post three chapters a week, so it won't be a huge chunk of reading/discussing each week. But if you feel like Nano and a read-along would be too much, I'm okay with you catching up with us after you're done.
Also, I know there are quite a few holidays coming up in the next few months. While I will try to post 3 chapters a week, obviously there will be weeks where that's not feasible for me or for you. That's more like a guideline, actually, not a hard-and-fast schedule.
Yay!!! I'm so excited for this! Looking forward to finishing the books and discussing them with people. Thanks for hosting this, Hamlette! Like you mentioned, NaNo and holidays will make it tricky to stay on top of the read-along...but it should be a lot of fun anyway. :) Hoping this will give me the motivation I need to finish the books!
ReplyDeleteMary, I hope it works for you and you manage to finish them!
DeleteOK, I'm seriously considering this. I read such inspiring op eds and articles about LOTR that I want to jump in, but I'm afraid of the commitment. So, I'm going to mull this a bit, and probably look at the books and hold them in my hands for awhile and see what happens. : D I'm so busy, and I don't know why. Nothing in my life has changed, but suddenly I'm not finishing my books as quick as I think I should be. So, I'll let you know.
ReplyDeleteRuth, that's cool! I know, it's a giant brick. But we're going to go through it slowly, about 3 chapters a week, so... while it's kind of going to take us a long time, it's not a huge time commitment for any one week. If that helps?
DeleteRuth, I just read the full series (including The Hobbit) a couple months ago. It is PHENOMENAL. I have never steered you wrong. :)
DeleteOh! Hamlette reminded me I have no name through Blogger. This is Jillian, ha ha. There, now you must concede I have made your literary life remarkable.
Delete*cough* *Scarlett O'Hara*
Oh, look! I'm not dead. So you know, I have had baseball fever for the entire month of October. My Dodgers were in the World Series and my reading suffered terribly. Now that it is over, I have my life back.
DeleteYes, Jillian, I must agree, you have never steered me wrong, and I believe we have similar tastes in literature. SO, on top of Hamlette's inspiration about LOTR, and your encouragement, I think it is a done deal. Hamlette, I'll join you. (I can't believe I'm finally doing this.)
HAPPY DANCE!!!!!!!!! Ruth is joining the read-along! Don't know if you saw this, but I'm only doing 2 chapter posts a week for November because of Nanowrimo, so definitely not gonna be a fast pace. Easy to shoehorn 2 chapters a week into your life, right?
DeleteI'm definitely going to try.
DeleteHiphip, HURRAH! This will be so great! I can't wait! And yes, I will be more active then your last read-along (sorry about that, I'm still working on it, but life is CRAZY). LOTR is so amazing, I cannot wait to see your thoughts and your niece's! I am so taking the Gandalf button.
ReplyDeleteMC, I'm looking forward to it! And don't worry, I had completely forgotten that you never finished the Gatsby read-along. I'm not holding it against you :-)
DeleteI'm hoping to have my niece write a guest post of some sort during the read-along. We shall see!
Hi Hamlette! I recruited for you! A new lady over here just joined The Classics Club. I told her about your readalong because she has Tolkien on her list. I don't know if she'll join, but so you know, in case you want to say hello. She's a new friendly face. :)
ReplyDeleteHello, Lady! (Are you Jillian?) Thanks for doing some recruiting :-) I hope she comes over and checks it out! Always good to have another CCer in the mix.
DeleteYes, this is Jillian. I forgot my Blogger sign-on says "A Lady," ha ha. :P
DeleteJillian, s'okay! The pic looked like your other one, so I clicked over to that blog you linked to and discovered you were commenting there as Jillian :-)
DeleteWhich does not mean that I will remember who "A Lady" is in the future, lol.
Ok, I put my name back! Ha! I'd forgotten I went anonymous. :) Also, I tentatively put my blog back. Possibly if I slow down & just write about the BEST books, I can keep up. :)
DeleteHi, do you mind anonymous people joining in on the comments of this read-along? I stumbled on your blog a while ago and have been enjoying it, and I am thrilled to read LOTR again.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, nope, I don't mind anonymous commenters, though it's always nicer if you sign your comments with a name of some sort just so I can kind of connect your comments together in my head. But that's up to you.
DeleteGlad you've been enjoying my blog!
I'm so tempted! I'll have to see as the day draws nearer. I never get tired of LOTR.
ReplyDeleteLois, well, you're welcome to join if you are so inclined!
DeleteI really want to do this....so we'll see how it goes. :D Here's hoping! Thanks for giving us the option to catch up!!
ReplyDeleteNatalie, so many people are wondering if they'll be able to balance it with Nano and the holidays that I'm thinking I might cut it down to 2 chapters a week until after New Year's.
DeleteThat sounds extremely helpful! :)
DeleteYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD I'm so excited! Can't wait for November 1st. :-D Thanks so much for doing this!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited too, MEM! Thanks for encouraging me to do it :-)
DeleteHey Hamlette! I'm definitely joining this readalong! I've been wanting to read LOR for so long! Thanks for doing this :)
ReplyDeleteLaura, that's great! I just posted the first post a few minutes ago :-)
DeleteWell I finally found this blog :)
ReplyDeleteSo you did! Welcome! Feel free to poke around, see if you find any new books that interest you. Maybe something you want to read together next year.
DeleteBut NO FAIR copying answers from the previous LOTR read-along discussions for your assignments. ::shakes finger in appropriately McGonagall-like manner::