By popular demand (okay, two people demanded it), our second game this week is an unscramble! I'm muddled up the names of 12 women from J. R. R. Tolkien's books about Middle-earth. These include The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. Some of these will be easy, some will be hard. (To be clear, I did not include any characters who appear in the movies but not the books, such as Bard the Bowman's daughters.)
1. newar steervan
2. onewy
3. sireo noctot
4. anblerice
5. heriot
6. hitlune livenuti
7. dragaliel
8. glewin
9. greboldry
10. beliola lackviles-gangbis
11. ilrange
12. anavyan
Put your answers in a comment. I'll reveal the answers and people's scores at the end of the party!
Welcome to our first game for the 2024 Tolkien Blog Party!
Below are twelve quotations from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. They were all spoken by members of the Fellowship of the Ring. Your challenge is to figure out who said each one. (These are all from the books, though some are used in the movies too.)
Put your guesses in a comment on this post. (I've put all comments on full moderation so I can hide your answers until the end of the party, so no one will be tempted to cheat.) I'll post the answers and your scores on Saturday!
1. "It was a compliment, and so, of course, not true."
2. "Yet dawn is ever the hope of men."
3. "I have never allowed anyone to stand me on my head."
4. "Short cuts make delays, but inns make longer ones."
5. "Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."
6. "If you think that I have passed through the mountains and the real of Gondor with fire and sword to bring herbs to a careless soldier who throws away his gear, you are mistaken."
7. "Ah! the green smell! It is better than much sleep. Let us run!"
8. "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life."
9. "I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!"
10. "May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!"
11. "As for me, my way home lies onward and not back."
Greetings! Welcome to my twelfth annual Tolkien Blog Party!
Let me explain how this sort of BYOBP (Bring Your Own Blog Post) party works, in case you haven't participated before, or it's been a while, whatever. I will provide a couple of games for you to play (starting tomorrow), a giveaway (which you can enter here), and the official party tag (see below).
Everything else is up to you party goers! Everyone gets to share posts on their own blogs that relate somehow to J. R. R. Tolkien or his creations. We will spend the week celebrating not only the author and the books he wrote, but also the world of Middle-earth, the movies based on his stories, and so on! I encourage you to use any of this year's official graphics in your posts -- you'll find all five of them here in my announcement post.
The only real rules are:
your post must be related to Tolkien and his creations somehow,
your post should contain a link back to this post so people can find the party and join the fun, and
your post needs to be respectful and family-friendly (this is a celebration, so please don't contribute any rants or whiny posts).
If you don't have any ideas of things to post, you can always simply fill out the tag, which you'll find below this handy link-up widget. Enter each of your posts in the widget (including posts of tag answers) so we can all visit each other's blogs and share the Tolkien party fun!
This year's tag is inspired by some of the most famous locations in Middle-Earth. Here it is:
1. The Shire: What place in Middle-earth do you think you would feel the most like home for you?
2. Bree: If you could create a Middle-earth-themed restaurant, what would you serve there?
3. Rivendell: Where in Middle-earth would you like to hang out with your friends for a week or so?
4. Moria: Have you ever delved into the history of Middle-earth (or the history of Tolkien's creative process)? If so, did you learn anything cool you'd like to share?
5. Lothlorien: Would you like to sleep in a tree?
6. Edoras: Do you like horses?
7. Minas Tirith: Have you ever dressed as a Tolkien character, whether for a convention or Halloween or anything else? (Bonus fake internet points if you share a photo!)
8. Erebor: Do you have any Middle-earth merchandise you particularly treasure?
9. Mordor: Have you ever read anything by Tolkien that wasn't about Middle-earth?
10. The Grey Havens: How long has it been since you last ventured into Middle-earth via book or film?
Simply copy those prompts and paste them into your own blog post, answer with as much detail as you wish, add party graphics and a link back to this post, and illustrate as much or little as you like! Once you've posted your tag answers, come back and add a link to your post to the list above so we can all visit each others' blogs and enjoy their answers. And don't forget to visit other people's blogs too, to keep the party going strong!
Are you ready to win some Middle-earth-ish prizes?
I'll be drawing five winners this year! Here's a closer look at (and a bit of info about) each of the prizes:
Prize One: The Fellowship of the Ring audiobook on CD read by Andy Serkis -- this is used, but all the discs at least begin to play in my CD player. I didn't listen to all of them all the way through because I have my own set of these. As you might imagine, Andy Serkis is a fantastic narrator!
Prize Two: 2 Shire Pub Sign Stickers that I bought from A Fine Quotation. These are large, 3 1/2"-inch stickers made of durable vinyl that will work on things like water bottles that get washed sometimes.
Prize Three: 3 "postage stamp" stickers that are each about 2 1/2" tall.
Prize Four: 4 LOTR "postcard" stickers that are each a little over 3" long.
Prize Five: One leather "leaves of Lorien" mini blank book that is 3" tall, 2" wide when closed, and 3/4" thick.
I purchased all of these prizes myself, for the purpose of this giveaway. This is not affiliated with any person or business besides myself. Must be 18 or older to enter, or have parent's permission to provide me with a mailing address to send the prize to. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.
This giveaway is open worldwide. I will ship all prizes via the USPS.
The main way to gain entries is to participate in the party by contributing a post, such as your answers to the official tag or another Tolkien-related post. Once you've written your post, be sure to add its link to the Mister Linky widget in my kick-off post (which is also where you'll find the tag questions).
But, that isn't required! You can also earn entries by doing other things like playing party games (which will start tomorrow) and telling me your prize choices. And you can even get an entry just for being a Tolkien fan.
I do my best to match winners with their choice of prizes, but that doesn't always work out -- that's why I ask for your top three choices. However, I cannot guarantee that winners will receive a prize they want/request.
This giveaway runs through 11:59pm EST on Friday, September 27. I will draw the winners on Saturday, September 28 and post the names of the winners on this blog, as well a notify them by email.
PLEASE make sure your information for the giveaway widget 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 Saturday, October 5, I will choose another winner and award the prize to them instead.
Well, this was fun! Like its predecessor, Bowdrie, this is a collection of ten short stories starring Chick Bowdrie, a Texas Ranger who rides a mean hammerhead roan and always gets his man... eventually. The stories range from a bit humorous to very serious, and some have more action than others. But they're all enjoyable. I read the whole book over a couple of very stressful weeks, savoring one short story every evening or so as a way to unwind and recharge, and they were perfect for that!
Interspersed among the short stories are several historical notes about real people and places from the Old West. I loved those! They were always short and to-the-point, but informative.
Particularly Good Bits:
He realized what a fool he had been. There could be no tolerating of evil. One stamped it out or the evil grew worse (p. 140, from "The Outlaws of Poplar Creek").
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some mild cuss words, some western violence, and some vague hints about what could happen to good women at the hands of bad men.
You know what? I really liked Mansfield Park this time through :-o The first time I read it, maybe 15 years ago or so, I found it terribly dull. The second time I read it, about ten years ago, I found Fanny annoying. But this time, I thought Fanny was a lovely character, and I wasn't bored a bit!
I think that was partly because of the annotations -- as always, I learned a LOT from those. But it was also because I read this as part of the #JaneAustenDeepDive2024 group buddy read on Instagram. Discussing the book with other readers really helped me settle my own opinions about the characters, and especially about the romance between Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram. I've never had much patience with Edmund before, because he seems so ridiculously unable to see the truth about either Fanny or Mary Crawford (or many other people around him), but this time, I could see how that is not necessarily a character flaw -- he sees the good in people and disregards the rest, which doesn't make him dumb. It just makes him kind of endearingly naïve. While Fanny did sometimes displease me a little with how she tends to do the reverse and see bad things in people while ignoring their better points, I didn't find her completely annoying this time. In fact, I enjoyed the book! Yay! Total win.
Particularly Good Bits:
Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply (p. 428).
"Shakespeare one gets acquainted with without knowing how. It is a part of an Englishman's constitution. His thoughts and beauties are so spread abroad that one touches them every where, one is intimate with him by instinct" (p. 606).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for the text for some discussions of adultery, and PG-13 for the annotations for some franker (but still tasteful) discussions of sexual matters.
This is a fun anthology! I haven't really read loads of books involving mermaids or other undersea fantasy creatures, which made this collection especially refreshing for me. Here's a little of what I thought of each of the seven short stories contained here:
+ "The Song of Arion" by Emily Golus had a marvelous theme of kindness triumphing over fear.
+ "The Mermaid Search" by Anna Christine had a great twist to it that made me want to reread the whole story to see it from a different point of view.
+ "A Fighting Chance" by Allison Tebo was heisty fun. I really enjoy heist stories, and this one also had a bit of a found family vibe, which I love.
+ " Krakensong" by Olivia Gratehouse had a cool concept, and I liked how it twisted some stereotypes.
+ "In My Blood" by Jane Maree had great character development, and I loved the gladiatorial vibes.
+ "Loshed'Vo" by Danielle Bullen was lyrical and haunting, and the inclusion of a magical horse of the sea really bumped this one up in my favorites list.
+ "A Handful of Scales" had a lovely message about trusting God to provide.
I would say that "The Mermaid Search" and "Loshed'Vo" were my favorites.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher. I was not requested or required to review this book. All opinions stated here are mine and unvarnished.
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some intense scenes of underwater danger, some non-gory violence, and themes about loss of family members that might be harder on some younger readers. No cussing, no smut, no gore.
