Lord of the Rings Readalong - Starting The Fellowship of the Ring

Earlier this week I announced that I am embarking on new challenge: 2010 Book to Film Challenge. To get things started I'm re-visiting the Lord of the Rings trilogy and playing along in an online reading challenge over at Shelf Love, which started in January with The Hobbit which I missed but I'm going to jump in with The Fellowship of the Ring and read it now and throughout February.

The Fellowship of the Ring readalong section is being hosted by The Literary Omnivore who to kick things off has posed us with several questions to ponder and share with fellow readalongers:

1. When did you first hear of The Lord of the Rings?
2. Have you read The Fellowship of the Ring before?
3. What’s your plan of attack, now that we’re dealing with more “mature” literature?
4. Have you ever seen the movies? If so, do you think they’ll influence your reading? If not, well, why haven’t you seen them?

Here are my responses:

1. When did you first hear of The Lord of the Rings?

I don't really remember not knowing about Lord of the Rings, which I think is one of the things that happens when you are the youngest in a family who love fantasy. I remember my sister Jamie's copy of of the book which was HUGE and the cover fell off but she put on another one if I remember correctly.

2. Have you read The Fellowship of the Ring before?

Although this book was definitely easily within reach for most of my life, I didn't end up reading it until 2001 when the film came out. I actually read it so quickly, wanting to be done before I saw the film, that I raced through it over the Christmas holidays and missed several key moments.

3. What’s your plan of attack, now that we’re dealing with more “mature” literature?

With 22 chapters to get through this month, the plan of attack is to read a chapter a day at least 5 days a week and sneak in an extra 2 somewhere in there. I don't think that really answers the question, but that's still my plan!

4. Have you ever seen the movies? If so, do you think they’ll influence your reading? If not, well, why haven’t you seen them?

I've seen and loved all the movies and have fond memories of seeing them. The Fellowship is definitely my favourite and I watch it almost every holiday season. The characters are fantastic and I fall in love with them every single time I watch it. The amount of care and love that went into bringing the vision to the screen. I do think the film will influence my experience of reading the book, I can already feel that starting to happen.

Bonus Question - Thoughts so far on the book:

I'm only 2 chapters in, but I have a few thoughts already. One - I'm mortified that my copy is one big dust machine because it was stuck in a box for way to long instead of on the shelf! It's so sad and I'm allergic which is not started me off on the right foot. I know I also purchased and omnibus copy of the books but I think I donated it several moves ago. Sigh. Also, this sucker is dense. Lots and lots and lots of words to get through. Knowing the film so well is strange because entire sections I think "That is exactly like the movie!" and I see Ian Holm, Elijah Wood and Ian McKellan as Bilbo, Frodo and Gandalf while I'm reading and can hear lines from the film "ProudFEET!". It will be interesting to see how this progresses throughout reading, especially when it gets to the few casting choices I didn't wholeheartedly agree with. I also find I'm very quick to notice things in the book that aren't in the film (which isn't much so far) and have a constant comparison going on in my head as opposed to just reading it.

Thoughts for the journey ahead...

I need to really set time aside to read this, I though I'd do a chapter a night before going to sleep but sometimes I've actually fallen asleep trying to do this (oopsies!). The chapters are long and the text is pretty heavy and I want it to get the attention it deserves. Also, after reading it I'm planning on sitting down and watching the film at the end of the month, and likely reviewing it as well to add to the every growing list of film reviews.



That's me trying to stay awake while reading!