ThursdayNext : www.jasperfforde.com
A discussion of all things Thursday !
silmarillion
Posted by: dave (---.in-addr.btopenworld.com)
Date: January 15, 2003 10:35PM
<HTML>ok, I know I'll probably get a bit of grief over this, but what exactly is the Silmarillion? And would (could?) Dave's Nextarillion be funnier ( not that it could be, it's great!) if one had read JRR's book?</HTML>
Re: silmarillion
Posted by: Jon (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: January 15, 2003 11:38PM
<HTML>Um; the Silmarillion was sort of the prequel to the Lord of the Rings, and is strictly for hardcore Tolkienites only. (Guilty as charged, yer honner). And no, you don't have to have read it to get Daves' gags, though a working knowledge of LOTR wouldn't go amiss.</HTML>
Re: silmarillion
Posted by: Jon (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: January 15, 2003 11:40PM
<HTML>Of course it also provided the name of the greatest prog rock band ever, and yes I have got everything they ever did. And proud of it.</HTML>
Re: silmarillion
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: January 15, 2003 11:57PM
<HTML>Well, it isn't quite a prequel. The Simarrilion is really the lore that drives LOTR, being the tales that were handed down into the days that became the LOTR. Basically, every tale that Bilobo, Aragorn or Frodo relates to, is held in the Simarillion.
And it's bloody boring...</HTML>
And it's bloody boring...</HTML>
Re: silmarillion
Posted by: Carla (---.cableinet.co.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 06:58AM
<HTML>i tried to read the Silmarillion and it was boooooring so i never finished.
then again i'm not reading any of the stories people post here, i don't have the time to read long huge rants on a messageboard. how about setting a yahoogroup for it? it could be better to read things in email form</HTML>
then again i'm not reading any of the stories people post here, i don't have the time to read long huge rants on a messageboard. how about setting a yahoogroup for it? it could be better to read things in email form</HTML>
Re: silmarillion
Posted by: dave (---.addleshaw-booth.co.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 09:23AM
<HTML>I ended up copying and pasting Dave's Nextarillion, just for that purpose (and so I didn't get too much grief for internet use at work...</HTML>
What to read next?
Posted by: dave (---.addleshaw-booth.co.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 11:50AM
<HTML>Hmmm. I may put my birthday book tokens to another use then... Any suggestions? ( other than LIAGB or TEA, obviously!)</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: Dave Rainbow (62.60.4.---)
Date: January 16, 2003 12:10PM
<HTML>Silmarillion not required yet, and I don't think it will ever be strictly necessary, even when I get into the content, later in the <I>Next</I>arillion.
Regards reading the Silmarillion, you have to survive the slow and repetitious opening which is as it is for a variety of reasons. Once you get to 'Beren and Luthien', the book really comes alive; and suddenly all the stuff that went before lights up retrospectively, being revealed as the canvas for something truly remarkable.
As a friend (the real 'Jim Slip') said, you have to read an awful lot of the Lord of the Rings before there is any action; perhaps so many of us battle our way through to the fun because friends have told us it becomes worthwhile. The Silmarillion has fewer 'friends'. I can quite understand people finding it hard going, but it more than repays by the end; and I am not a literary person at all.
What really IS hard going is Chris Tolkien's 'History of Middle Earth' series, in which he disinters manuscripts his father wrote as long ago as the first world war, revealing layer upon layer of rewriting from scratch, as concepts that we know from the Lord of the Rings gradually emerged. I will be roasting the lot later on; partly in an attempt to entertain myself and others, partly (and I hope I'm not too pretentious) as a means to let you know about all the best bits without having to go through all the drudgery.
I'm closing 'The Nextarillion' Book One with chapter five, where Sarah Goode-Evans is revealed to have become Jane Hardly-Decent; more will follow in a separate thread.
Thanks for all the interest.</HTML>
Regards reading the Silmarillion, you have to survive the slow and repetitious opening which is as it is for a variety of reasons. Once you get to 'Beren and Luthien', the book really comes alive; and suddenly all the stuff that went before lights up retrospectively, being revealed as the canvas for something truly remarkable.
As a friend (the real 'Jim Slip') said, you have to read an awful lot of the Lord of the Rings before there is any action; perhaps so many of us battle our way through to the fun because friends have told us it becomes worthwhile. The Silmarillion has fewer 'friends'. I can quite understand people finding it hard going, but it more than repays by the end; and I am not a literary person at all.
What really IS hard going is Chris Tolkien's 'History of Middle Earth' series, in which he disinters manuscripts his father wrote as long ago as the first world war, revealing layer upon layer of rewriting from scratch, as concepts that we know from the Lord of the Rings gradually emerged. I will be roasting the lot later on; partly in an attempt to entertain myself and others, partly (and I hope I'm not too pretentious) as a means to let you know about all the best bits without having to go through all the drudgery.
I'm closing 'The Nextarillion' Book One with chapter five, where Sarah Goode-Evans is revealed to have become Jane Hardly-Decent; more will follow in a separate thread.
Thanks for all the interest.</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: dave (---.addleshaw-booth.co.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 12:20PM
<HTML>Hmm. I may see what takes my fancy whilst in WH Smith's at lunchtime. Though I do still have a large selection of unread books to read, but buying books is a particular vice of mine.
I may have to get a DVD instead....</HTML>
I may have to get a DVD instead....</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: Carla (198.179.227.---)
Date: January 16, 2003 12:43PM
<HTML>Get SABRIEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i strongly recommend it...</HTML>
i strongly recommend it...</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: dave (---.addleshaw-booth.co.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 12:48PM
<HTML>why? What's it about, what's so good about it/etc?</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: Carla (198.179.227.---)
Date: January 16, 2003 01:09PM
<HTML>it's another of those kids books that adults like... well I do!
it's fantasy... in two worlds - Ancelstierre (a sort of England) and the Old Kingdom (more like Scotland in the map) where there is Charter Magic and Free Magic and so on...
i can't explain very well...
Just pick it up and look at it...</HTML>
it's fantasy... in two worlds - Ancelstierre (a sort of England) and the Old Kingdom (more like Scotland in the map) where there is Charter Magic and Free Magic and so on...
i can't explain very well...
Just pick it up and look at it...</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: dave (---.addleshaw-booth.co.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 02:07PM
<HTML>Might wait for the paperback... Looked interesting though.</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: dave (---.addleshaw-booth.co.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 02:10PM
<HTML>Has anyone seen (or more to the point, got an opinion on ) The tolkein companion?</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.rdg.ac.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 02:22PM
<HTML>i haven't There's a brilliant kids book about a dragon with sneezes that sets fire to everybody's trousers... I almost bought it for myself before I realised how pathetic that would be.
'Atonement' is rather good - child before WWII misinterprets things between her sister and a friend, and the subsequent misunderstandings lead to tragedy. Very powerful writing, and as compelling as a car crash - you know what's going to happen, but have to see how it happens. There's a little bit of a twist at the end, that you mighty be able to spot coming but won't mind if you do. The quality of the writing is amazing, really fluid yet still as clear as anything, and it packs a massive emotional wallop too.</HTML>
'Atonement' is rather good - child before WWII misinterprets things between her sister and a friend, and the subsequent misunderstandings lead to tragedy. Very powerful writing, and as compelling as a car crash - you know what's going to happen, but have to see how it happens. There's a little bit of a twist at the end, that you mighty be able to spot coming but won't mind if you do. The quality of the writing is amazing, really fluid yet still as clear as anything, and it packs a massive emotional wallop too.</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: jon (---.abel.net.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 02:42PM
<HTML>I have seen the new Tolkien Companion ... it's OK, if lists ring your bell. I gather there are a whole bunch of Tolkien accessory books coming out this year; maybe one of those might be a better buy, I don't know. I can't think of anything in the fiction line that I would particularly recommend at the minute. I'm currently reading a biography of Churchill.
(I presume everybody has got The Salmon of Doubt?)</HTML>
(I presume everybody has got The Salmon of Doubt?)</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.rdg.ac.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 02:44PM
<HTML>I'm currently re-reading 'the Last Journey of William Huskisson' for semi-obvious reasons... I'm also reading a book on 'How to Get a PhD', oddly spending my entire life logged onto the Fforum doesn't seem to count...</HTML>
Twila - prepare for your keyboard combination again...
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.rdg.ac.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 02:56PM
<HTML>I haven't written a song parody for ages, but all this talk of Nextarillion's and Mairillion and such like leads me to an obvious Nextian Song...
Do you remember? Skyrail tracks glinting in the sun?
Do you remember? Telling me you had a soap gun?
Do you remember? Coincidences in the crossword clues?
Do you remember? Just before my father saved my life.
By the way, didn't you die anyway?
Please excuse me, I tried to do all that I could do,
So sorry, there was nothing I could do -
I was out of time.
Kaylieu... Is it too late to say I'm sorry?
Kaylieu could you make your stand in some other way?
I can'ty just go on pretending, that your life came to an actual end.
I suspect only Jon might get the reference (btw, sorry if I spelt 'Kaylieu wrong, but my reference copy is 80 miles away).</HTML>
Do you remember? Skyrail tracks glinting in the sun?
Do you remember? Telling me you had a soap gun?
Do you remember? Coincidences in the crossword clues?
Do you remember? Just before my father saved my life.
By the way, didn't you die anyway?
Please excuse me, I tried to do all that I could do,
So sorry, there was nothing I could do -
I was out of time.
Kaylieu... Is it too late to say I'm sorry?
Kaylieu could you make your stand in some other way?
I can'ty just go on pretending, that your life came to an actual end.
I suspect only Jon might get the reference (btw, sorry if I spelt 'Kaylieu wrong, but my reference copy is 80 miles away).</HTML>
Twila - prepare for your keyboard combination again...
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.rdg.ac.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 02:56PM
<HTML>I haven't written a song parody for ages, but all this talk of Nextarillion's and Mairillion and such like leads me to an obvious Nextian Song...
Do you remember? Skyrail tracks glinting in the sun?
Do you remember? Telling me you had a soap gun?
Do you remember? Coincidences in the crossword clues?
Do you remember? Just before my father saved my life.
By the way, didn't you die anyway?
Please excuse me, I tried to do all that I could do,
So sorry, there was nothing I could do -
I was out of time.
Kaylieu... Is it too late to say I'm sorry?
Kaylieu could you make your stand in some other way?
I can'ty just go on pretending, that your life came to an actual end.
I suspect only Jon might get the reference (btw, sorry if I spelt 'Kaylieu' wrong, but my reference copy is 80 miles away).</HTML>
Do you remember? Skyrail tracks glinting in the sun?
Do you remember? Telling me you had a soap gun?
Do you remember? Coincidences in the crossword clues?
Do you remember? Just before my father saved my life.
By the way, didn't you die anyway?
Please excuse me, I tried to do all that I could do,
So sorry, there was nothing I could do -
I was out of time.
Kaylieu... Is it too late to say I'm sorry?
Kaylieu could you make your stand in some other way?
I can'ty just go on pretending, that your life came to an actual end.
I suspect only Jon might get the reference (btw, sorry if I spelt 'Kaylieu' wrong, but my reference copy is 80 miles away).</HTML>
Re: What to read next?
Posted by: jon (---.abel.net.uk)
Date: January 16, 2003 03:02PM
<HTML>I was put off the Huskisson book by the piece in the Observer Review which featured a pic of the author cheerfully standing on the main line opposite the Huskisson Memorial. Served him right had he got the 1030 to Lime Street up his arse. This foolish behaviour rather prejuduced me against him.</HTML>
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