Did You Know...J.R.R. Tolkien

I was thinking of something to post last night and I realized that it's been a while since I wrote a Did You Know...post. So, guess what I'm posting today? You've got it--Did You Know!

I'm surprised that I haven't done this one yet. J.R.R. Tolkien is my all-time favorite author. I know all sorts of things about him and his two most popular books--The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Do you? Let's find out!

Did You Know...

• That Tolkien was born in 1892 in South Africa? His father had accepted a job there as a bank manager.
• That Tolkien's father died when he was three and his mother died when he was 12?
• By the end of World War I all but one of his closest friends was dead? The war had a profound affect upon Tolkien that would surface in his writing (such as in his description of the Dead Marshes).
• His father was Catholic and his mother converted to Catholicism? Tolkien was a staunch Catholic all his life, somewhat of a trial in England, and this affected his writing as well.
• Tolkien distrusted machines in general and cars in particular? Whenever possible, he rode his bicycle. He thought the world was being overwhelmed by machines and loved the green, peaceful English countryside.
• He fell in love with his future wife, Edith Bratt, when he was 16, but was forbidden by his guardian to communicate with her until he was  because Edith was Protestant? He kept his promise. On his 21st birthday, he wrote to Edith asking her to marry him. She was engaged to be married to someone else, but cancelled that engagement, converted to Catholicism, and married Tolkien. They were married over 50 years.
• He did the illustrations for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings himself? Although he downplayed his artistic skills, he was better than most and his publisher, much to his surprise, agreed to use his illustrations.
• Tolkien's devout faith was a major reason than his friend and fellow author C.S. Lewis converted from atheism to Christianity? Lewis chose the Church of England over Catholicism, which dismayed Tolkien to some extent, but I believe he got over it.
• The Lord of the Rings was intended to be a children's story, like The Hobbit before it, but became darker as the writing progressed? It touched more on the myths and legends of Middle Earth that Tolkien had been working on for years. This was Tolkien's true love and would be published posthumously by his son Christopher as The Silmarillion. 
• The Silmarillion was Tolkien's attempt to write a distinctly British mythology? The lack of a truly British mythology was a gap that Tolkien tried to fill through the history of The Silmarillion and his poetry.
• The Lord of the Rings took more than ten years to write? As Tolkien so aptly said in the forward, "The tale grew in the telling."
• Tolkien was a professor of languages and knew 13 languages including Latin, French, German, Middle English, Old English, Greek, Italian and Welsh? He had a working knowledge of eight others? He also developed his own Elvish languages; Quenya and Sindarin.
• Tolkien died on September 2, 1973 at the age of 81? He was buried in the same grave with his wife Edith who had passed away 21 months earlier.
• Tolkien's translation of Beowulf and a transcript of a paper he delivered on the ancient poem was published this week (no, I am not receiving money from the Tolkien estate!)?

My Favorite Books: A Wizard of Earthsea

Last week, I wrote about The Hobbit, a book that cemented my love of fantasy. Shortly after reading about Bilbo Baggins and his adventures, my mom got me The Lord of the Rings and I was hooked.

After I finished that book, I started looking around for other fantasy novels. In my local Waldenbooks (anyone remember them?) I came across a set of books that looked promising. While not as long as The Lord of the Rings, the cover of the first book really appealed to me (I had a thing about dragons in those days). Besides that, the back of the book said that the Earthsea Trilogy had been compared to The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia.

Nowadays, I'm not so easily swayed by back cover blurbs, but as a boy of about 13 that was enough for me. I bought them and took them home. I dove right into them.

I had no idea who Ursula K. LeGuin was. She sure had a funny sounding name. The front of thee book told me that she'd won some awards--the Hugo and Nebula. I had no clue that she was an accomplished science fiction writer. If I had, I don't know if I would have bought the books.

The fact is she's just a great writer, period. I loved the entire trilogy, which chronicles the journey of an orphaned shepherd boy in a remote mountain village. The boy, Duny, learns he has some small talent for magic from his aunt, the village witch. After saving his village from invaders by calling down a fog, he is apprenticed to a mage named Ogion.

From there, Duny is given a new name, Ged, and he becomes a powerful wizard. However, he falls victim to his pride and makes a dreadful mistake and unleashes the dark side of himself. The rest of the book follows Ged as he is hunted by his darker self and his realization that he can't run from it forever. I found it to be gripping, thought-provoking stuff. The rest of the trilogy was just as good. As a matter of fact, I think I need to go back and reread them.

What books that you read when you were young made a lasting impression on you?

My Favorite Books: The Hobbit

As I was thinking back over some of the books that I really enjoyed when I was young, I realized that I’ve never written about one of my favorite books of all time. While Narnia got me into the fantasy genre, and reading The Lord of the Rings sealed my fantasy addiction and became my favorite book, there was one other book that told me I was on to something.

I’m talking about The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. After racing through the Chronicles of Narnia as an 11 or 12 year old, I was looking around for another book “like Narnia”. Once again, my mother came to the rescue with a suggestion—The Hobbit. I got hold of a copy from the library and devoured it.

Not only was it a good adventure, but it was really funny in places and scary in others. I think it has the perfect combination. This was my first “quest” book, and it really does feature a classic. There are 13 dwarves trying to recover their stolen gold. Their advisor is a wizard named Gandalf who recruits a simple, stay at home hobbit to go off and have an adventure. What’s funny is that he was selected as a burglar to steal the treasure (the idea of one small person trying to steal the wealth of an entire dwarf kingdom!) and to change the number of people in the party from an unlucky 13 to 14!

Bilbo is very put out at the thought of going on an adventure. When the dwarves tell him the golden horde was stolen and is guarded by a dragon named Smaug, he’s even more reluctant. Still, he screws up his courage and decides to go, although he is almost left behind. That sets him on a path that will change his life, and the course of history.

This book fueled my hunger for books of this type and led me to its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. From there I was off. I started reading a lot of fantasy, good and otherwise. I’ll tell you about the next step on that journey next time!

Here's a look at the animated classic version from Rankin Bass:

My Favorite Books: The Lord of the Rings

Today I'm launching a new feature, My Favorite Books. This may wind up being a weekly post, but don't hold me to it. In the short time that I've been writing this blog, I've mentioned a bunch of books that I like. I'll be talking a little bit about what makes these books so special to me.

I'm kicking this off with my favorite book, The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. This book has always had a special place in my heart. I read The Hobbit first when I was about 12 or so, and read LOTR immediately after. After that, I don't think any fantasy has ever measured up.

The thing I like most about the book is that it's about a group of ordinary people (okay, hobbits) that are called upon to put an end to evil and save the world. The tale is truly an epic tale of good vs. evil.

The book is so big, that you get lost in the story and the world of Middle Earth. My favorite character is probably Samwise Gamgee, the faithful friend of Frodo Baggins. I think I relate best to him. He's a common, everyday person. I admire his loyalty, and his down to earth common sense. In many ways, he's as responsible for the success of the quest as Frodo.

When I first read the book, it sparked my imagination, and I hoped that one day I'd be able to write a book as good as that. Now that I've written a book, part of that dream has been realized. I know my book isn't as good as LOTR, no book can be, but I'm proud of what i've accomplished.

Every time I read LOTR I'm transported back to the first time I read it. I love to travel back and visit the places it takes me. The great thing is, I always find something new that I hadn't noticed before. That's what makes a favorite book such a great thing.

What's your favorite book?

Tag, I'm It--Who's Up for a Game of Book Tag?

Yesterday, just before going to bed, I checked out my Facebook page to see if anything was happening. Turns out my friends Fairday annd Lizzy from The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow shared a link to their fantastic blog. They wanted to play a game--book tag.



What is book tag, you ask? Excellent question. I have no idea. It's just a bit of fun. Oh wait, I do know--there are even rules. Here they are:

THE RULES

1) You must post the rules.

2) Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.

3) Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.

4) Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Here are the questions posed by Fairday and Lizzy:

1. When did you start blogging? 



I'm fairly new. I started in the middle of October last year.

2. What is your favorite food?

My wife would tell you everything, and that would be pretty close to the thruth! Really, it's anything sweet.

3. What is your favorite book from childhood?

Again, another tough question. I'd have to say, My Brother Sam is Dead, because it was a historical novel based on events that happened in my area, and I met one of the authors, Christopher Collier, when he visited my school.

4. Best concert you have ever attended or what concert would you like to attend?

Any of Jethro Tull's concerts are good, although Ian Anderson's voice is shot. I have a friend who has a band called The Jody S. Cipot Band that plays in New Milford, CT from time to time. They always put on a great show!
  


Jethro



Jody

 
5. PC or Mac?

Definately PC.

6. Where do you buy or get most of the books you read?

These days I'm buying a lot of Kindle editions of books, but only if they're under about $8. I can't believe the prices publishers are charging for an electronic version of a book. I also like to check out any small out of the way independent bookstores when I have the chance. Some good ones: R.J. Julia in Madison, CT, and the Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington, CT. I also go to our town library quite often. The kids love going and they have a great selection of books, audio books, and videos. The price is right, too.

7. If you could be friends with any character from a book, who would you be friends with?

Gandalf, the wizard from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. He'd be an interesting guy to hang with, and I might even have a chance to get caught up in an adventure or two!

8. Favorite holiday?

I would have to say it's Christmas. It's still the one time of year that's downright magical for me.

9. A book you think everyone should read?

What, besides my own? Let's face it, The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel is a fun, exciting book for kids, but apart from that, I'd have to say The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Just a great book, with a great message.

10. If you could have one wish, what would it be?

I'd like to have a time machine so I could go back to see what things were like 100, 200, 300 years ago. That's my secret, selfish wish. If I only had one wish, though, I'd do the right thing and wish that there was no poverty or war, and that everyone was happy. Who knows, if that ever happened, maybe someone would have enough money and time to invent a time machine!

11. Favorite beverage?

Ice cold, unsweetened iced tea. Nothing better when you're thirsty!

Okay, now it's time for me to give a shout out to some of my favorite blogs and say:

TAG, YOU'RE IT!!!!!!

And here are the blogs that have been tagged:

Ro--Always Inspired

My Life, One Story at a Time

Dragonscale Leggings

The Perfect Herald

In the Clouds

Skeletica

She Writes Again

Paranormal Goddess

Under My Apple Tree

Books Are Magic

Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog

Here are my questions for all of you who were tagged:

1. If you could go back in time, what event would you most like to witness?

2. What is your favorite childhood memory?

3. What is your favorite movie?

4. What do you like to do best on a summer's day?

5. Coke or Pepsi?

6. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

7. What is your favorite book? (I know others have asked it, but how can i not?)

8. Who do you think was the most important person in the 20th century?

9. What's your favorite kind of candy?

10. What book makes you laugh most?

11. Rock, paper, scissors?



Writing--It's Fantastic!

So, how did I get started writing fantasy, and writing it for tweens? I've always loved to read. Reading has been a staple ever since I read my first book on my own about a farmer who takes a big wheel of cheese to the market in town in a wheelbarrow, and loses it. It rolls up hill and down with the farmer chasing after it.

But that's kind of beside the point. My mother was (and is) of the opinion that a love of reading should be cultivated at a young age, and nurtured through those "difficult" middle grade years. In an effort to do this, she started reading to myself and my four siblings at the dinner table.

Every night when dinner was over, and the dishes had been cleared away, my mom would read a chapter of a book. The first book she read to us was "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, the first in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I must have been 12 or 13 and I was entranced by the book. It let my imagination take flight, and took me to places I'd never known existed. Here's a picture of the edition she read to us from:

It's the 70's version. Kind of harkens back to the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. There's something a little Paul and Ringoish about Peter and Edmund.

I'd always been a fan of fantasy to some degree. In addition to my love of "Where the Wild Things Are" when I was younger, I also loved "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Phantom Tollbooth", among others. But on some level, I connected more deeply with this book.

Mom read the whole book over the course of a couple of weeks. Then, she moved on to book 2 of the Chronicles, "Prince Caspian". She read one or two more, but by the time she'd finished with book two, I'd raced far ahead. In no time, I'd devoured all seven books of the Chronicles and was looking for more.



That's when my mom suggested I check out "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. That was well and truly it. I was hooked. From there it was on to "The Lord of the Rings". Things haven't been the same since.



This started me on my way. I knew what I was going to do. I was going to write fantasy novels for children. I started right away. I made the mistake of trying to write an 8th book of the Chronicles of Narnia--not a good idea. Then, I started a fantasy epic of my own inspiration, complete with a map and everything.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I don't think anything has survived from that ill fated manuscript. After that I bided my time. Something else grabbed my writing attention around this time and on into high school and college--comedy. But that's a story for another day.