Literary Heroine Blog Party 2015

Kellie from According to Kellie is hosting the Literary Heroine Blog Party and Givewaway and I'm joining in on the fun!
Here's some fun questions that we get to answer! :)

~ The Questions ~

1. Introduce yourself! Divulge your life's vision, likes, dislikes, aspirations, or something completely random! Well my name is Lois and I'm one of seven children that grew up in the land of Kansas. I was homeschooled through high school and I'm now in my final semester of nursing school. My life's vision is to glorify God in all I do and aspire to hopefully be a wife and mother. I like reading, crocheting, tea, Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien and Doctor Who. I dislike Rose Tyler, the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice, excessive romance and not getting enough sleep. 
2. What, to you, forms the essence of a true heroine? Me... obviously. ;) Just kidding. I wish. Elizabeth Bennet for me forms the essence of a true heroine. She's witty, smart and kind but she still has faults. 
3. Share (up to) four heroines of literature that you most admire and relate to. Well obviously Elizabeth Bennet as aforementioned so I won't count her here. Admire: Fanny Price, Anne Elliot, and Molly Gipson. Relate to: Catherine Morland and Anne Shirley. So I know that was five but I'm a rebel child! ;)
4. Five of your favorite historical novels? There are some novels I don't consider historical novels that I know others do and it's just a personal preference. Basically my rule is that if a book is written about the same time period in which it is being written I don't consider it a historical novel. Coronation of Glory by Deborah Meroff is my absolute favorite and if you haven't read it you should! Besides that I always enjoy G.A. Henry's historical novels, especially In the Reign of Terror, St. Batholomew's Eve and Coronet of Horse. Additionally I like The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare and To Kill a Mockinbird by Harper Lee. 
5. Out of those five books who is your favorite major character and why? Lady Jane Grey without a doubt. Read the book people! 
6. Out of those five books who is your favorite secondary character and why? My mind is blanking on secondary characters. :(
7. If you were to plan out your dream vacation, where would you travel to - and what would you plan to do there? England, Scotland and Ireland. I would visit all of the historical sites and traverse the countrysides! Duh! 
8. What is your favorite time period and culture to read about? 18th century. 
9. You have been invited to perform at the local charity concert. Singing, comedy, recitation, tap dancing… what is your act comprised of? Recitation. Trust me, you don't want me singing. ;)
10. If you were to attend a party where each guest was to portray a heroine of literature, who would you select to represent? Well I would secretly wish I could be Elizabeth Bennet but know I could never represent her with justice so I'd resort to being Miss Bates because then I know I could talk as much as I want and it would be fine because everyone would expect that of my character. ;) Just kidding.... again. :) I would go as Catherine Morland because I would feel quite natural in that role. 
11. Favorite author(s)? Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien
12. In which century were most of the books you read written? It's hard to tell on my Goodreads stats page but I think it is the 19th century but the 18th century is right behind it. 
13. In your opinion, the ultimate hero in all literature is… Well my favorite (not necessarily the best), heroes are Mr. Knightley (from Austen's Emma) and Mr. Tilney (from Austen's Northanger Abbey). 
14. In your opinion, the most dastardly villain of all literature is... Can we do villainess? Cause my choice is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. I do not like that woman. In fact, I dislike her more than Voldemort. Other dastardly villains though are Uriah Heap, Henry Crawford, Mr. Wickham, Mr. Willoughby and Grendel. 
15. Describe your ideal dwelling place. A charming cottage in the countryside. 
16. Sum up your fashion style in a short sentence. I try to be a somewhat fashionable while still being modest. :)
17. Three favorite Non-fiction books? Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul, The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton. Honorable mentions: Christianity and Liberalism and Miniatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen. 
18. Your duties met for the day, how would you choose to spend a carefree summer afternoon? Well if I wasn't terribly allergic to poison ivy I would go down to the woods/river area on the family property but as I am I would probably read, catch up with a TV show or if the kids were up for it, go swimming. 
19. Create a verbal sketch of your dream hat - in such a way as will best portray your true character. All I can think of is the hat that Anne Shirley makes up in Anne of Green Gables to wear to church. It was a nice brimmed hat when she left Green Gables but by the time it got to church it was adorned with a crazy assortment of flowers. That's me... I've got all the crazy on the outside but there's a sensible interior. :) 
20. Share the most significant event(s) that have marked your life in the past year. It was a hard year last year actually. My Grandpa on one side passed away in the spring and then my other Grandpa passed away in December. Those have made a huge impact on me and how I think about life and death. They've also mad me irrationally emotional at odd moments. ;) I also worked at a pig farm this last summer that will always be a very special memory in my mind. 
21. Share the Bible passage(s) that have been most inspiring to you recently. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.- Philippians 4:6-7

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Book Review- Book of Lost Tales

I've finally finished J.R.R. Tolkien's The Book of Lost Tales! This will go towards my Full House challenge (It's a borrowed book) and my Classic Club challenge.
The Book of Lost Tales is split up into two parts which are in separate books. I read the first part/book last summer and the second this past month.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads for the two books: The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor, for the Tales were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called The Simarillion. Complete with commentary and notes.This second part of The Book of Lost Tales includes the tale of Beren and Luthien, Turin and the Dragon, and the only full narratives of the Necklace of the Dwarves and the Fall of Gondolin. Each tale is followed by a commentary in the form of a short essay, together with the texts of associated poems.

So as you can see from the synopsis, The Book of Lost Tales is basically the early form of Tolkien's better known work The Silmarillion. J.R.R. Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien, compiled the book from notes and writings of his father.
Eriol (later changed to Aelfwine) is a traveler who is shipwrecked upon an isle where the last of the elves dwell. There he stays and every evening he is told of the tales of long ago, the tales of ancient Middle Earth. Many of these tales made it into The Silmarillion but in a more edited and refined version. Personally I preferred the first part better. It reminded me of Greek mythology and I felt like the story telling aspect of it flowed better. In the second part, I felt the stories didn't flow as smoothly and Christopher Tolkien had a lot more commentary, which was understandable as the notes that his father left behind weren't as clear for these sections and sometimes even contradicted themselves. However, this caused the book to flow less smoothly.
Overall I did enjoy these books but I think I prefer The Silmarllion. They earned four out of five stars for me on Goodreads.

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It's Monday: A New Year and a Bout of Books

It's 2015! Already I'm heading into the new year full speed. I began reading Beowulf just shortly after midnight New Year's Day just for the fun of it and then finished it later that day. :) This is also my first day of Bout of Books!
I don't know if people get reading cravings but I if they do I have one! For the last few days I've been longing for a re-read of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I can't get rid of the longing! This is not planned into my schedule of reading this year but I'm thinking I'm going to have to work it in somehow. It's such a great book that I don't see why I should resist this craving. ;) For now I'll probably just suffice with Tolkien's The Book of Lost Tales but I think I'll take LOTR along with me when we go on our family ski trip next week. It's rather appropriate actually as the last time I re-read LOTR was two years ago on our last ski trip. :)

Finished this Week

• Beowulf by Unknown- Excellent poem! I was surprised to love it! A beautiful mixture of the epicness of Tolkien and the poetry format of Homer's Odyssey. A full review will hopefully be coming soon. :)
• Agamemnon by Aeschylus- Somewhat difficult to read and comprehend but interesting nonetheless. 

Currently Reading

• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (re-read) (audiobook)- A classic childhood favorite. :)

Coming Soon

• The Book of Lost Tales part 2 by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (re-read)
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy (re-read)???

Book Reviews posted this week

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 

Let the reading commence!

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Top Ten Tuesday- Top Ten Characters You Wish Would Get Their Own Book

This week for top ten tuesday the topic is "Top ten characters you wish would get their own book".

1. Luna Lovegood from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
2. Merry and Pippin from J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR
3. Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR
4. Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR
5. Legolas and Gimlie from J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR
6. Mr. Collins from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice... can you imagine the potential for a satirical novel on Mr. Collins... and Lady Catherine de Bourgh too of course??? :)
7. Reepicheep from C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia 
8. Jane Bennet from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
9. Tom Bombadil from J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR... though actually I am pretty sure there is a book about him but I haven't read it yet so let's pretend I'm still in ignorance. ;)
10. Eomer from J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR

As you can see, my LOTR and Jane Austen love shines ever bright. ;)

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Ultimate Book Tag

I was tagged by KayCee K at Wonder Struck to do the Ultimate Book Tag! Thanks KayCee K!
I'm going to tag: Smiling Shelves, Once Upon a Twilight, Chased by My Imagination, Nut Free Nerd, Spoonful of Happy Endings, Caffeinated Life, Reviews from a Bookworm, Jayne's Books, I Wished I Lived in a Library, Turn the Page Reviews, and Ravens and Writing Desks. If I didn't tag you but you'd like to join in feel free to! :)

1. Do you get sick while reading in the car?


Not normally.


2. Which author’s writing style is completely unique to you and why?

J.R.R. Tolkien definitely! He really gave birth to modern Fantasy.


3. Harry Potter series or the Twilight Saga? Give 3 points to defend your answer.

Harry Potter - 1. I haven't read Twilight. ;) 2. The characters are really well developed and well written. 3. The plot is interesting and keeps you guessing until the end.


4. Do you carry a book bag? If so, what is it in (besides books…)?

A backpack yes, a bag just for my books... no.


5. Do you smell your books?

Absolutely! I love the smell of old books. :)


6. Books with or without little illustrations?

I don't care. If it has illustrations that's fine and if it doesn't that's fine too. :)


7. What book did you love while reading but discovered later it wasn’t quality writing?

There are definitely some children's books that have stuck with me through the years and have superior writing but there are some that reading back over them after being older I see their inferior writing. Those would probably be The Homeschool Detective Books, The Boxcar Children books and The Happy Hollister Books... I guess probably The Hardy Boy books too but I don't want to admit it! I still would re-read those books. :)


8. Do you have any funny stories involving books from your childhood? Please share!

I can't think of any off the top of my head but I'm sure there are.


9. What is the thinnest book on your shelf?

Doctor Seus's ABCs... I got my own copy at an antique shop earlier this year. :)


10. What is the thickest book on your shelf?

My copy of Little Women is I think the thickest... not sure why.


11. Do you write as well as read? Do you see yourself in the future as being an author?

Yes. Not really at all right now besides my bog as I'm busy with school.


12. When did you get into reading?

Since birth practically. My parents read to us until we could read, which I was starting to around three or four. By around five or six I was reading pretty much exclusively on my own.


13. What is your favorite classic book?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.


14. In school was your best subject Language Arts/English?

Probably. I didn't really have a best subject. What I liked the best was reading, history, Spanish and English. I still think it is weird I ended up in a science field. :)


15. If you were given a book as a present that you had read before and hated…what would you do?

People that give me books normally know me well enough to not give me one I will hate. If they did, I guess I would just put it on my shelf and someday when I was bored, if I felt like it was worth giving it a second chance, I would read it again. If not, there it would stay most likely.


16. What is a lesser known series that you know of that is similar to Harry Potter or theHunger Games?

I haven't read The Hunger Games but I have read Harry Potter and I guess a lesser known series that I would say is somewhat similar to it is The Binding of the Blades series by L.B. Graham.


17. What is a bad habit you always do (besides rambling) while blogging?

Probably not being consistent with my blogging.


18. What is your favorite word?

I got through cycles of having favorite words. It was "beguiling" for awhile,


19. Are you a nerd, dork, or dweeb? Or all of the above?

I'm not up on all of the differences between these so I'm just going to go out on a limb and say geek... even though that's not on the list. I'm just getting into sic-fi with Doctor Who and Stargate: Atlantis and of course I've always enjoyed Star Wars. I also like fantasy such as Lord of the Rings.


20. Vampires or Fairies? Why?

Fairies. Because I don't like Vampires and I had to chose. ;) Besides that though, I read a lot of fairy tales growing up so I've always enjoyed reading about them. :)



21. Shapeshifters or Angels? Why?

Weeping Angels... Sorry, just went all Doctor Who on you guys. :) They're one of my favorite "villains" from Doctor Who.


22. Spirits or Werewolves? Why?

Werewolves! Cause of Doctor Who. Tooth and Claw is a great episode!


23. Zombies or Vampires?

Neither?


24. Love Triangle or Forbidden Love

No love triangles please! I'm not crazy about forbidden love either though but when it comes to choosing I guess it's forbidden love.


25. AND FINALLY: Full on romance books or action-packed with a few love scenes mixed in?

Action packed with a few love scenes mixed in.


If I tagged you, or if you just want to hop in and answer the questions anyways, please answer the questions in a blog post and comment with a link so I can see what you said. :)
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Top Ten Places Books have made me want to Visit

Now this is a subject I feel passion about! Best part of it is that it can be real or (bum bum bum) FICTIONAL!!!!

1. Middle Earth- Read Lord of the Rings and oh my I just want to go there! The movies' beautiful scenery doesn't help my longing. 
2. England- All of Jane Austen's novels and any other novels set there. I want to go there so bad!!!!!!!
3. Oz- From of course The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series. Those were my favorites as a kid! 
4. Hogwarts- From the Harry Potter series. :)
5. Redwall, Salamandastron, ect- From Brian Jacques's Redwall series Another favorite from when I was young. 
6. Scotland- From G.A. Henty's In Freedom's Cause
7. Botswana- From The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
8. Mary Poppin Land- Is that a place? Just wherever Mary Poppins goes... it's always amazing! 
9. Narnia- From C.S. Lewi's Chronicles of Narnia
10. Neverland- From J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. I'd never have to grow up! Wishful thinking I know. However, growing up I must do, much as I do not want to. On a more serious note, I think a serious problem with our society is people never wanting to grow up. Thoughts on that?

So many of these are fictional... obviously I'm not fond of reality. ;)

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Top Ten Book Characters that would be Sitting at my Lunch Table (back to school theme)

I've been back to school for two weeks now! This back to school thing is a lie! ;)
Anyways...
Here are my top ten book characters that I would be super duper happy to have sitting at my lunch table. Maybe not all of them at the same time though. :)

1. Elizabeth Bennett- From Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
2. Henry Tilney- From Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey
3. Mr. Knightley- From Jane Austen's Emma (I would be able to have a serious conversation with all three of these Austen characters listed here and above but they would still interject witty comments in occasionally to make me laugh.)
4. Bertie Wooster- From P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels (Who knows what Bertie will say!) 
5. Anne Shirley- From L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series 
6. Bilbo Baggins- From J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (His stories, songs and poetry will be one of my favorite parts of the table conversation)
7. Sherlock Holmes- From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories (He'll annoy everyone at the table with making deductions about them.)
8. Mr. Collins- From Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (I know he's really annoying but he's also really funny because of that!)
9. Mr. Bennet- From Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (He'll mostly sit and listen but every once and a while he'll pop up with a witty comment that will make me laugh.)
10. Luna Lovegood- From J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (I'm sure I'd hear about some interesting things from her.) 

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Top Ten Favorite Classic Books

Between not having Wifi during the week while I'm at work on the pig farm and going on my mission trip to Costa Rica I haven't really been churning out blog posts. Don't worry, this trend shouldn't continue once the summer is over. :) So for today I'm giving you a top ten tuesday and the theme is my favorite classic books. :)

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen- Duh!
2. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- Again... duh!
3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen
5. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
6. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
7. Leave it Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse
8. Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
9. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
10. The Golf Omnibus by P.G. Wodehouse

Except the first two these books aren't in any specific order. I was kind of in a hurry making the list so don't sue me over the books I chose. These were just the favorites that first came to mind. :) I love most every classic work of literature these are just my favorites. 

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Top Ten Books about Friendship

This should be a fun list!

1. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling- I think some of the greatest books about friendship written in my honest opinion. I'm not an obsessed fan about Harry Potter but there are several great points to them and this is one of them. 
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- Through thick and thin Frodo and Sam... You know what I mean. There's also Legolas and Gimli. The whole fellowship though is just a great picture of friendship. You know, I might take my above statement about the Harry Potter series back. I'm not sure. 
3. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery- Bosom friends! 
4. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis- I love Bree and Shasta and their fun and crazy friendship. This is my favorite of C.S. Lewis's novels. 
5. Poroit series by Agatha Christie- Poroit and Captain Hastings are such a fun duo! I also like Poroit and Inspector Japp. :) 
6. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak- I enjoy the friendships that Liesel has with Rudy and Max. 
7. Redwall series by Brain Jacques- There are always fun and touching friendships in Jacques's books that I have always enjoyed. 
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen- There are a lot of friendships I enjoy in this novel and they are all familial. Lizzy and her father is one of my favorite relationships/friendships in all of literature. I also love Lizzy and Jane's friendship. 
9. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen- Fanny and Edmund's friendship is another great relationship and I appreciate that they ended up SPOILER getting married in the end. END SPOILER. The book shows a beautiful transition from friendship to marriage. In my opinion, friendship is a good start to entering into a romantic relationship. 
10. Emma by Jane Austen- Knightley and Emma's friendship is another relationship that SPOILER resulted in marriage. END SPOILER. It is a lot like a brother-sister friendship, which I love.

What friendships do you enjoy in literature? I would have included more Austen but I don't want to completely override all of my lists with my obsessions so I just included my favorites. ;)
Linking up with The Broke and the Bookish. 

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Top Ten Book Covers I'd Frame as a Piece of Art

A few weeks ago I did a Five Fridays Favorite very similar to this so I'll be including many of those as well as some others. These are book covers that I would frame as pieces of art. :)

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Top Ten Bookish Things (That aren't books) That I'd Like to Own

So many possibilities for this one. :) I'm warning you, there's extreme geekness in this post. ;)


1) Bookshelves. Tons and tons of bookshelves. I'll need them for all the books I'll inevitably have (once I'm graduated from college and have money... ya' know). I'd like to get some of those really unique ones and maybe some built in ones like the one pictured.

Picture found here. 

2) Jane Austen bookmarks! Geek moment. Take a look at these I found on Etsy! I love them as they're take from original front pages of Austen's books. :)

Find it on Etsy

3) With the same thought, I really want some Doctor Who bookmarks. Geekiness to the extreme!

Find these on Amazon!

4) And this scarf from Etsy?!?!?! I need it... I'm convinced I do. I told my parents it can be my graduation present. A scarf with a map of the Lord of the Rings! Can't get much geekier then that!

Find it on Etsy. 

5) I love this tote bag off of Etsy too. It would be such a fun book bag!

Find it on Etsy! 

6) Of course I would love my own little book nook in my house someday.

Picture found here.

I ran out of time being busy with school so all you get is ten... believe me though, given some more time and I would have exploded the internet with more geeky stuff. ;)


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Top Ten Most Unique Books I've Ever Read

Today I'm linking up with The Broke and Bookish to bring you the top ten most unique books I've ever read. So here they are in no particular order and hoping I didn't forget something obvious. :)

1. The Book Thief by Martin Zusak...  Any book that has death narrating it is unique... just saying. 
2. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz... A very different kind of book that looks at life through different lenses. A fun read. :) 
3. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.... No list is complete without including some Tolkien. :) In all honesty though, I don't think anyone could disagree that Tolkien's works inspired much of modern fantasy and remains unique in their creativity and majesty. 
4. Leave it to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse... All of Wodehouse's books are unique but this one was even more so. :) Remains one of my favorite books to this day. :) 
5. The Screwtape Leters by C.S. Lewis... Unique to the extreme. I would really like to re-read this book actually because whenever I see excerpts from it I think "This is so good! I don't remember this!" I would highly recommend this book as an eyeopening novel that makes you look at your actions and your thoughts in a different light. 
6. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde... I've mentioned this book a lot on my blog since reading it. I found it very thought provoking and definitely unique in the way it is written and what it discusses... especially for the time in which it was written. 
7. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling... I'm not a crazy fan like some of those bloggers out there ;) but I do enjoy the Harry Potter books a lot and I consider them quite unique and incredibly imaginative. 
8. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer... One of my favorite non-fiction novels. The way Tozer presents the theology in this I found to be unique, fresh and interesting. 
9. 1984, Animal Farm, Farenheight 451... I'm paring those three together. I read them all about the same time and they're sort of similar in their ideas. At the age when I read them with my limited experiences of the world I found them to be startlingly unique. Now that I'm older, more mature and know more about the world then I want to, I find that these ideas are sadly starting to come true. 
10. One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters... This is a fun mystery novel that I have always enjoyed for its unique setting in medieval times. I've always been a bit of a history lover as well as a mystery novel lover so when you combine thoughts you make me happy. :) It's so interesting to read a mystery novel where you don't have all of the modern conveniences that yyou normally think of. Government is very different, there's no fingerprinting and you can't get everywhere as quickly. 

I actually thought this list would be hard to make but once I started looking at my Goodreads list of books I'd read the list just flowed and soon I had too many so I had to cut back! 

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NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa Monday!

Despite what you're thinking I'm not a Batman fan... That's just kind of how I felt today. Just a little hyper. :)
So it's Monday and what am I reading? A lot as you will see. I'm not sure how on earth I got this much reading done this last week. They weren't at all hard books though, and the harder one (Miniatures and Morals) was short so that would explain it. Plus, after my test, I had time to indulge in some reading before cracking the books again. :) Links will take you to the books' Goodreads page. 

I'm continuing to listen to Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South via LibriVox and enjoying it a lot. It will probably take me awhile to finish it so don't expect a review soon. :)

Goodreads Synopsis: When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction. In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.

Last week I started and finished reading Dean Koontz's book Odd Thomas. I've read couple of his books before and enjoyed them so my Dad recommended this to me and I loved it just much, in some ways even more, as the others. There are more books about Odd Thomas following this one so I'll probably get around to reading those someday too. Also there is a movie out of it that my Dad likes a lot so now that I'm done I'll have to check that out.

Goodreads Synopsis: "The dead don't talk. I don't know why." But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn.

Maybe he has a gift, maybe it's a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd's otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different.

A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.
Today is August 14.

In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares, and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.

Randomly I picked up Minatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen by Peter Leithart. It was actually a reread. I had been mentioning to my mother that I wanted to pick it up again sometime in the future but then got carried away with that idea and picked it up that day and started it then finished the next day. I forgot how much I loved it. Leithart really fleshes out her books, looking at them from a deep Christian perspective. My favorite line from the book, and one that I often tell people when I'm giving them my quite opinionated view on reading Austen's novels is; "Real men read Austen." 
So I would highly recommend this book to all Jane Austen lovers and if you aren't a Jane Austen lover then obviously fix that! ;)

Goodreads Synopsis: Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen Not only are Austen's novels still widely read, they continue to influence modern film and literature. In both their moral content and their focused, highly detailed, "miniaturist" execution, they reveal Austen's mastery of the art of fiction and her concern for Christian virtues exercised within communities. She entertains, edifies, and challenges men and women readers alike. From theological and literary angles, Leithart analyzes character and theme while summarizing each of Austen's major works-Pride & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion. Including helpful review and thought questions for each section, this book is an excellent introduction to Austen for students and for all who desire a richer appreciation of her enduring genius.

I also started Tolkien's Roverandom, which is actually a children's book about a dog but still with fantasy themes... it is Tolkien after all. ;) It's an fun and easy read and interesting in the light of it being Tolkien. Time will tell what I think of it but so far so good. :)

Goodreads Synopsis: In 1925, while on vacation with his family on the Yorkshire coast, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his favorite toy, a little lead dog he was reluctant to put down even to dig in the sand. To console and distract him, his father, J. R. R. Tolkien, improvised a story - the story of Rover, a real dog magically transformed into a toy, who, after many fantastic adventures in search of the wizard who wronged him, at last wins back his life. This charming tale, peopled by a wise old whale and a terrible dragon, by the king of the sea and the Man-in-the-Moon, was a Tolkien family favorite, going through several typewritten drafts over many years. In 1936, Tolkien submitted it to his British publishers as a possible follow-up to The Hobbit. What his publishers really wanted, however, was another story about Middle-earth, and so he set aside this little book to begin his masterwork, The Lord of the Rings.

I have that pile of library books I recklessly got a couple weeks ago that I need to dig into before they're due back. Odd Thomas and Roverandom were two of them but I still have the collection of Mary Westcott's (Agatha Christie's pseudonym in her early years) books and Jeff Shaara's Gods and Generals. I also borrowed Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales back at the beginning of the year that I need to read as well. So no lack of reading material! Just time. :)

Check out these reviews I posted this past week. :)
Book Review- The Warden
Book Review: The Children of Húrin
Book Review: The Comedy of Errors

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Book Review: The Children of Húrin

Knowing what a Tolkien geek I am (or want to believe I am), you won't be surprised to know I enjoyed The Children of Húrin! I liked it somewhere in-between my adoration for The Lord of the Rings and my liking of The Silmarillion. That is also where the reading ease lies too. It expands on the story of Túrin Turimbar from The Silmarillion. This synopsis from Goodreads sums up quite well this tragic story.

Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Hurin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled. The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

As you can see it is full of the same beauty and epicness that penetrates Tolkien's other books. I can't really recommend it to someone who doesn't already enjoy Tolkien and who hopefully has already read LOTR and The Silmarillion. If you're not a fan you probably won't enjoy it but if you are a fan I'm sure you'll love it!
In the case of you not being a Tolkien fan, I have to ask... WHY NOT? How can you get through life?  This is a terrible malady that must be cured! I once was passive about Tolkien but last year something stirred inside me as I re-read LOTR and since then I've never looked back! I advise you now to go, pick up the nearest Tolkien book and read!

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Thoughtful Third Thursday- March 2014

I'm linking up with A Bibliophile's Style for Thoughtful Third Thursday. The rules are that every third Thursday of the month, you create a blog post where you state what you're currently reading, including a quote and/or a synopsis, and an outfit that you feel corresponds to your chosen quote.

I'm currently reading Agatha Christie's novel Curtain and J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Children of Húrin. The synopsis for The Children of Húrin (as copied off of Goodreads) is this: Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Hurin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled. The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

My picture is from several years ago obviously but I think it is just the kind of gown Nienor might be wearing in The Children of Húrin. It is actually an old bridesmaids dress of my mother's but in those days it was the gown of a princess who was about to be kidnapped by a dragon and then rescued by prince (who would most likely have to climb up her hair to rescue her). Today however it is the dress of Nienor, sister of Túrin Turimbar! I am finding The Children of Húrin far more epic than that princess story at the moment. :)

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Reading Along (with a smile on my face)

I created this collage for my blog's Facebook page. I like it
because it encompasses my two favorite authors and
subsequently the two authors I geek out the most about. :)

I felt like I had a pretty good week of reading. I finished a book and made some progress in others. Can't ask for much more, especially as school isn't letting up. Spring break is this week but with company and preparing for a test, I don't know how much reading I'll get done. 

First off, I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray and you can read my review here. While I encourage you to read my full review, I'll just say here that I did very much enjoy and recommend it. It's not a book you can read lightly but one you have to be actively thinking about. 
 

Goodreads synopsis: The tale of a youth whose features, year after year, retain the same appearance of innocent beauty while the shame of his abhorrent vices becomes mirrored on the features of his portrait.

I've also finished listening to Anthony Trollope's The Warden. I enjoyed listening to it while out walking as the weather has decided to warm up now. :)
Goodreads synopsis: The book centers on the character of Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity, whose charitable income far exceeds the purpose for which it was intended. Young John Bold turns his reforming zeal to exposing what he considers to be an abuse of privilege, despite being in love with Mr. Harding's daughter Eleanor. The novel was highly topical as a case regarding the misapplication of church funds was the scandalous subject of contemporary debate. But Trollope uses this specific case to explore and illuminate the universal complexities of human motivation and social morality. 

I'm finding The Children of Húrin quite engaging so far. It's a lot like reading The Silmarillion but a little easier to read like The Lord of the Rings. So imagine a cross between them and there you have it. I am enjoying reading about Túrin Turimbar immensely, though I already know of the tragic ending that will be coming. Geeky moment, but I think Túrin Turimbar would be a really great baby name don't you? And his sister's name "Nienor" is really pretty too. If I had twins I could name them Túrin and Nienor! Yeah... My family tells me they hope I marry someone with brains who won't let me name my kids after Tolkien characters. But how could I marry anyone less than a Tolkien geek? Anyways...

Goodreads Synopsis: Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Hurin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled. The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

So that's what is going on in my reading world. I doubt I'll start anything new this week but we'll see. Recently I've been trying to have one audiobook, one "real" book, and one eBook going. The Picture of Dorian Gray was my eBook but I normally read those when I'm at school (so I don't have to add yet another book to my already too full backpack) and since I won't be at school this week I doubt I'll start a new eBook. The Warden was my audiobook so I'll be starting up another one of those soon. Probably a Shakespeare. :)

Just a note, I finally got my review for John Piper's Don't Waste your Life up... link here. 

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Top Ten Tuesday: All Time Favorite Books in the Fantasy Genre

The link up for today at The Broke and the Bookish was "All time favorite books in X genre". I chose fantasy as that's probably my favorite reading genre. :) While it is my favorite genre I haven't actually read tons of books in that genre so we'll see if I get a list of ten. And these are in no way in any order, though LOTR is definitely number one.

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (duh)
2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
4. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
5. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
6. Redwall series by Brian Jacques
7. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (first one is good but I don't really care for the others)
8. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
9. The Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum
10. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll

We'll I did come up with ten, though I wasn't exactly consistent with how I listed them (some I listed series, some I listed single titles). I'm so afraid I missed something obvious but who knows. I went scrolling through lists of fantasy books which jogged my memory. I almost forgot certain books/series were fantasy. :)

P.S. I know I said I'd announce the winners for my giveaway today. Please know I haven't forgotten... I am going to post it later on today. :)

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It's Monday! Getting in the Reading Swing!

I think I'm finally back into the swing of reading. You know how it is, one day you're reading like crazy the next you're taking it easy. Or maybe that's just me. :)
Note: DON'T FORGET!!! There is still time to sign up for my giveaway. Don't forget to do so! :)

Last week I FINALLY finished War of the Worlds and you can read my review here. 

Goodreads synopsis of The War of the Worlds: Man had not yet learned to fly when H.G. Wells conceived this story of a Martian attack on England. Giant cylinders crash to Earth, disgorging huge, unearthly creatures armed with heat-rays and fighting machines. Amid the boundless destruction they cause, it looks as if the end of the world has come.

I'm also still current listening to on audio book Anthony Trollope's The Warden and I am now a little over halfway through it. 

Goodreads synopsis of The Warden: The book centers on the character of Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity, whose charitable income far exceeds the purpose for which it was intended. Young John Bold turns his reforming zeal to exposing what he considers to be an abuse of privilege, despite being in love with Mr. Harding's daughter Eleanor. The novel was highly topical as a case regarding the misapplication of church funds was the scandalous subject of contemporary debate. But Trollope uses this specific case to explore and illuminate the universal complexities of human motivation and social morality. 

Early last week I started Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey. So far I am enjoying it, finding it a very intriguing and though provoking book.

Goodreads synopsis of The Picture of Dorian Grey: The tale of a youth whose features, year after year, retain the same appearance of innocent beauty while the shame of his abhorrent vices becomes mirrored on the features of his portrait.

Later in the week I started J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Húrin, which I am enjoying. Pretty much it is for us Tolkien geeks and probably no one else would appreciate it. :)

Goodreads synopsis of The Children of Húrin: Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Hurin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled. The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Quotes

Top Ten Tuesday and this week we can link up with any past themes. I was glancing through them and the obvious one that stuck out to me was "Top Ten Book Quotes". I couldn't resist. :) So here are ten of my favorite book quotes (I don't want to say favorite for fear I missed some).

1. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in a want of a wife."- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat; it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. "Miss Morland, no one can think more highly of the understanding of women than I do. In my opinion, nature has given them so much that they never find it necessary to use more than half."- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
4. "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. "Red hair, sir, in my opinion, is dangerous."- Very Good Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
6. "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me, and I am in no humor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men."- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
7. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you may feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. "Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter! Spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!"- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. "Love has a lot of press-agenting from the oldest times; but there are higher, nobler things than love. A woman is only a woman, but a hefty drive is a slosh."- A Woman is only a Woman by P.G. Wodehouse
10. "If I loved you less I might be able to talk about it more."- Emma by Jane Austen

Somehow that came out as a bunch of Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien quotes with a couple P.G. Wodehouse quotes. I guess it's easy to tell who my favorite authors are from that. :) There were conversations from their books that I wanted to use but they would be more difficult to include so I'll leave you with those. :)
Linking up with The Broke and the Bookish. 

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Week's Reading

Nursing school has me so busy anymore that I really don't have time for posts besides these link up posts. They give me what to write about so it's easy. I need easy. I get so little sleep anymore it's kind of sad. I got used to staying up late and getting up late during Christmas break I have just continued on staying up late but now I have to get up early. It's wreaking havoc on my body. You'd think a little over a month into this semester I might have figured this out and tried going to bed earlier... let's just say I'm a slow learner. ;)

Anyways, this week I'm linking up again with Book Journey for "It's Monday What are You Reading?". I posted links to the Goodreads pages for all of the books for your convenience. 

So last week I didn't finish up anything but Sunday I did complete Mary Poppins in the Park, which I'm not sure if that's the last of the Mary Poppins books or if that's just all of them that my family has. I really enjoyed reading them though and if you haven't checked out my review of the books then I would encourage you to do so. Pretty much what I said though was read them! You and your children... NOW! 
Synopsis (from Goodreads): From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed. This classic series tells the story of the world's most beloved nanny, who brings enchantment and excitement with her everywhere she goes. 
Only the incomparable Mary Poppins can lead the Banks children on one marvelous adventure after another. Together they meet the Goosegirl and the Swineherd, argue with talking cats on a distant planet, make the acquaintance of the folks who live under dandelions, and celebrate a birthday by dancing with their own shadows. And that’s just for starters!

I'm currently listening to the audiobook of The Warden which is by Anthony Trollope. I'm enjoying it so far. I've already read it's sequel Barchester Towers and watched a miniseries of both of them so I know what's going to happen but it is still fun to read it. The Warden is similar to reading Jane Austen's novels though not as humorous and it does seem to drag on at points. One of the points I really enjoy about it is the close father-daughter relationship portrayed in it. 
Synopsis (from Goodreads): The book centers on the character of Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity, whose charitable income far exceeds the purpose for which it was intended. Young John Bold turns his reforming zeal to exposing what he considers to be an abuse of privilege, despite being in love with Mr. Harding's daughter Eleanor. The novel was highly topical as a case regarding the misapplication of church funds was the scandalous subject of contemporary debate. But Trollope uses this specific case to explore and illuminate the universal complexities of human motivation and social morality. 

Via iBooks I'm reading The War of the Worlds. I'd seen an old movie version before so I was interested in reading it, especially with my sci-fi kick of late. So far it is different from the movie but still good. Once I'm done I think I'll watch the newer film version with Tom Hanks. 
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Man had not yet learned to fly when H.G. Wells conceived this story of a Martian attack on England. Giant cylinders crash to Earth, disgorging huge, unearthly creatures armed with heat-rays and fighting machines. Amid the boundless destruction they cause, it looks as if the end of the world has come.

For this coming week I'll continue with those two aforementioned and probably start on Tolkien's Children of Húrin. I actually have no idea what it's about I just know it is Tolkien therefore I'm going to read it. ;) 
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Hurin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled. The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.
So now that I know what it is about I am definitely reading it! :) Pretty much it's a book for us Tolkien Geeks. ;)

Plenty of reading to get done this week but the question is will I get it done? With a test this week and then my church's women's retreat this weekend, I wonder. :)

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