I loved The Hobbit, but I couldn't get into The Lord of the Rings. I keep meaning to try again sometime.
Mal: Can I come in? Inara: No. Mal: See? That's why I usually don't ask.
'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
sj - Jul 10, 2012 4:05:11 pm PDT #19311 of 28343
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Hil R. - Jul 10, 2012 4:27:02 pm PDT #19312 of 28343
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I loved The Hobbit, but I couldn't get into The Lord of the Rings.
This is me. I got through Fellowship of the Ring, and then lost the book under the couch in the middle of The Two Towers and realized that I didn't care, since I already knew how it would end and the writing just wasn't interesting enough to me.
Connie Neil - Jul 10, 2012 5:00:51 pm PDT #19313 of 28343
brillig
I have LotR on my Nook, it was my 51st birthday present to myself. Dwarvish poetry is my beautiful cake. I can haz nerd points?
lisah - Jul 10, 2012 5:06:54 pm PDT #19314 of 28343
Punishingly Intricate
I think I finished the Hobbit but thought it was terrible. I could only get through the first chapter of the first LoTR books. I did love the movies though!
I haven't read Thomas Hardy in years but loved him when I was in high school.
Ginger - Jul 10, 2012 5:08:07 pm PDT #19315 of 28343
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I have had to read a lot of Henry James. I hated it all. I feel the same way about Thomas Hardy.
On the other hand, I love Melville, and he seems to be cilantro.
Polter-Cow - Jul 10, 2012 5:11:31 pm PDT #19316 of 28343
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I loved The Hobbit, but I couldn't get into The Lord of the Rings.
This is me. I got through Fellowship of the Ring, and then lost the book under the couch in the middle of The Two Towers and realized that I didn't care, since I already knew how it would end and the writing just wasn't interesting enough to me.
This is basically me! In junior high, I loved The Hobbit, and I read Fellowship, but then the library didn't have Two Towers (or maybe ROTK), and I never finished and apparently didn't really care that much. When the movies came out, I read the books again and, man, it was a slog to get through that last book.
Consuela - Jul 10, 2012 6:01:02 pm PDT #19317 of 28343
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
t sits with Ginger
I really dislike Hardy and James. I rather like Hemingway, though, despite the hypermasculinity. He can tell a story, and his sentences don't go on for pages.
Jilli, you will be happy to hear that my book club, in honor of Bradbury's death, is reading Something Wicked This Way Comes this month. And I must admit that I'd forgotten how fabulous his prose could be. The small calliope inside the carousel machinery rattle-snapped its nervous-stallion shivering drums, clashed its harvest-moon cymbals, toothed its castanets, and throatily choked and sobbed its reeds, whistles, and baroque flutes.
How splendid is that, after all?
Atropa - Jul 10, 2012 6:04:17 pm PDT #19318 of 28343
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
sighs happily
It's such a wonderful, lush book!
I think one of the reasons I cherish Something Wicked This Way Comes so much is that Charles Halloway has always, always reminded me of my dad.
DavidS - Jul 10, 2012 6:08:03 pm PDT #19319 of 28343
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
How splendid is that, after all?
'Tis splendid. But horribly inaccurate! The musical instrument in a carousel isn't the calliope, but a band organ, which is basically like a giant player piano/organ with added percussion and tootling horns. It runs off a giant, folded up piece of paper (like the paper rolls on a player piano).
I'll guess we'll let this one slide, Mr. Bradbury what with you being a genius and all and the book being so awesome, but a little research didn't hurt anybody.
A proper calliope (pronounced Kally-ope) is a steam driven organ - usually (though not exclusively) on the circus train that's so loud it can be heard five miles away. It's there to announce the arrival of the circus and drum up business. It can also be on a large truck with an attached steam power.
t /circus geek
smonster - Jul 10, 2012 6:20:30 pm PDT #19320 of 28343
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.
A proper calliope (pronounced Kally-ope) is a steam driven organ - usually (though not exclusively) on the circus train that's so loud it can be heard five miles away. It's there to announce the arrival of the circus and drum up business. It can also be on a large truck with an attached steam power.
Or a steamboat. And I can attest that you can hear it from quite a distance, but that one also has the river to bounce off of. [link]