Hi there!
The year has been a spectacular exploration of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work and various adaptations for me so far. It just so happens that there’s an annual event called Tolkien Reading Day that is held on the 25th of March (today!) every year, marking the precise date on which the One Ring was destroyed. While this didn’t require any particular effort considering how I’m now always reading something by the man himself, I thought I’d might as well highlight this wonderful Saturday by first recapping everything I’ve consumed and reviewed related to the professor and his work and end on my currently reading Tolkien book!
Books.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Movies.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).
Event.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – In Concert.
Video Game.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014).
Currently Reading.
Normally, I would’ve been reading The Children of Húrin right now but having gotten through that story twice already (first in The Silmarillion and then in Unfinished Tales), I thought it would be wise to take a break from the first story of the Great Tales and check something else out as little break of it all before getting to it. So, here I am, working my way through something lighter and descriptive!
(c) Goodreads
How about you?
Do you usually stop reading anything you’ve been reading lately to pick up something written by Tolkien for this day? Do you plan to eventually check out his books or revisit your favourites? 🙂 Whatever you do decide to read today, I wish you all a wonderful weekend and…
TILL NEXT TIME!
Roars and Echoes 
Well this is a new one Lashaan. I’ve never heard of Tolkien Reading Day, but then I’m not a fan so there’s no surprise there. Hope you enjoy the day! 😀
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I have never heard of this day before until a chance coincidence a couple of days before, Nicki! I hope others made the most of it and read something by Tolkien! 😀
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Ah what a coincidence. I just bought Tolkien’s latest book The Fall of Numenor today! Maybe I subconsciously knew about the day of the destruction of the ring and bought this book to honour it.
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Ohhh, sweet hahaha! I do hope you enjoy it when you get around to it. I am quite excited to try that one out eventually too. There are a lot of descriptions of the land of Numenor in Unfinished Tales but something tells me its downfall will be an epic tale too. 😀
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The new book actually is about much more than that. It collected all the writing about the second age from start to finish into a chronological account.
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Yep, definitely sounds like a lot of fun! I can’t wait. 😀
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I did not know about this day. I’m not surprised though. While I love the Hobbit and really enjoy the Lord of the Rings, I don’t count myself a huge Tolkien fan.
You have fun though 😉
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I didn’t know about it before too. It was a pure coincidence a couple of days before that led me to discover it and, like you, I wasn’t surprised it even exists hahah!
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I was going to slip into the Further Tales because your review the other day had me jazzed about it again, but ended up wanting to flip through and read The Children of Hurin. I don’t actually read the whole book since I only have a few hours scattered through the day to read, but the excerpts as I page through are great.
namárië (be well)
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That’s still pretty awesome, Sophia! I plan on getting around to that particular story soon enough myself and am excited to finally read something Tolkien that’s written in a way that’s more like conventional fictional stories hahah! Thanks for stopping by, Sophia. 🙂
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Wow, you’re on a Tolkien binge, Lashaan! 😀
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Yes, yes, I am, Ola. 🙂 How have you been? I feel like you’ve been more distant than I thought you would be hahah!
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Hey Lashaan, sorry about that! A few more weeks and I should have more of my time back 😉
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Oh no, don’t be sorry about that, Ola! I was mentioning it because of you seemed hella more busy than I thought you would be hahah With what you mentioned in your last review, it’s totally understandable! As long as you take care of yourself, it’s all good! 😀
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This year I read The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (2014 edition). Glad to see people writing about it 😀
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That’s awesome, Jeremy! I hope to check that one out soon too! I hear there are some fun poems in there. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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I’m never able to keep up with all these special days. Seems there’s a day for just about everything. But it’s great to see we have one (or are there others) for Tolkien. I’ve been considering what I’ll read next. I think I’ll go through the latest version of the audiobooks of LotR, then perhaps reread The Silmarillion, and then perhaps start my way through all the others I’ve collected but not finished. I don’t have the Pictures book. How is it so far?
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There’s a good chance that I won’t remember this day next year unless I already put it down in my calendar or something hahah It was a pure coincidence when I discovered its existence a couple of days before this post and thought I might as well post this on that day. I think you’ve got a great plan, and, honestly, anytime you do decide to read Tolkien, you’ve clearly made a good decision in my books. 😀
I finished it the same day I started it (it’s quite short and with little text by Christopher Tolkien) and I enjoyed it thoroughly. As long as you know what you’re going into, I found it intriguing to see how J.R.R. Tolkien drew and conceived parts of his world. Even if it’s not insanely artistic, I can’t say I can even achieve half of the cool drawings he’s done hahah
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I honestly have a hard time reading his books. I love the movie, I love the universe but I don’t know why, it took me three times to finally finish LOTR!
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No worries, Sophie! I’m just glad that you did finish it and enjoyed it! 😀
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That’s a fun prompt!
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Yep! 🙂
P.S. I don’t know if you ever knew but your gravatar doesn’t link properly to your blog. You should update that so that it’ll make it easier for people to click on your name and find your blog. 🙂
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Ooh thanks for the heads up!
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I didn’t know about Tolkien Reading Day until I started blogging. I do need to get the new book that just came out. I love the look of that Pictures book. I have the Ballantine (70s? 80s?) versions of the Lord of the Rings and for the longest time didn’t realize those were HIS illustrations. I never particularly liked them compared to some of the more expressive art but they’ve grown on me… especially Fellowship with his version of Shire.
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I agree with you about his artwork, Greg! It isn’t something that would immediately make me jump and express my love but it did grow on me for what it is and how it’s related to his vision of this awesome world.
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Oh and I forgot to mention I LOVE his cover for The Hobbit! Again that Ballantine (I think) version. Something about the raft elves… :):).
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File this under trivia…….This just popped up on my FB feed from University of California, Irvine…😍
“ UC Irvine is quite possibly the only university in the world with a housing community inspired by the mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien. The grand entrance that leads to Middle Earth Towers (opened fall, 2019) features an “Elvish” inscription that translates to: “Speak friend and enter” from Lord of the Rings. “
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That is absolutely awesome, Carol! I love the idea and would love every second spent there hahah! Thanks for sharing. 😀
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I’m new to reading all things Tolkien and only heard about this the day before. By coincidence I was (and still am) reading The Two Towers, so I was able to participate. I’m going to watch the film once I’ve finished the book before I move on to the last in the trilogy.
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That’s an excellent game plan and I’m convinced you’re in for a treat, both by the book and by the movie! 😀
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Wow those are a lot of books! I’ve only read LOTR and The Hobbit, and then works about Tolkien hahaha
I never remember days like this so I didn’t think to plan anything!
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I haven’t picked up any book about Tolkien or his work yet but I would love to do so once I get through other stuff I got lined up hahaha It was a pure coincidence that I even learned about this particular day too and would normally completely skip without knowing hahah! Thanks for dropping by, Eustacia! 😀
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I’m not sure which collection its from, but Christopher Lee (Saruman in the movies) did an audio narration of one of the shorter or unfinished tales of Middle Earth.
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That sounds pretty neat. I’ll have to eventually try those audiobook adaptations. I’ve only tried the BBC dramatized versions and they were quite fun!
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I haven’t heard about Tolkien Day before. I can’t wait to get all the books and start reading them.
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I hope you enjoy anything-Tolkien that you decide to read in the future, Yesha! 😀
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I didn’t know it was Tolkien Reading Day! I haven’t heard of the book you’re currently reading, but it does look beautiful! Do you plan on reading everything from him? 😄
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That’s the plan, Juliette! As long as they keep their hooks in me, I’ll keep on reading them! 🙂
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I found out about this day a few years ago on the Pages Unbound book blog. They post quite a bit of Tolkien content. I always intend to read Tolkien on this day, but I always forget. I’m going to go right now and put it on my calendar for next year. 🙂
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There’s a good chance that I’ll forget it’s Tolkien Reading Day next year hahahah
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