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#arthurian
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bibliothecarivs
The Quest for Merlin | Nikolai Tolstoy
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Random book from our home library:

📖 The Quest for Merlin by Nikolai Tolstoy

Bookwomble I have this one, too 😊 I read it in the '80s during my peak Arthurian phase, so it's a bit hazy now, but I remember enjoying it. Have you read the tagged? It's Tolstoy's fantasy retelling of the Merlin story based on Welsh traditions, and I really enjoyed this one. It was intended as the first in a trilogy, which was sadly sidelined when he lost a libel suit. 1w
bibliothecarivs @Bookwomble, I have not read that one. Your description made me think of The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart, which I did read about 30 years ago for school and enjoyed. (edited) 1w
7 likes2 comments
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bibliothecarivs
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Random book from our home library:

📖 The Story of the Champions of the Round Table Written and Illustrated by Howard Pyle

BooksandCoffee4Me I‘ve read many of the Arthur stories, but not Pyle‘s. It looks a bit daunting and yet, strangely compelling at the same time. 😊 4w
8 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Born.A.Reader
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 💛👌🏻 1mo
Eggs Perfect 👌🏼 1mo
20 likes2 comments
review
JazzFeathers
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Pickpick

#MedievalTolkien #FellowshipOfTolkien

I loved it! I loved the story and it was so frustrating to leave it as it was just beginning. All the characters were so intriguing.

I loved Christopher's commentary, though it was in places a bit too granular for my understanding.

I lived the chapters about the Silmarillion. It wasn't what l was expecting, because l noticed other, different relationships with Tolkien's work. I wanted more! ⬇️

JazzFeathers But maybe what l loved the most were Tolkien's own words about the alliterative text and the storie expressed in that metric. We know and love Tolkien for his imaginative stories, and we often forget he was a very passionate scholar too. I'm always impressed by the depth, and the passion of his scholarly work, few as we have the chance to read. I wish l had the education to understand more of his scholarly work. 1mo
Daisey I very much agree with your review as well. I‘ve come to appreciate this style of poetry so much through reading his work and find that description incredibly interesting. 1mo
27 likes3 comments
review
BarbaraJean
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this unfinished piece of Arthurian poetry by Tolkien, along with the accompanying essays by Christopher Tolkien (that make up most of the book). Overall, though, it was a bit unsatisfying—I wanted a little bit more from all of it (but that‘s my own issue, not an actual problem with the book). “The Poem in Arthurian Tradition” made me want to study the poem in the context of an Arthurian Literature course, to go deeper into the sources ⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …Tolkien drew from. With “The Unwritten Poem & its Relation to The Silmarillion,” I wanted more analysis of the connections & parallels (and character comparisons) not only with the Silmarillion, but also the rest of Tolkien‘s work. (I realize literary interpretation/analysis wasn‘t Christopher Tolkien‘s purpose, and I understand why, but that‘s what I wanted!) My favorite part of the book, though, was the appendix on Old English Verse.⤵️ (edited) 1mo
BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) I loved reading more about the alliterative form—it enriched my reading of the poem to go back and examine the form Tolkien was using, and it made me wish even more for a completed version of the poem. I‘m glad I read this #MedievalTolkien pick with the #FellowshipofTolkien! 1mo
kspenmoll Wonderful review! 1mo
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Daisey Great review and I completely agree! I also really enjoyed the section on the verse form. 1mo
JazzFeathers What a great review, Barbara 🤩 l found it more difficult than others we read, but l still enjoyed it a lot. Especially the chapter about the Silmarillion, though l, too, would have liked a lot more from it. 'Cause I'm sure there's more, there. 1mo
BarbaraJean @kspenmoll @Daisey Thank you! @JazzFeathers I agree, I found the essays in this one more difficult than some of our other reading—especially when Christopher Tolkien got so detailed about the various drafts of the poem. I wanted less of that and more analysis—I understand why CT‘s focus is where it is, but I guess my preference/interest is sometimes different than his goals! 1mo
40 likes6 comments
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bibliothecarivs
Once & Future Vol. 2 | Kieron Gillen
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Random book from our home library:

📖 Once & Future volume 2 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain

review
Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Pickpick

I finished this book with breakfast this morning. As with many of these incomplete works by Tolkien, it‘s a combination of fascinating and frustrating. They always leaving you wanting to know and be able to read more. I‘m so grateful to Christopher for putting the work into sharing this, but I only recommend it to serious fans of Tolkien‘s writing process or readers interested in various versions and retellings of the King Arthur legend.

61 likes1 comment
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Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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I thought this quote about how Tolkien viewed language and the change in it over time interesting.

“Our language now has become quick-moving (in syllables), and may be very supple and nimble,
but is rather thin in sound and in sense too often diffuse and vague. The language of our forefathers,
especially in verse, was slow, not very nimble, but very sonorous, and was intensely packed and concentrated — or could be in a good poet.”

tpixie Interesting. I‘m reading about Barbara Newhall Follett- she also created a world & language- Farksolia & Farksoo- as a child. Wrote her first book at eight and it was published at 12 years of age. She disappeared at the age of 25 and was never found. https://farksolia.org/category/farksolia/ 2mo
tpixie Patti Callahan Henry learned about her when she was doing research on Beatrix Potter. She also had her own language. Patti then went down the rabbit hole of other authors who created languages & learned about Barbara. Her new book is inspired by Barbara. 2mo
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Daisey @tpixie Sounds interesting! 2mo
tpixie @Daisey 🦋 2mo
BooksandCoffee4Me His passion really was language. I once read that he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring series in order to create worlds for the languages he‘d invented. 2mo
Bookwomble @BooksandCoffee4Me Tolkien started creating languages in his childhood. He wrote about his process and the fascination he and others have with creating languages in the tagged book 🙂 2mo
Daisey @BooksandCoffee4Me Languages absolutely were his first passion. It‘s amazing to think how all@of this started there. @Bookwomble The book you tagged isn‘t on my TBR yet; I‘ll have to add it! 2mo
46 likes8 comments
blurb
Daisey
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Reading Tolkien‘s commentary about Old English Verse this morning. I really do enjoy this poetic style.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #MedievalTolkien

BarbaraJean I think this was my favorite essay in the book. It was fascinating to learn about how this poetic style was constructed and then to flip back to the poem and notice so much I didn't notice the first time! 2mo
Daisey @BarbaraJean Yes, I enjoyed it a lot! 2mo
41 likes3 comments
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JazzFeathers
The Fall of Arthur | J.R.R. Tolkien
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Daisey You‘re not really that far behind . . . I‘m in the middle of that section and also hoping to finish this weekend. 2mo
22 likes1 comment