Tolkien Forever will hold our annual Reading Day on March 24, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., at the…
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Tolkien Forever will hold our annual Reading Day on March 24, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., at the Cat and Fiddle, 6530 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles. Since 2012 marks the 75th year since the publication of “The Hobbit” and will also see the release of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, it is also not unexpected that the theme of Reading Day 2012 will be “The Hobbit”.
Editors note: The image links to a High-Res version, feel free to print and share with other fans.
On any given day, there could be many Tolkien related events taking place somewhere on this great big planet of ours. Sometimes we get to post about those events on our homepage, sometimes we don’t. To make things a bit easier for Ringers worldwide to keep track of upcoming (and past) events, we are announcing TheOneRing.net Event Calendar! This new calendar, maintained using Google Calendar, not only allows you to quickly and easily look through upcoming events, it allows you to subscribe and even add events to your own personal calendar. That way you can set up you own reminders and alerts ’til your hearts content! And best yet, if you have an event coming up, we do take submissions to be included on the calendar. Our goal is to make this the most comprehensive calendar for Tolkien fans worldwide, and with your help, we hope to reach that goal! Follow the link to view the upcoming events. [Event Calendar] [Google]
The Tolkien Society got me thinking. This year’s Tolkien Reading Day had a nautical theme – some breezy thing about International Seafarer Day. Why? Is Tolkien a particularly “nautical” writer? I admit this had never occurred to me. From the very idea of Middle-earth, a land before time that approximates continental Europe with land bridges to England and Africa; to the endless series of quests across mountains, forests, fields and caverns that Tolkien loves to describe in breathtaking language; to the most famous fantasy race of Halflings that ever turned pale at the thought of crossing open water, Tolkien has always seemed to me to have his literary feet planted firmly in dry land, like the roots of his beloved trees.
Not that he doesn’t treat with the Sea. Of course he does. Every foreground needs its background. Who doesn’t know that the great Western or Sundering Sea is the barrier between the mortal Great Lands (Tolkien’s original name for Middle-earth’s central continent) and the Undying Lands of Elvenhome and Valinor? Only the Elves may cross this Sea – with the usual exceptions of various mortal Heroes taking their numbers and awaiting their chances. The Elves have the Sea-longing embedded in them. Legolas is warned by Galadriel that once he hears the seagulls at Pelargir in southern Gondor, he will never again be at rest in his woodland home. Ted Sandyman mocks Sam’s love of the tale of the Elves: “sailing, sailing, into the West” – a theme echoed by Saruman at the end of the story as he taunts Galadriel for her exile on the wrong side of the great water.
Continue reading “Tolkien against the Sea”
Today, March 25, 2010, TheOneRing.net would like to acknowledge and celebrate Tolkien Reading Day with fellow Tolkien fans all over the world. Initiated by the Tolkien Society in 2003, Tolkien Reading day helps motivate people, alone or in groups, to take time out of their busy lives to enjoy the prose and poetry of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien.
Do you have a favorite passage from The Lord of the Rings? The Silmarillion? The Hobbit? We invite you to join several discussion events on our message boards and share them with us. Or, if *gasp* you don’t have your books handy, we invite you to read and comment on the quotes that other fellow Tolkien-lovers share. Be sure and check out our Main forum to discuss your favorite passages, and the Reading Room for an entertaining look at “Tolkien A-Z.” The essay by ‘squire’ on the Home Page today will also be a must read. (Tolkien Reading Day A-Z footer pictures by “Magpie”).
