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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tales From the Used Book Store: And Ever On

I found this beautiful Tolkien song book at the used book store.The cover is embossed, as you can see, and the book is oversized. This would be such a beautiful gift for a Tolkien fan. I think it's fantastic.Maybe what I like most about it, is the way fictional (are they fictional??) worlds can bleed into our world and take on a life of their own that's wholly independent from the writer.

2 comments:

  1. That is a gorgeous-looking book. It reminds me of a trip to my university library, researching other topics entirely, when I found a linguistics book on Tolkien's elvish. I wish I had more time to really study it.

    (Sort of responding to the two previous posts)
    I read The Hobbit for the first time around 8th grade. In 9th, we had to do book reports and I chose it. My teacher let me, but she said it was a little young. I was confused and felt a little betrayed. I loved the book and didn't feel it was "too easy," so what did she mean?

    It also seemed like my teacher was putting unspoken pressure on me to put in more effort than the other students because of it. But I still love the book, and I think knowing Tolkien was a linguist (and the fact that I didn't really want to take a modern grammar course) sparked the decision to take two semesters of Old English.

    Lastly, it's weird that you mention Candyland. I saw mention of that very change in another blog and spent some time the other week searching online for info on the game. Poor Queen Frostine, she always struck me as a character not to be messed with.

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  2. Oh I would love to see that linguistics book on Elvish!!

    Book reports...ugh. I have always loved reading but I don't have any fond memories of book reports. Blech.

    I agree--you don't mess with Queen Frostine. I really hope this gets fixed. I liked that there was a King and Queen in Candyland who may or may not rule together. Now there's only a King in power and a pretty, harmless princess?! Is it bad that I'm trying to turn Candy Land into a feminist rant?? I will stop. For now.

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