Tag Archives: Middle Earth

Literature

5 Star Books from 2019

Leave a comment

Friends, Romans, countrymen!!

Welcome to 2020.

I cannot believe it is time for another 5-star-books post! 2019 went so fast.

I read 26 books this year, which is a little shabby compared to the 44 I read in 2018, but not bad considering my year. I blame the decline partly on college, and partly on Moby-Dick which I have been reading for an age and a half of the world outside and still haven’t finished.

All that aside, here’s the books that got 5 stars from me from this year:

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
This was a re-read, and somehow even better than I had remembered. (I didn’t think that was possible!) The characters are so raw and deep, and the world-building is truly gorgeous.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
I cannot recommend this enough! A logical and down-to-earth book about the basics of Christianity. It is so deep, and yet also written so simply it’s easy to read and remember. If you want more of my thoughts, see the essay I wrote for school.

Falling Free by Shannan Martin
Okay, so listen: I don’t do much nonfiction (you may have noticed). This is mostly because I don’t particularly enjoy it. However, I have an issue with nonfiction books about God, because something about that way of thinking makes me feel like He is far away and that scares me. (I could be overthinking it, but here we are.) (I am definitely overthinking it. 🙂 ) Falling Free is the first nonfiction book I read–other than the Bible, which I hope is obvious–that made me feel closer to God, which is why I gave this re-read 5 stars, even though I don’t agree with 100% of what the author says. Shannan Martin has a beautiful story about experiencing God’s love and being God’s love as a wife and mother. She is so down-to-earth and compassionate, and her writing is beautiful.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
This might be the find of the year for me. I picked it up on a recommendation, without knowing very much about it, and then it was so lovely. Fun and hilarious and touching and incredibly creative. There is some witchcraft/spells-casting (by the good guys), which is not my favorite when it comes to magic, but it was so sweet that I gave it 5 stars anyway. I will never forget this cast of characters for as long as I live. Also, Sophie is a more outspoken version of me, which was somehow really affirming to see!

The Black Star of Kingston by S.D. Smith
Get your Middle Grade labels out of my face, this story is inspiring! Action-packed and thrilling and scary, but still so sweet. I love this novella so much.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Yes, I read it twice last year. It was that good!

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Try saying that five times fast! Ivan Denisovich is a prisoner in a Soviet work camp. Its an intense story, but really touching and also beautiful in its own way. The novel actually covers a single day of his life in camp, which is a super creative idea for a storyline! Disclaimer here: there is a lot of language. And by “a lot,” I mean a lot. However, I thought it was worth it for the book, and would definitely recommend it to anyone old enough to handle it.

The Green Ember by S.D. Smith
Such an awesome book. Action, adventure, sibling relationships, freaking character development. 5 stars always.

Ember Falls by S.D. Smith
Because one does not simply re-read Book 1 without re-reading the whole series! And because I had to get ready for. . .

Ember Rising by S.D. Smith
Okay, full disclosure: I didn’t have this one written down as read in 2019. But I am positive I read it in 2019, so. . . here it is. I was worried that S.D. Smith wouldn’t be able to keep the magic alive into a third book, but he did. And I already pre-ordered Ember’s End.

The Girl Who Could See by Kara Swanson
Another one that might be the “find of the year” for me. 🙂 This novella is about a girl with an “imaginary” friend from another dimension! It was on my to-read list for a while, and I finally read it because I knew the author would be at Realm Makers. It was not what I expected, but oh so good. The Girl Who Could See is a very intense read that’s also incredibly beautiful. I’m scared to say much more, because I don’t want to give anything away. (Side note, I did meet Kara at RM, and she is such a lovely person!)

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Christmas tradition for me! Underneath all the absurdity and creepy stuff, this book has so much depth. If you’ve never read it, please give it a try–it’s short!

Happy New Year, friends. All the best from me.

Faith, Literature

At Last, The King

5 Comments

I started rereading The Fellowship of the Ring for the umpteenth time this week. It’s just as good as I remembered, but nine chapters still sounds like an awfully long time to wait for Aragorn.

While I was spending my Christmas Eve curled up on the couch reading about hobbits, I realized how perfect a book it is for me to read during advent! I’m waiting for my king.

Christmas is the climax. The hero is coming tonight.

Are you paying attention?

He’s sitting in the corner, in muddy boots, with his hood low over his eyes.

Are you watching?

He’s far away from the glamour; a tiny baby, sleeping in a manger.

Are you ready?

“In the dark, in the shadows
“Light has come
“In the quiet, in the dead of night
“Glory, glory sang the angels in the highest
“At last, the king has arrived”

-“At Last, the King” by the Gray Havens

Faith, Family, Literature

Heroes and Leadership

3 Comments

~written winter of 2017~

Aragorn.

Where can I start?  I know I could write forever about my favorite fictional character; Aragorn has been a role model for me for a long time.  While he has been a favorite of mine since I found him in The Fellowship of the Ring, some of my fondest memories with him have come from the second book, The Two Towers; maybe the most poignant of them being his first sight of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings–and his decision to turn away from it to help rescue two little hobbits, simply out of love and loyalty.  But one memory from The Two Towers is a little less pleasant:

“At last Aragorn stood above the great gates, heedless of the darts of the enemy.  As he looked forth he saw the eastern sky grow pale. Then he raised his empty hand, palm outward in token of parley.

“The Orcs yelled and jeered.  ‘Come down! Come down!’ they cried.  ‘If you wish to speak with us, come down!  Bring out your king! We are the fighting Uruk-hai.  We will fetch him from his hole, if he does not come.  Bring out your skulking king!’

“‘The king stays or comes at his own will,’ said Aragorn.

“‘Then what are you doing here?’ they answered.  ‘Why do you look out? Do you wish to see the greatness of our army?  We are the fighting Uruk-hai.’

“‘I looked out to see the dawn,’ said Aragorn.

“‘What of the dawn?’ they jeered.  ‘We are the Uruk-hai: we do not stop the fight for night or day, for fair weather or for storm.  We come to kill, by sun or moon. What of the dawn?’

“‘None knows what the new day shall bring him,’ said Aragorn.  ‘Get you gone, ere it turn to your evil.’

“‘Get down or we will shoot you from the wall,’ they cried.  ‘This is no parley. You have nothing to say.’

“‘I have still this to say,’ answered Aragorn.  ‘No enemy has yet taken the Hornburg. Depart, or not one of you will be spared.  Not one will be left alive to take tidings back to the North. You do not know your peril.’

“So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as he stood there alone above the ruined gates before the host of his enemies, that many of the wild men paused, and looked back over their shoulders to the valley, and some looked up doubtfully at the sky.  But the Orcs laughed with loud voices; and a hail of darts and arrows whistled over the wall, as Aragorn leaped down.” (528)

Continue reading Heroes and Leadership →

Literature

Aragorn

10 Comments

“He rose and looked long at Gandalf.  The others gazed at them in silence as they stood there facing one another.  The grey figure of the Man, Aragorn son of Arathorn, was tall, and stern as stone, his hand upon the hilt of his sword; he looked as if some king out of the mists of the sea had stepped upon the shores of lesser men.  Before him stopped the old figure, white, shining now as if with some light kindled within, bent, laden with years, but holding a power beyond the strength of kings.” (489)
-The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Nerd points if you know why I’m posting this today. 😉

Have a good March!

Literature

*Light*

3 Comments

‘There lies the fastness of Southern Mirkwood,’ said Haldir. . . ‘where long the hidden Enemy had his dwelling.  We fear now it is inhabited again, and with power sevenfold.  A black cloud lies often over it of late.  In this high place you may see the two powers that are opposed one to another; and ever they strive now in thought, but whereas the light perceives the very heart of the darkness, its own secret has not been discovered.  Not yet.’ (395)
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

~*~

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
John 1:1-5

~*~

Just a friendly reminder that Haldir is awesome!

Happy Saturday!

Family, Stories

“I Am Groot” (and High School Biology)

9 Comments

Confession time: I have never seen an Avengers movie.

But if it can redeem me, I have seen one Marvel movie (which I am very grateful to have seen!) and that was Guardians of the Galaxy.  Which I loved.  Since I don’t have space, in one post, to analyze all five beautifully crafted lead characters, I want to talk about one: Groot.

Almost everyone can appreciate a good humanoid tree.  I have yet to talk to anyone who doesn’t love Groot, but really now, what’s not to like?  He is a walking, talking tree who can regenerate from one twig, whose vocabulary consists of I and am and Groot (in that order).

But my favorite thing about Groot is the way he grows.  From his habit of shooting up twice his original height to reach things for people, to the flower he spontaneously grows out of his palm for the beggar girl on Knowhere–I love the way he is simply bursting with life.  There’s a special place in my heart for the glowing firefly-like things he generates at the end.

What I did not realize until just recently was how appropriate this attribute was for a (sort-of) talking tree.

~*~

I’ve spent this school year finishing my high school biology course (“Exploring Creation with Biology” by Dr. Jay L. Wile), and I’m really enjoying it.  The latest chapter I finished was all about plants, including (of course) trees.

One thing Dr. Wile discussed was stems.  He pointed out that the stem you would typically think of as a plant stem (herbaceous stems) cannot grow any larger after they mature.  This is because they will crack the skin of the stem, and expose the inside of the plant to the elements.

Tree trunks (or woody stems), however, are another story.

Underneath the outer bark of a tree trunk is a layer called the cork cambium.  Its job is to produce new bark, underneath the old layer of bark.  This allows the tree to continue growing as long as it can and simply break through the bark, since there is always a new layer underneath.

~*~

Whether the makers of Guardians of the Galaxy were aware of this or not, I love how accurate their depiction of a “human tree” is; trees are literally cracking their own skin with the pressure of the life inside them!

Groot’s unquenchable, thriving growth is actually quite congruent with his real-world counterparts.

~*~

‘When that happens to a tree, you find that some have bad hearts.  Nothing to do with their wood: I do not mean that.  Why, I knew some good old willows down the Entwash, gone long ago, alas!  They were quite hollow, indeed they were falling all to pieces, but as quiet and sweet-spoken as a young leaf.’ (457)
The Tower Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Alright, we storytellers just love trees.

Life

Good morning again

2 Comments

Good morning readers!  By the time any of you can read this scheduled post, it will be Sunday morning, and I’ll be on my way to church to find and hug my friends, and already missing my older siblings whose Christmas break from college has finally run out.

Man! has it been too long.  As a writer, I wanted–of course–to post all through December, about gifts and Jesus and the real meaning of things, and maybe write a short Christmas story: the whole shebang.

Needless to say, none of that happened: I posted once about Christmas, and left my blog to its fate.  I read Pride and Prejudice in two days (it was exhausting but I cannot put that book down for the life of me!) and I re-read A Christmas Carol just for the giggly Christmas-feels.  I stressed about life while simultaneously abandoning the real world, and I epic-ly failed at giving Christmas presents.  I stayed up late unloading my heart on my family and crying (more than once), and I wrote several thousand words in a messy first draft of “Nieo & Star”.

Christmas break was a whirlwind, and sadly included no blogging.  I’m back to school now, but we’ll see how it goes.  Maybe I’ll be back.

‘What do you mean?’ he said.  ‘Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?’ (13)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

(Side note: if you say that quote replacing good morning with merry Christmas, you sound like Scrooge.  Just try it.)

Good morning, my good hobbits!  And a late merry Christmas, whether you want it or not.

Literature

22 of my favorite Tolkien quotes for Hobbit Day

9 Comments

A compilation of my favorite Tolkienisms to celebrate September 22nd, otherwise known as Bilbo and Frodo’s shared birthday, otherwise known as Hobbit Day.  Fair warning, there’s a good dose of Aragorn and Faramir–because all the L.R. fans pick favorites!

~*~

“Bilbo was sadly reflecting that adventures are not all pony-rides in May-sunshine.” -The Hobbit, pg. 36

~*~

“‘War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory.  I love only that which they defend.” -The Two Towers, pg. 656

~*~

“It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two. . .  And those who have not swords can still die upon them.” -The Return of the King, pg. 937

~*~

“Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death a light that endures.” -The Silmarillion, pg. 162

~*~

“‘There go three that I love, and the smallest not the least,’ he said.  ‘He knows not to what end he rides; yet if he knew, he still would go on.'” -The Return of the King, pg. 762

~*~

“‘Maybe the paths that you each shall tread are already laid before your feet, though you do not see them.'” -The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 413

~*~

“‘Too often have I heard of duty. . . I have waited on faltering feet long enough.  Since they falter no longer, it seems, may I not now spend my life as I will?’

‘Few may do that with honour,’ he answered.”

-The Return of the King, pg. 767

~*~

“‘But these evils can be amended, so strong and gay a spirit is in him.  His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.'” -The Return of the King, pg. 851

~*~

“‘Good morning!’ said Bilbo, and he meant it.  The sun was shining, and the grass the was very green.  But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.

‘What do you mean?’ he said.  ‘Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?’

‘All of them at once,’ said Bilbo.”

-The Hobbit, pg. 13

~*~

“This of course is the way to talk to dragons, if you don’t want to reveal your proper name (which is wise), and don’t want to infuriate them by a flat refusal (which is also very wise).  No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it.” -The Hobbit, pg. 191

~*~

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not whither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

-The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 193

~*~

“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while.  The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him.  For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.  His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself.  Now, for the moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him.” -The Return of the King, pg. 901

~*~

“He walked in the deserted ways of Tirion, and the dust upon his raiment and his shoes was a dust of diamonds, and he shone and glistened as he climbed the long white stairs.  And he called aloud in many tongues, both of Elves and Men, but there were none to answer him.” -The Silmarillion, pg. 248

~*~

“‘In this high place you may see the two powers that are opposed one to another; and ever they strive now in thought, but whereas the light perceives the very heart of the darkness, its own secret has not been discovered.  Not yet.'” -The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 395

~*~

“‘Then you would have us retreat to Minas Tirith, or Dol Amroth, or to Dunharrow, and there sit like children on sand-castles when the tide is flowing?’ said Imrahil.

‘That would be no new counsel,’ said Gandalf.  ‘Have you not done this and little more in all the days of Denethor?  But no!  I said this would be prudent.  I do not counsel prudence.'”

-The Return of the King, pg. 860

~*~

“‘Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart!'” -The Return of the King, pg. 943

~*~

“‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'”

-The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 55

~*~

“He rose and looked long at Gandalf.  The others gazed at them in silence as they stood there facing one another.  The grey figure of the Man, Aragorn son of Arathorn, was tall, and stern as stone, his hand upon the hilt of his sword; he looked as if some king out of the mists of the sea had stepped upon the shores of lesser men.  Before him stooped the old figure, white, shining now as if with some light kindled within, bent, laden with years, but holding a power beyond the strength of kings.” -The Two Towers, pg. 489

~*~

“‘The world is all grown strange.  Elf and Dwarf walk in company in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark!  How shall a man judge what to do in such times?’

‘As he has ever judged,’ said Aragorn.  ‘Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men.  It is a man’s part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.'”

-The Two Towers, pg. 428

~*~

“And a great wind rose and blew, and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air.” -The Return of the King, pg. 941

~*~

“‘Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!’ said Bilbo.

‘Of course!’ said Gandalf.  ‘And why should not they prove true?  Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself?  You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?  You are a very fine person, Mr Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!'”

-The Hobbit, pg. 255

~*~

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

-The Fellowship of the Ring, pg. 313

Literature, My Writing

Three Reasons why Lord of the Rings and Narnia survived the Test of Time: A Guest Post by Savannah Grace

11 Comments

Happy Monday, readers!  As you can see, we have our first-ever guest post today, by the lovely Savannah Grace!  So enjoy the post, and hop over to Savannah’s beautiful blog, Scattered Scribblings, here.

“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them …”

“Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.”

I think almost every writer or reader of fantasy would know which books these two quotes are from – and neither of the books are modern! Both of them are over sixty years old – so what helped Lord Of The Rings and Narnia survive the test of time? And how can we help our stories do the same?

1. Both Authors Took Risks

Fantasy was still a new thing when J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis wrote their stories – a lot of people consider them the ‘Founding Fathers Of Fantasy’. Fantasy wasn’t a popular thing back then like it is today, so it was a little risky to write a story like Lord Of The Rings or Narnia. But, looking back at these authors, and other authors whose books have lasted, I’ve learned that it can really pay off to take risks.

It’s hard to really hard “go out on a limb” with our stories nowadays – it feels like every idea has already been thought of and used! But one of the important things to learn about writing is that no one writes the same way. Two people could write a story with the same premise, and the stories would still be so different. Which means that it might not just be an idea that you can take risks with – it can be your writing style plus the idea that is a risk. And sometimes risks seriously pay off ;).

2. The Characters Are All Unique, Realistic, And Easy To Relate To

The Pevensie siblings are some of the most realistic characters – the childlike innocence of Lucy, the feeling of responsibility for his siblings that Peter had, Edmund’s jealousy, and Susan’s caution. All of the siblings are unique from each other, and they’re all easy to relate to.

Same thing goes for Lord Of The Rings. Not only are the character different from each other in personality (I don’t think anyone would mistake Gimli’s personality for Gandalf’s!), but J.R.R Tolkien has different races of people in his story, which makes each character even more different from the others.

One of the easiest ways to make sure all of your characters are different is to put them side-by-side and see if the story would change much if you cut one. If the answer is ‘no’, then you’ve probably got a character or two that isn’t quite needed in the story. And if the answer is ‘yes’, then well done! Keep your story-people realistic, unique, and easy-to- relate-to, and you’ll have a cast of winning characters on your hands.

3. The Books’ Themes

Honestly, I think this one is the most important. Books always stick around when they have powerful themes, because – no matter what time we live in, or what the circumstances are -there are just some themes that we’ll always be able to relate to. The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe (the most well-known Narnia book, in my opinion), has themes of redemption and sacrifice. The Lord Of The Rings has themes of courage and hope.

It’s easy for books to survive when they have themes that everyone can relate to, no matter how long ago the book was written. Some themes, like bravery and love and never-giving- up, are never going to run out of steam, because they’re some of the themes that will always play a big part in real life.

Let’s take risks, writers. Your story could be the next one to survive the test of time.

“Courage, dear heart.”

~ Savannah Grace

Which is your favorite, Narnia or Lord Of The Rings? What are your favorite themes to read/write about?
Feel free to ask Savannah any questions you have in the comments.  Also, you can read a post by yours truly on her blog today, so go check it out!
Literature

Aragorn: The Reluctant Hero (A Detour Through the Movies)

11 Comments

Our pastor recently mentioned Aragorn in one of his sermons.  Needless to say, I was thrilled.

(listen to it here–the recording is from the first service, not the second, so you can’t hear me whooping the first time he says Aragorn’s name. 🙂 )

His sermon was based on the movies, which ruffled this purist just a tiny bit, but it was still very thought-provoking.  One of the biggest differences between book-Aragorn and movie-Aragorn is his attitude towards inheriting the throne of Gondor:

In the books, he is 100% on board with the idea at the time of The Lord of the Rings–in fact, it’s pretty much his goal in life.  Like I talked about in my post Aragorn: The Servant Leader, he knows he is a king and he knows he can lead.  He isn’t afraid of who he is.  And as far as I’ve seen digging through appendices, he always was on board, since he figured out who he was at the age of 20.

However, in the movies, Aragorn isn’t sure he trusts himself to rule.  After his ancestor, Isildur, failed pretty miserably and left a terrible mess for others to fix, Aragorn doesn’t have faith he can do any better.  It takes nearly half the movies for him to finally embrace his ancestry.

Like I talked about in my last Aragorn post, I’ve always focused on the way the king of Middle Earth represented Jesus–and I believe he does, to a certain extent.  But Aragorn is still human, he isn’t perfect.  Hearing Pastor Matthew’s sermon made me realize he can be an allegory of us as well.

The sermon was part of a series about being heirs of Christ.  I began to realize that we are heirs of the King now.  We are sons and daughters of the world’s Creator, and heirs of the universe.

People focus on salvation being access to heaven, and I get that.  But there’s more.  God isn’t just giving saving us from hell, He’s giving us access to Himself, His power.  His Spirit lives in our hearts.

The power and dignity of kings is in us.  In me.  In you.  Will we take it to war with us?  Will we take it to the pain?

We’ll mess up, yes.  People will misunderstand us, scorn us.  They’ll fight us, hurt us, betray us, fail us.

But God will never, ever, ever fail us.

Middle Earth needed Aragorn to return, the world was in chaos without a king.

Our world needs the King to return and win the war as well, and it needs the heirs of the King to move.  We can’t do it in our own strength, but we are the hands and feet of God.

We are heirs of the King.

The victory is ours.