EPIC TOLKIEN BOOKCLUB: Poll and Introduction Post

[sigridhr]

Hello All!

I'm making this the home of the Epic Tolkien Bookclub. Which will be epic, a book club, and about Tolkien.

How this will work: 
Starting from Today (January 4th) until Wednesday the 9th of January, we'll be canvassing to decide whether we'd prefer to start with the Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, as well as doing introductions and getting a feel for how many people are hopping on this crazy boat.

On Friday, January 11th, I will post an entry opening up discussion for the first two chapters of whatever we're reading. We can discuss it throughout the week, at whatever speed you read (or when you have time).

Then the following Friday I'll open a discussion post for the next two chapters.

Discussions can be totally low-key, or deep thinky thoughts. Post quotes that stood out to you, little character moments you noticed and loved, general squeeage, &c.

This way, if you fall behind, the posts will still be open, so you can read and add to previous discussions, and hopefully catch up. Plus, it should accomodate timezones and different reading speeds.


What you need to do now:

Comment on this post with, at the bare minimum, your preference for LotR or the Hobbit. Feel free to also introduce yourself, and say a little bit about your history with Tolkien (have you read the books before? When did you first read them? On a scale of one to forcing all your relatives to say "mellon" before you let them in your room, how obsessed are you? &c), but this is not obligatory.


If you do not have a Dreamwidth account, you can comment two ways:

1. Anonymous commenting. If you comment anonymously, please sign your posts so we know who you are.

2. OpenID - you should (I think!) be able to sign in with your LJ or Tumblr account.

Comments

[meinterrupted]

HOMEGIRL ILU!

Also, I have a paid account here, so if you need me to make the poll, (idk if they're paid-account only things here or not) I can do it.

[sigridhr]

I am so excited for this, you have no idea. It's gonna be wicked cool.

Yeah, it is a paid only thing. Tbh, I don't mind it being a sort of informal comment poll in this case because I want people to comment at least once to make sure it works OK. But thanks! :)

(Speaking of, any preference either way?)

[meinterrupted]

I would prefer to start with the Hobbit, but I'm not super worried one way or the other. I can read it on my own If I have to--but now that I ship Thorin/Bilbo I kind of want to know if I see things in the book differently...

[sigridhr]

Sounds good.

Oh, man. My thought process in that film was pretty much: "Wow, Thorin is much more attractive than I was expecting." "And more broody." "Liking the broody." "THORIN, YOU ARE CLEARLY PICKING ON BILBO BECAUSE YOU WANT IN HIS PANTS." "THE LADY DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH." "OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE, JUST KISS."

I literally got home and was like 'OK, where's the fic?!'

[bewilderebeest]

Yay, I have an account! Don't really know what I'm doing yet but I'll figure it out. I used livejournal about 20,000 years ago, so I just have to get back into it.

I kind of want to read The Hobbit first. I haven't seen the movie yet but I'm going to see it sometime this weekend so I can be up to date on all the majesty and emerging ships. You know, the important stuff ;)

[sigridhr]

HELLOOOOO!

It seems pretty straightforward (mostly). Hopefully it'll work for everyone. :)

YES. MAJESTY. GOOD. Glad to know you're keeping up with the most important things! :P I'd love your thoughts on the film after you've seen it.

[skadi_of_the_north]

I made a thing! And now I am posting a reply! Cupcakes for everyone!!!

[sigridhr]

YAAAAAAY! Welcome. :) Do you have a preference for Hobbit vs LotR?

[skadi_of_the_north]

I think... I think we should start with The Hobbit. I'm just in a mood to read it first and I STILL have not seen the gorram movie. *sob sob eat my feelings wine sobbing* But yes.

ALSO can I just say? Thank you for the lovely Christmas card. <3

[sigridhr]

Sounds good. :) Seems to be the consensus anyway.

Nuuuu! You must experience the gloriousness of Martin Freeman and Richard 'Oh, So You Don't Think There Are Sexy Dwarves, Well Let Me Just Sing For You And Cause Your Ovaries To Explode In Delight' Armitage in 3D.

Aww, you're very welcome. I'm glad it arrived ok. :)

[skadi_of_the_north]

Richard Armitage looks like a scrubbed-clean and STD-free Gerard Butler, especially with the beard. I could get into that. I also read some smokin' hot Thorin/HumanWoman fic on the Hobbit Kink Meme and hooo leee shit. *fans self*

[sigridhr]

Haha, I know precisely what fic you're talking about.

It's weird – beards are normally a huge turn off for me, but, lordy, is he an exception.

[skadi_of_the_north]

I bet you do...

[sigridhr]

I have not been spending all my free time on the kinkmeme. Nope. No siree.

[skadi_of_the_north]

Me neither! *whistles innocently*

Although the lack of female characters has led me to lament the lack of het in the fandom, but, meh, whatever. I love the idea that some of the dwarves are women and not one single fuck was given.

[sigridhr]

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of genderbent!Dwarves. Especially since it's sort of plausibly canon a bit given the good professor said it was hard to distinguish between Dwarf men and women. I'm fond of the bit of fanon that they use the male pronoun until they have children, as a kind of linguistic quirk inherited from Khuzdul.

Tolkien has always been a fandom in need of more het. I do love it, but it's such a bloody sausage fest.

[skadi_of_the_north]

This is very true. And I love that fanon idea, that's very clever...

[skadi_of_the_north]

Dang, and now I am realizing I need some better icons! Where do you all find yours, they're all so lovely!

[sigridhr]

Most of mine at the moment are from Noldo_Icons, iconzicons and girlyb-icons.

Plus, searching for an icon community surrounding whatever fandom you're into is usually the fastest way to get fandom-specific icons. :)

[gallifaerie.livejournal.com]

This sounds so brilliant! I'm still reading Fellowship at the moment, but I'd be fine backtracking to be a part of this. Because of that, and because I only just read The Hobbit, I'd prefer we start with LotR, but it's not really a problem if not because it's not like re-reading The Hobbit is a chore or anything.

I'm so excited about this!

[sigridhr]

Yay! I was really hoping you'd be up for this. :)

Welcome aboard. XD

[halberdier]

Ahoy-hoy. Classics-Lover here (defo changing my username, though... How I came up with this one is beyond me). I would have voted Hobbit but I have no clue where my copy is, and I have very pretty copies of LOTR with pictures and everything :D

But I may buy a Hobbit with pictures, too, just to have a matched set, so it's all good.

/yapping

[sigridhr]

Mmmmmmmm. Illustrated version. My dad has the leatherbound sets and I remember telling him once that if he ever made a will he could leave everything else to my brother so long as I got those.

I'm glad you're taking part! :)

[anki_koda]

Well, hello there!

So, decide to open an account and I have to say I'm super-exited about this!
Let's see, I would like to start with The Hobbit since I recently bought the English version, so this would be a great opportunity for me to actually read it in English.

[sigridhr]

YAAAAAY! Welcome aboard! :)

I'm super-excited too, in case you can't tell.

[anki_koda]

:) I'm super exxcited as well! This is my first book club actually.

[j_quadrifrons]

I suck beyond words at keeping up with bookclubs, but I am having ALL THE TOLKIEN FEELS so obviously I will try this one. I would vote for The Hobbit first, if only because I'm reading it right now for my library book discussion at the end of the month. (I do have the best job ever.)

[sigridhr]

Welcome! :) No worries – I think the nice thing about it all being online is that even if you don't make it in every week, you can still read through and comment on discussions when you've got time/inclination.

I am so envious of your job. So envious. And I join you in ALL THE TOLKIEN FEELS.

[dragonthalyne]

Hey everyone!

So, this is my first book club, so we'll see how I do. I honestly think Tolkien is one of the few authors that could actually get me to do something like this. I'll be writing a 50 page honors thesis over the next few weeks/months, but I'll try and keep up. I'm a very fast reader, and I've read all the books (including the Silmarillion) multiple times, so I'm not super worried.

I'd prefer that we all read the Hobbit before LotR, because I just saw the movie and I've been meaning to reread it. Also, reading the Hobbit after LotR would feel really weird to me.

[sigridhr]

YAY! Welcome aboard!

Tolkien is meta gold. Pretty much the perfect book series for this sort of thing. And I think most people are leaning towards the Hobbit, so it's looking like we'll start with that.

Good luck with your thesis!

[vongroovy]

Scrollin' through the Tolkien tag on tumblr and *bam* book club. I've never done a book club before! I've always wanted to! And there are no books I love talking about more than Tolkien books. Count me in. Life is a bit misery and job searching at the moment, so this seems like a welcome distraction.

Another vote for The Hobbit. It's what I've most recently reread (on my way to the cinema before seeing the movie for the first time), but I've been meaning to read it again since seeing the movie.

[sigridhr]

Welcome! I definitely second that sentiment – I will literally talk about Tolkien to anyone who will sit still long enough.

Sorry to hear about the job front – I've been there, done that and it sucks balls, but hopefully this should be entertaining in the mean time. :)


PS. Your icon is absolutely cracking me up right now. :P

[hibari-sensei.livejournal.com]

I prefer The Hobbit since I've been itching to re-read it again after seeing the movie.

Just a little about me: I read The Hobbit in 6th grade, but I didn't start reading LOTR until the movies were about to be released. The combination of the movies and the books got me hooked, and I even tried learning Sindarin. It's been a while since I've touched Tolkien, but I'm eager to get back.

~Hibari

[sigridhr]

Mae govannen. :) Glad you've joined us.

[the_last_cencheerio]

I'd prefer to start with The Hobbit (since seeing the movie, I've been wanting to re-read it).
I'm so so excited for this! I've never been able to get my friends into Tolkien or LOTR. My mother is a Tolkien crack-head, so I was doomed from birth.

[sigridhr]

Hello! :) Glad to see you here.

Oh, man, I'm also from a Tolkien nerdy family, so I was pretty much doomed as well. Dad read me the Hobbit for the first time when I was four. There was no escape. XD

[starliings.livejournal.com]

Hi! I would love to be a part of this, if that's okay!!

LotR has been on my to-read list forever and the Hobbit film coming out was the last straw. I finished reading The Hobbit recently and I've just started Fellowship, but I'm more than okay with reading The Hobbit again.

Basically the combination of books and films has left me sitting on the floor making non-human noises about Tolkien feels so an epic book club is probably necessary for my sanity..

I am excited!

[sigridhr]

Of course! Welcome. :)

Ah, you've reached the non-human noises stage. *steeples fingers* Eeeeexcellent. We're pretty much all there too. :P

[twitchime]

Oh let me intrude on this! I'm less than halfway through the Fellowship currently and had plans to reread the Hobbit in pieces, as far as each movie takes the adventure (not prepared for the ending again now that my shipper heart has made an interest) so I would prefer LOTR. I'm familiar with Tolkien, but only a few months young in the fandom.
S'gonna be good!
-Shey

[sigridhr]

Hello, and welcome!

Oh, totally seconding how much the third film of the Hobbit is going to kill me and all my shipping feelings. I've already jumped on the 're-write it so nobody dies' fanfic bandwagon. :P

[anki_koda]

I was just thinking the same. Watching the Hobbit and hearing people around me who obvioussly haven't read the book I can't help the solitary tear on my eye as I remember how it is going to end. I just hope the end would be EPIC! and I mean EPIC with Bilbo being there to see it all...