Waves of action crashing on the shores of my mind...

Book #2: The Two Towers

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

For whatever reason it took me 20 million years to make it through The Fellowship of the Ring, despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed it. As soon as I jumped into The Two Towers I have been completely and totally hooked. I have only pulled it away from my attention in order to work and sleep (as well as to write this blog post).

When I am not reading the book I am obsessively thinking about it. What is going to happen to Frodo? What will happen to the rest of the Company? How did Gandalf manage to come back? 

Late Saturday night (in actuality it was really early Sunday morning), I made my way through the Dead Marshes with Frodo, Sam and Gollum, then realized it was 5:30 a.m. I needed to go to bed in order to be well-rested for my double shift, but was being pulled by two thoughts. On one hand, I wanted to continue reading the book, while on the other I was sleepy but too afraid to go to sleep for fear of nightmares of dead bodies and creepy candles under the shallow water.

I conceded and put on an episode of the Gilmore Girls in order to distract myself, then dozed off for two hours in order to get ready for work.

During one of my shifts today I even found myself pointing out characters at my restaurant. A man at one of my tables was very goblin-like. His large satellite-style ears and bizarre facial features made me think of him covered in iron mail and a helm, carrying a spear, running after me and my faithful companion Sam Gamgee...then the rather short dishwasher (who shall remain nameless) was a natural hobbit. 

I brought my problem up to one of my coworkers, who (making me feel slightly less insane) said that it would be way more exciting if our pizzeria was more like The Lord of the Rings. To this I replied with the following:

      "One pizza to rule them all,               

           One pizza to find them.                 

      One pizza to bring them all,               

           and in the darkness bind them."  

I seriously need some help. Anyways, the book is great so far, and I am about a hundred pages away from completing it and moving onto Return of the King.

I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way...

I sit beside the fire and think
   Of people long ago,
And people who will see a world
   That I shall never know. p. 271

This quote from Bilbo in Book II, Chapter III of The Fellowship of the Ring reminds me of the Iroquois principle of the seven generations. In Iroquois culture, every decision that we make is made while thinking about the effects on the next seven generations.

It is with this thought of working toward a better future for everyone in Middle Earth that Frodo Baggins decides to leave the Company at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring alone, though the smart Mr. Sam Gamgee figures out his plan just in time to follow the invisible, ring-wearing Frodo into a boat and off to Mordor.

Now I venture into The Two Towers and look forward with both anticipation and fear as to what will be in store for our two favorite halflings... 

A brief update...

I am still making my way through the council meeting in Rivendell, but I figured I write a quick update to say that I have entered the "Once Upon a Readathon" through fellow book blogger Candace's blog page. The Readathon lasts from 12:01 a.m. on July 9 to 11:59 p.m. on July 11. As my minimum number of books to read during that time period I will say 3 books, which I will post at a later date.

Sometimes you need "just a bit of nonsense"

In the past few weeks after a tumultuous semester I have been somewhat procrastinating my reading, which is something that will need to be seriously amended if I am going to make it through 103 books before September. I am going to paraphrase Sam Gamgee in saying that sometimes you need "just a bit of nonsense" in your life, as seen in his example of not-so-proper poetry in Book I, Chapter XII. So I guess that justifies my slacker ways in reading...

I've finally set some time aside each day to seriously focus on this masochistic reading project, and I have now finally progressed up to Book II, Chapter II of The Fellowship of the Ring.  

I have finally completed the dangerous, anxiety-filled journey to Rivendell, which if you have read The Fellowship of the Ring you know that it ends with quite a bit of drama. My heart stopped when the nine Black Riders (Ringwraiths) approached our party of hobbits (along with Strider and Glorfindel) on the road. I nearly ceased to breathe as Frodo galloped on the back of Glorfindel's white horse toward the Ford of Rivendell, and joyously exhaled when the Black Riders were swept away in the flood of the River Bruinen. Tolkien's powerful descriptions and whimsical poems have made this book quite enjoyable thus far.

After Frodo wakes up, recovered in Rivendell he has a long awaited feast with the elves and other guests, before getting to catch up with the estranged Bilbo. Of course, there is now a council meeting discussing the fate of the ring, disturbances coming out of Mordor, and what will happen next. I haven't finished reading the chapter quite yet, but I have a feeling that this happy and peaceful little reunion will becoming to a halt very shortly....

Until next time, which I guarantee will be sooner rather than later...

A red velvet cupcake with the best vanilla bean and cream 

cheese frosting known to man, or hobbit, that I devoured while 

blogging at Heaven Sent Desserts on Wednesday May 30, 2012.

And what, pray tell, is a Barrow-wight?

Sorry for my absence from the blogosphere, finals kicked my butt last week and I am just now finding time to relax. So now I am back and ready for action!

I am still making my way through The Fellowship of the Ring, and after having made it past the home of Goldberry and Tom Bombadil, I was very confused by the whole Barrow-wight scenario. Obviously our hobbit friends were confused enough themselves as they woke up next to the ominous stone that they picnicked at in the fog-filled valley of the Barrow-downs, but I seriously had to reread chapter 8 twice and still had to look up what a Barrow-wight was. According to the LOTR "One Wiki to Rule Them All" site, Barrow-wights are shapeshifting, evil phantoms that inhabit the treasure tombs of the Barrow-downs.  

"Cold be hand and heart and bone

and cold be sleep under stone

never more to wake on stony bed

never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead

In the black wind the stars shall die

and still be gold here let them lie

till the Dark Lord lifts his hand over dead sea and withered land."

                            ~Barrow-wight chant.

I don't know how much this clarify things for everyone else, but I am still slightly confused and hope that I never run into one.

As promised, here is my recipe for Mrs. Maggot's mushroom and bacon, served over eggs for breakfast. Though the recipe calls for four eggs to feed two people, if you are feeding two hobbits (especially in their tweens), you might want to double the amount of eggs. Also, it tastes best with organic, farm fresh eggs from the Shire.

Mushrooms and Bacon Breakfast Recipe

Makes 2 Servings

2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced

1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced

4 eggs (8 if cooking for hobbits)

1/2 cup Amish blue cheese

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon truffle oil

Cilantro (if desired)

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once hot, saute onions and portobello mushrooms. Set aside.

Crack eggs into a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. In a separate pan, heat the remaining olive oil, then scramble eggs for 4 minutes. Once cooked, plate eggs topped with blue cheese, cilantro and mushrooms, then drizzle with truffle oil.

Enjoy before a long journey, toting a magical ring.