Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Even Better the 3rd Time Around

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

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What a difference time can make when re-reading books! The first time I read The Fellowship of the Ring, I was an undergrad and felt that about the first 100 pages was a slog. The second time (I don’t recall when that was), I was prepared for the slog and knew I’d enjoy the rest of the novel, minus what I felt was a rather pointless section with Tom Bombadil. But this time was different. It’s been several years since I last read it, and […]

The Boys Trip

The Hobbit: The Graphic Novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

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I have never really had an interest in reading J. R. R. Tolkien, simply because if you can make as many movies from one series (Lord of the Rings) as it has had, and I know that a lot of what is in the novel is taken out, I am thinking they are not for me. However, I do know that The Hobbit is a bit shorter, and since it is just one novel, I thought maybe I could tackle it. It wasn’t until I […]

Some of Tolkien’s lesser known works.

Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien

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I have owned a copy of this book since before I was on Goodreads, and it’s been on my “TBR” even longer than that. (I no longer remember how I used to keep track of books I wanted to read before Goodreads.) It was also one of the first books I pulled out of my TBR Jar for 2022, and really, it was about time. And it was fun! A little weird, a little nonsensical (and whimsical), but fun. There are two short stories in […]

In which we have an abundance of evidence that Tolkien *really* had a thing for eagles.

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

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This is a book, like The Lord of the Rings, that I think I will appreciate more each time I read it. The only time I’d read it before this was my senior year of high school during the height of my LOTR fervor, and it entirely overwhelmed me. I remember I had to have a notebook near me while reading on which I drew a lot of family trees. I had a need to keep all the elves and endless descendants of Beor straight. […]

Fantasy newbie thinks the 2nd LOTR is great

The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien

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I am late to the game when it comes to fantasy epics. I have read and reread Harry Potter more times than I can count, but anything more hardcore than that has historically failed to grasp my attention (looking at you, Game of Thrones). I am so very happy that I decided to embark on my own hobbit-sized journey to read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, because it has paid off handsomely. The second part of Tolkien’s trilogy follows the Fellowship after their […]

Obsession Leads to Destruction, or Don’t Make a Vow Lightly

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

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The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien My rating: 4 of 5 stars “The Silmarillion” is a VERY different book from what most fans of “Lord of the Rings” may expect. First of all, it’s an anthology of several different works J.R.R. Tolkien had started but had never published on their own. While they are separate works, they all deal with the origins of Middle-Earth and some of the important Elvish characters, mostly Elrond, Cirdan, and Galadriel. The second thing is that this isn’t a narrative driven […]



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