Well, it’s time again to read what might be the best trilogy ever.
Yes, it’s time to read The Lord of the Rings.
Last autumn, in preparation for the release of The Hobbit film, I re-read the book. So I thought it time to pick up the well-loved trilogy now.
Do you remember how the first novel begins, The Fellowship of the Ring?
When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
Ah, Hobbiton. Ah, the Shire. What a beautiful start to a beautiful story. A bit of heaven, perhaps.
In reading the Prologue this time, I chuckled a bit with this excerpt:
There is another astonishing thing about Hobbits of old that must be mentioned, and astonishing habit: they imbibed or inhaled, through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana. A great deal of mystery surrounds the origin of this peculiar custom, or ‘art’ as the Hobbits preferred to call it.
I enjoy puffing on a pipe myself (along with sipping on a Belgian beer). I might try at times reading the book while also smoking my pipe. It might take me even further into the world of the Shire.
I look forward to this journey once again.
The Prodigal Thought 